Biden’s Plan to Help International Students Stay After Graduation Could Help Recruit Them in the First Place

On his very first day in office, President Biden proposed immigration reform that, among other provisions, would make it easier for international students who earn graduate degrees in science and engineering fields to stay in the United States after graduation.

The legislation was hailed by higher-ed groups, which have long called for stapling a green card to every Ph.D. A key reason: Measures that permit international graduates to stay and work could go a long way toward helping American colleges recruit them in the first place, particularly as institutions face increasing global competition from countries like Canada and Australia that offer an easy pathway from study to work.

Keeping the talent pipeline flowing is especially critical in STEM fields, where more than half of all doctoral degrees are earned by student-visa holders.

“It’s both an investment in our institutions because we want to have strong recruitment and an investment in our students,” said Miriam Feldblum, executive director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a nonpartisan group of college leaders. “Their success is our success.”

Read the full article from The Chronicle of Higher Education here.