A new report released by the Council of Graduate Schools has found that the number of incoming international students at the post-secondary level in the United States is the same this year as last. This is the first year since 2004 that the number has not increased. In 2003-2004, the numbers dropped by 6%.

The report is the culmination of an annual admissions survey conducted by the CGS, which also found that the overall number of enrolled international students is 2% higher this year than last. While this may seem like good news, the number is markedly lower than the past two years and the lack of growth this year among incoming international students indicates an even steeper decline over at least the next to years. In fact, the 2% is a bit of a false indicator: it is only an increase because the number of international students who completed their programs last year is offset by the number of incoming students in the years immediately prior.

Though the overall number of incoming students this year remained flat, specific sending countries and regions changed. Notable, India, South Korea, Turkey and the Middle East all experienced a decline. These numbers were buoyed by a significant increase in graduate students from China. Several hard-to-discern factors affected these numbers, among them the economic pendulum that has been swinging across the globe over the past year and its effect on currency rates, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. (This article is also recommended for a more in depth analysis of the CGS report.)

257 institutions responded to the CGS survey, with a response rate of 51%.

Over the past year, 44 A.C.E. Language Institute students have transferred into one of our host institutions–either Montana State University of Seattle Pacific University–many of them for graduate programs in everything from Business Administration to Engineering to Nursing. This successful rate of transfer is due largely in part to the academic nature of our English instruction, as well as our conditional acceptance agreements with the host institutions. These agreements allow completion of our English language program to substitute for an acceptable TOEFL score. Learn more by visiting www.cultural.org/esl.

According to a recent report published by the Chronicle of Higher Education, women are. The report argues that “[w]omen appear to be much more likely than men to choose to study abroad because of significant gender-based differences in how students are influenced by their backgrounds, academic environments, and social interactions”.

To unpack that a notion a bit, the author of the Chronicle article goes on to say:

Having highly educated parents appeared to make women more likely to intend to study abroad, but it did not have any effect on men’s intentions, reflecting the broader observation among researchers that women are more likely to make college-going decisions based on their parents’ preferences.

Similarly, taking classes that focus on human diversity and differences appeared to leave women more likely to intend to study abroad but did not have an impact on men, suggesting that, just as women are more influenced by their parents than are men, they may be more influenced by faculty members or, at least, the courses that faculty members teach.

Based on these findings, the authors of the report argue that international recruiters “need to craft targeted marketing strategies that recognize and account for key differences between women and men”.

The study, conducted by researchers for the University of Iowa’s Center for Research on Undergraduate Education, focused on “some 2,800 students at 19 four-year and two-year colleges and universities”. Thus, the research may speak specifically to gender differences with regard to American students studying abroad. To help riddle out this problem, I compared the University of Iowa’s findings with a recent survey conducted by ICEF which polled 348 language schools in 43 countries about student demographics and trends. The survey’s results are in close alignment with the study conducted by the U of I, with 36% of respondents saying they have a 50/50 split between men and women, and 39% reporting a ratio of 40/60 men to women.

There are some notable differences between the two reports. The former is more objective and focuses exclusively on undergraduate students. The latter relies heavily on casual observation and polls administrators of language institutes which may or may not be in partnership with an undergraduate exchange program. The advantage to comparing these studies, though, is that it paints a broader picture of study abroad (at the risk of compromising specific causes for the trends, of course).

A.C.E. was one of those language institutes polled by ICEF. A glance at our 2009 enrollment report (which combines statistics from both our Language Institutes) shows a student body of roughly 60% men and 40% women. It would seem, then, that a number of other language schools may want to know how we do it. Meanwhile, we’ll be working to create a more agreeable 50/50 split.

Researchers at INSEAD and Northwestern University have published a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology arguing that living abroad stimulates creativity. This information provides extra incentive for international students studying with A.C.E., and should help convince you to take part in our new study abroad programs for 2010.

Now, enjoy this interview with William Maddux from INSEAD.

NAFSA reports: “The Academy for International Education is an intensive nine-month training program with extensive networking opportunities. The Academy fast forwards your learning process and prepares you to take on leadership roles. This nine-month program is comprised of three training events, complimented by written assignments, regular cohort conference calls, and guidance from a coach. The Academy provides an introduction to the profession of international education including the field’s major practice areas. The program is flexible and is designed to meet your individual needs and learning goals.”

