With the Trump Administration threatening big cuts in State Department spending, and the world still puzzling over who’s allowed to visit this country, some families are wondering if it’s a good idea for their kids to study at American universities. The President of the University of Virginia thinks it is, and she will travel to India next week to make that point.
India sends more students to the U.S. for college than any country but China. It’s the world’s largest democracy, and almost everyone speaks English, so UVA President Teresa Sullivan says it’s a very good fit.
“The language barrier is less, " she says, "and many of the leading companies in India are headed by Indians who had studied in the United States and find that it gave them a competitive advantage in the world marketplace.”
But these days Sullivan knows some parents hesitate.
“There’s been some alarm in India about whether it is still safe to come to the United States and study, and we did have a truly unfortunate incident in which a man shot two Indians – apparently in the belief that they were from the Middle East. It’s not surprising that this kind of incident gets a lot of publicity in India, and they wonder if we’re just trying to close the doors," she explains.
Next week she will be in Delhi, meeting with educators, alumni, prospective students and their families – assuring them the welcome mat is out in Virginia.
“Our largest single student organization is the Indian students’ organization," Sullivan notes. " It’s not just students from India. It’s Indian heritage students whose parents now live in the United States.”
And to prepare for her trip, Sullivan invited Indian students and faculty members to her home for advice.