Legislature passes international education bill

By: Whitney Haynes

Posted: 3/12/07

White gravy and fried green tomatoes can be more than just Southern delicacies.

A steaming slab of chicken fried steak and the crunch of ranch-dipped fried vegetables transform into important cultural tests when getting an international education in Arkansas.

"They're good, but I think I'll have a glass of water for dinner," said Luiz Koldo Oleaga, while eating lunch at a popular restaurant next to the state capitol. Oleaga is an exchange student from Madrid, Spain, studying business for a year at the UA.

Oleaga was one of two international students who traveled to Little Rock for the first time Wednesday, joining the staff of the UA Office of Study Abroad and representatives from other universities across the state to support a resolution encouraging the growth of international education in Arkansas.

The resolution, which passed overwhelmingly in both the state House and Senate, won't give more money to facilitate study abroad and international exchange.

However, "it sends a message to the state and to Congress," said DeDe Long, the director for the UA study abroad office, who first recognized the need for the resolution in Arkansas. "It shows that international education should be a priority for Arkansas universities."

The resolution is important for the UA because, with the legacy of Sen. J. William Fulbright, the school has a history of supporting international education, said Richard Hudson, UA vice-chancellor for governmental relations.

"We are one of the leading institutions in terms of international study," Hudson said.

International education, including both Arkansas students who go abroad and international students who come to Arkansas, will "ensure that future students and future leaders are prepared to meet the challenges of a global society," according to House Concurrent Resolution 1004, sponsored by Northwest Arkansas legislators Rep. Lindsley Smith and Sen. Sue Madison.

International students and scholars generated $48 million in revenue for Arkansas from 2004-2005 alone, including the cost of school and personal spending for visiting scholars and their families in the state, according to the resolution.

Only seven states have passed similar resolutions, including Texas and Oklahoma. Arkansas will be among the first universities to pass this type of resolution in the South, Long said.

"Our goal is to have this resolution passed in all 50 states, which would motivate the federal government to implement a national international education policy and to find more strategic plans to improve access for international students and scholars coming here to Arkansas," Long said.

A national policy would generate more global understanding, show that the United States is friendly to international students and affect immigration reform and commerce, she said.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government placed harsh restrictions on international students, and the number of UA international students dropped significantly, Long said.

"After 9/11, there was so much fear of terrorism that it became very, very difficult for students and scholars to obtain visas," she said.

Instead of improving the visa tracking systems, the government created a backlash on international education with the new restrictions, she said.

Study abroad offices all over the country faced new visa challenges, and advisers were forced to spend more time working them out, said Katherine Quinn, a UA study abroad adviser.

While international enrollment at universities in the United States went down because of the harsher restrictions, enrollment in countries such as England and Australia went up, Long said.

In the last few years, however, the number of study abroad and international exchange students began to pick back up, Long said, with the office now sending more than 500 students abroad each year.

The UA leads the state with more than 900 international students enrolled from more than 100 countries, with the majority coming from India and China, Quinn said.

Long contacted Smith last spring with the idea for a resolution to help reinvigorate the international education program, and Smith was hugely supportive of the concept, making it one of her reelection campaign promises last fall, Long said.

"I teach in a study abroad program in Oxford and Cambridge every summer, and I have seen how it changes students' lives for the better," Smith said. "I've watched them grow intellectually and emotionally in just a few weeks. I knew we had to get this resolution passed in Arkansas."

On the steps of the state capitol, international students Oleaga and Constantin-Manuel Bosancianu of Romania snapped pictures, their stomachs full of black-eyed peas and the fried green tomatoes they had tried for the first time at lunch.

"Coming from a country where there is barely any ethnic, religious or racial diversity, meeting members of other cultures while studying in Arkansas has been incredibly positive," said Bosancianu, who has been studying political science at the UA since August. "And I choose my words carefully. I really mean that."

The study abroad programs distinguish the UA from other institutions, and it means a lot for the school's recruitment process, said Gary Standridge, a special assistant to Chancellor John White and an adviser to UA Bodenhamer fellows.

The Walton Foundation's $200 million contribution to help establish the Honors College was instrumental in strengthening the UA study abroad program. With the new Arkansas World Trade Center in the works-one of the first centers of its kind to be linked to a university-and a new Walton gift that will provide about $400,000 a year for study abroad programs in the Walton College of Business, more UA students than ever before will have the opportunity to get an international education, Long said.

Long was more than pleased with the day's outcome, she said, waving a miniature foreign flag in the public gallery of the Senate after the resolution was passed unanimously.

"This [resolution] is what you call a small victory," Long said.