The deadline for the 2010 session is December 1st.

Enrollment includes:
* Free NAFSA membership for up to 18 months
* Three-Day Academy Spring Training
* 2010 NAFSA Annual Conference registration fee
* 2010 preconference workshop at the annual conference
* 2010 Regional Conference Registration
* 2010 NAFSA preconference workshop at regional conference
* Adviser’s Manual Online for up to 12 months
* Access to NAFSA network and networking opportunities
* Supported learning by an experienced coach
* Continued connection with a cohort of peers

You can learn more about the Academy for International Education, including information about the curriculum and academy coaches, by clicking here.

But wait! That’s not all! The Office of Post-secondary Education, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education, has dozens of professional and educational programs in international education at the post-secondary level. Many of these programs are exchanges, grants, and scholarships for travel and development. So if you’re in between jobs or just want to broaden your horizons, check them out.

Rutgers English professor Jack Lynch has a new book out titled The Lexicographer’s Dilemma, which you can purchase online from Elliott Bay Book Company, and Salon.com has this great review. The book focuses on the seemingly ceaseless duel between language “purists” (prescriptive grammarians) and linguistic pragmatists (descriptive grammarians) who understand that change in language is not only inevitable, but necessary to keep up with all of life’s other changes.

From Salon.com:

“Correct” English, as Lynch characterizes it, is basically “the English wealthy and powerful people spoke a generation or two ago.” And sure enough, the first guides to English usage promised to teach people to write and speak with greater “elegance” and “politeness,” not greater correctness. These manuals, born of an age of increased social mobility, were intended for “a newly self-conscious group of people who were no longer peasants but still were excluded from the traditional aristocracy.” The suddenly rich children of merchants and manufacturers needed instructions on the elegant grammar (and manners) of the aristocracy in order to blend in with their social superiors. Tellingly, the 300-year history of fulmination against improper usage is marked by diatribes against those “inferior” and upstart groups supposedly most prone to transgression: women, young people, racial and ethnic minorities and, of course, Americans.

Indeed, the real threat that proponents of “pure” grammar pose is the perpetuation of sociocultural and class disparities through sociolinguistic differences. The vast majority of linguists and language teachers understand that language, like life itself, is fluid and constantly changing. Such descriptive grammarians strive to observe and codify linguistic transformations rather than futilely fight them. The last line of the quote above implies a source of prejudice towards non-native speakers that some native English speakers have, and that is that non-native speakers are somehow inferior. A brief consideration of Penfield’s Critical Period Hypothesis (not to mention a modicum of common sense) should quickly dispel such a notion. Nevertheless the danger of sociolinguistic discrimination is ever present, and we should strive as a culture to accept linguistic shortcomings as part of an individual’s unique identity rather than use them to invent a superficial superiority.

The current paradigm in language teaching is founded on communicative capabilities and not fluency. As long as two people can understand each other, differing levels of fluency and accuracy in any given language can never be a source of judgment. Furthermore, as the Salon.com article claims, streamlining English grammar may actually make learning the language easier:

I rejoice to learn that “whom” (the objective case of the pronoun “who”) may soon vanish from written English just as it has nearly vanished from casual speech, and students will have one less tedious rule to memorize.

Saturday is Halloween, and people around the United States and indeed the world will celebrate by carving jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples, donning costumes, and trick-or-treating. Here, the celebrating has already begun. Few cultures embrace Halloween as heartily as that of the U.S., and A.C.E. students in Seattle and Bozeman always have a good time our annual Halloween parties. This past Sunday, a group of A.C.E. students visited a local corn maze and pumpkin patch (see picture). Such a cultural phenomenon provides great material for English teachers and students, and so here we share a few great online resources. Have a Happy Halloween!

Here is a great matching game to learn Halloween vocab.
Now, test your newly acquired Halloween vocab with this short quiz.
This site has a bevy of Halloween related readings and lesson plans specially designed for English language learners.

By Shirley Henderson at A.C.E.–Wednesday through Friday of last week, NAFSA Region 1 had its annual meeting in Vancouver, Washington. The A.C.E. attendees were A.C.E.’s Seattle Language Institute Director, Sally Thomas and me, the Enrollment Services Manager.

The regional NAFSA meetings provide great opportunities for networking as well as gaining pertinent information regarding new regulations and local trends.

