FORUM (Spotlight Weekly)

Quest For Education

By. Michael E.Gill J

Director of United States Education Foundation

Since 1961, the Commission for Educational Exchange Between the United States and Nepal (also known as the United States Educational Foundation, or "USEF" and "The Fulbright Commission") has served the Nepali public by providing a variety of services -- including scholarships, information, group and individual counseling, pre-departure orientations and document attestation -- to persons interested in pursuing higher education in the USA. Each year, USEF administers nation-wide competitions for the Fulbright and East West Center scholarships, as well as the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship. These result in direct funding grants to study in the USA to about 10 to 12 Nepalis annually. Over the years, more than nearly five hundred Nepalis have studied in the USA under USEF auspices and returned to work in Nepal. USEF alumni are found in all walks of life and in the highest ranks of government, academia, business and the professions. The Fulbright, Humphrey and East-West Center programs are the only scholarships administered directly through USEF. Every year however, our Educational Advising Center staff provides information and guidance to hundreds of Nepali students interested in learning about financial aid possibilities directly from US colleges and universities, as this is the channel through which almost all financial aid is given.

For many Nepalis going to study in the USA, a visit to USEF's Educational Advising Center (EAC) is the first stop along the way. And they have been coming in greater and greater numbers. In 1990, the EAC hosted 3,490 visitors. Last year, 1999, we had 23,305 visitors. Students who come to USEF can be assured that they will receive accurate and reliable information about US higher education from us. Although there are nominal charges for some services, including photocopying, document attestations and the practice versions of the computer-based tests, all of our advising and counseling services are provided free of charge. Recently, USEF has added computer-based TOEFL, GRE and GMAT testing to the services it offers. Registration fees for these tests vary and are paid not to USEF, but to the test developer, the US-based Educational Testing Service.

One of the more remarkable developments to have occurred in Nepal in recent years is the huge increase in the numbers of Nepali students going abroad to study. This phenomenon is part of a worldwide trend towards the internationalization of education. But what is quite remarkable is that the growth in the numbers of Nepalis going to study in the US far outstrips the overall growth in the numbers of international students from all over the world who are studying in the US. According to the report "Open Doors," recently published by the Institute of International Education (IIE), during the years 1998 to 1999, the percentage increase in the numbers of Nepalis starting study in the US was, at 39%, a bigger jump than that of any of the other 64 nations cited in the report! According to IIE, during this period only Vietnam, Morocco and Trinidad and Tobago (which experienced increases of 31.2%, 21.5% and 20.5% respectively), came anywhere close to Nepal's increase in US higher education enrollment. During this same period, the overall growth of international students from all over the world who are studying in the US was only about 2%.

Like students from all over the world, most Nepalis who go to the US for higher study are paying for it themselves - with family and other support. According to IIE, more than 75% of the international students studying in America report that their funds come from their home country, with most relying on their families. Similarly, approximately 80% of those Nepalis going to study in the US indicate family funds as their main source of support. Scholarship aid for international students studying in the US is quite difficult to obtain. At the undergraduate level, many state-sponsored schools are forbidden by law from giving financial aid to foreign students, but for the best and the brightest of students, partial and sometimes even full tuition assistance is possible. It bears repeating however, that scholarship and financial aid decisions are made not by USEF, but by the individual colleges and universities to which students are accepted.

Along with the increasing numbers of Nepalis going to study in the USA, there have also been significant changes in the nature and age of the students who are going, and in the disciplines that they are going to study. Twenty years ago, the numbers of persons going to do post-graduate (masters and above) level study far exceeded those going to do undergraduate study. In recent years, those figures have gradually, but definitively reversed. Thus, in 1998 and 1999, more than 60% of Nepalis went to the US as undergraduates. The most popular fields of study in recent years for Nepalis have been computer science (27% of the total in 1999); business (24%) and engineering (8%).