BRIEFING: First and Second Generation Immigrant Students in Higher Education: What Campus Leaders Need to Know — Crucial Stakes for Higher Education and Our Country

This one-hour briefing provided in-depth coverage of a new Presidents’ Alliance-commissioned and Migration Policy Institute-produced report on the number of first and second generation immigrant students in higher education. The report reveals the significant impact of immigration policy on college enrollments, the implications of immigrant student demographics for addressing racial equity, and the importance of immigrant students in degree attainment and workforce development goals in states across the country. The briefing was cosponsored by the Presidents’ Alliance and the Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education.

“As this timely report suggests, and paraphrasing Harry Truman, immigration today is too important to leave it to the politicians. The future of our economy and society is now completely tied to the fortunes of immigrant-origin students in colleges and universities across the country. The algorithm is clear and the numbers are blunt: without a happy future for our immigrant-origin students, there is no happy future for our economy and society.”
Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Boston

You can view our report, “Immigrant-Origin Students in U.S. Higher Education,” here.

To download U.S. and state-level data on enrollment and other characteristics for first- and second-generation students, click here.

View recorded video.

Download supporting materials.

Speakers

Jeanne Batalova, Senior Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute and lead author of the report

Nathan Grawe, Professor of Social Sciences at Carleton College, author of Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education

Alan Cramb, President, Illinois Institute of Technology

Anthony E. Munroe, President, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Boston

Rajika Bhandari, President & CEO, IC3 Institute

Ur M. Jaddou, Director, DHS Watch, America’s Voice

Jose Magaña-Salgado, Director of Policy and Communications, Presidents’ Alliance

Miriam Feldblum, Executive Director, Presidents’ Alliance, moderator