Director Sally Thomas took advantage of the networking by participating in the Poster session on Friday with a poster on teacher training in Russia. On Saturday, she presented in a session on consortia as a representative of Study Washington, which she co-chairs. Also on the panel was a Study Oregon chair as well as a representative from U.S. Commercial Services. Both the poster session and the presentation gave Sally great opportunities to connect with local and regional schools, as well as increase A.C.E.’s visibility in the region.

I attended a variety of sessions on Thursday and Friday pertaining to visas and travel for students as well as a session on SEVIS II (Student Exchange Visitor Information System). The session on SEVIS II was particularly pertinent as it is a system update that will drastically change both the Central Office and Language Institutes’ Enrollment Services’ procedures with regards to processing and registering students’ I-20s. I was also able to set up a meeting with a representative from Lewermark, the company that provides A.C.E. students with health insurance. I also spoke with a few schools locally that accept A.C.E. students into their programs.

Over all, the conference was a great opportunity for both the Language Institute in Seattle and the Central Office to gain connections and information crucial to A.C.E.’s operations.

A.C.E. is pleased to announce the creation of three Academic Study Abroad Programs to begin next summer. These will be credit-based courses and short term experiences abroad to focus on various dimensions of “making the world your community”, introducing American students to lesser-known regions, contexts, and cultures, with an eye to overcoming human barriers and conflict. The programs to Spain and Italy will be led by Dr. Alberto Ferreiro, a professor of European History at Seattle Pacific University where he has taught since 1986. He is also a summer Visiting Professor/Lecturer at the University of Salamanca and Founder-Director of the Centro Fray Luis de León. The program to Northern Ireland will be led by Dr. Nancy Burgoyne, professor of Political Science at Seattle University.

The Spain trip will happen in July and August and will include four hours a day of Spanish language instruction for 8, 12, or 16 quarter credits. There will also be an optional literature course, as well as a cultural component. The program will be in conjunction with the University of Salamanca.

The Italy trip will run from June 12 to June 28 and be operated in conjunction with Piccola Universita Italiana in Tropea (Calabria), Italy. The Piccola is an officially recognized language school by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research. Tropea in Calabria, in the ‘boot’ of Italy, has been described as the ‘Pearl of Calabria’ The Piccola offers a rich variety of cultural activities, excursions, and all levels of Italian language study.

The Northern Ireland trip is designed to help students understand the roots of conflict and the experiences of people living in a divided community. Some of the places the students will visit include the “peace walls,” the policing board, leaders of the Protestant community, leaders of the Catholic community, the parliament building, the University of Ulster, (Derry) or (Londonderry), the American Consulate, and Sinn Fein headquarters. There will also be a host of distinguished speakers covering topics such as integrated education, ex-political prisoners who participated in the blanket protests, the BBC’s portrayal of the conflict, and experts paralleling the current war in Iraq with Northern Ireland. Dates are from June 28 to July 9. The program will be in conjunction with Global Studies Media.

For more information, including program rates and how to enroll, visit our page for A.C.E. Abroad.

Back in August, we posted this story about the formation of an Iraqi Scholarship fund to send 10,000 students a year to the U.S. and U.K. (For more back story, read this story at Inside Higher Ed. Well, we bring it up again today because earlier this month J.P. Schnapper-Casteras, former fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and founder of the Stanford-Iraq Student Exchange wrote this article for the Washington Post. It specifically outlines what still needs to be done to ensure a strong, healthy, and mutually beneficial relationship between academic institutions in Iraq and the United States.

The major bullet points include prioritizing and facilitating visas for Iraqi students, broadening the coalition of American universities receiving Iraqi students in order to reduce tuition rates, and supporting the American University in Iraq. But don’t take our word for it–read the story yourself.

On a related note, Iraqi schools’ curricula have recently received a major overhaul. You can read the fascinating details, or listen to the story, over at npr.com.

Looking sharp, Colin. A.C.E. Staff at Halloween Party

Colin Knight, former Program Coordinator for the Language Institute at SPU, last month followed his heart to Rising Out Of The Shadows (ROOTS) shelter in the University District where he works as a Volunteer Coordinator. The Daily of the University of Washington recently conducted an interview with Colin while writing a story on the shelter and the services it provides to homeless youth in Seattle.

You can read the whole story over here, as well as see what a striking figure Colin cuts in black. Congrats to Colin, and keep up all the good work!