Skip the navigation

Sidebar: Foreign Students Fill Computer Science Graduate Programs

By Patrick Thibodeau
February 28, 2005 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - H-1B Salary Interactive ToolAn argument cited by H-1B supporters for raising the visa cap stems from the high number of foreign students -- especially from China and India -- who come to the U.S. to study.
Foreign student enrollments account for about 70% of the masters and Ph.D. computer science students at Texas Tech University, according to John Borrelli, dean of the graduate school at the 28,000-student university in Lubbock. Last year, the number of foreign students who applied for graduate admissions was more than three times the number of U.S. residents who did so, Borrelli said.
In 2001, the most recent year for which figures are available, foreign students made up nearly 60% of graduate enrollments nationwide, according to the National Science Foundation.
Borrelli said U.S. students aren't as interested in engineering and science studies as foreign students are. "We are not preparing our students out of high school to compete in the area of science and engineering very well," he said.
Most of the students enrolled in the New Jersey Institute of Technology's graduate program are foreign nationals. The Newark-based school has so far received 208 applications for admission in computer science master's degree programs next year, with about 165 of those applications from foreign students, said Stephen Seideman, dean of the school's college of computing science. The foreign students "will do everything they can to stay here," he said.


H-1B Spotlight



The H-1B Equation
Will the addition of an extra 20,000 visas take jobs from U.S. workers or lead to lower wages?

How Much Do H-1B Workers Earn?
Computerworld digs through reams of government data to discover what companies have been paying foreign IT staff. Use our interactive tool to run the numbers.

Q&A: Author of Dude, Did I Steal Your Job?
A Q&A about N. Sivakumar's book, Dude, did I steal your job?

Foreign Students Fill Computer Science Graduate Programs
American students are a minority of enrollments at some U.S. universities' computer science graduate programs.

Typically, foreign graduates of U.S. universities get a one-year training visa after graduation and then seek an H-1B visa.
Rock Regan, former CIO for the state of Connecticut, said state agencies typically don't hire H-1B visa holders because of political concerns. But Regan thinks U.S. schools are "not putting out the number of qualified workers that the industry needs."
Despite the addition of 20,000 more visas for the current fiscal year, the H-1B cap is still less than half of its 195,000-visa peak. Regan suspects that the reduced number of visas will encourage offshore outsourcing of IT jobs. Offshoring "will become more ofa reality if people can't get the talent here in the U.S.," he said.
Opponents see any increase in the number of visas as having an impact on the prospects of U.S. students. Norman Matloff, professor of computer science at the University of California, Davis, and a longtime critic of the H-1B visa program, said it's largely a matter of supply and demand. The more H-1B workers there are, the less opportunity there is for his students, Matloff said.

Read more about Careers in Computerworld's Careers Topic Center.



Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Careers White Papers
Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
Streamline Compliance and Increase ROI
Streamline, simplify, and automate compliance related activities; especially those that impact multiple business units. This white paper from NetIQ, outlines solutions that will...
X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps
This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into...
All Careers White Papers
Careers Webcasts
Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn...
Virtualize Business-Critical Applications with Confidence
Virtualizing business-critical applications has become a key focus for organizations as they move along their virtualization journey. With the launch of VMware vSphere®...
All Careers Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs