Florida, USA, May 11th, 2017: President
Trump’s latest executive order on immigration reforms is actually good news for
Indians studying in the United States: This is the clear message delivered to
Indian students planning to go to America by University of South Florida (USF)
Vice President Dr. Roger Brindley and Dean of USF’s Muma College of Business
Prof Moez Limayem. They are among several faculty members from American
universities who have spent the last few weeks reaching out to Indian students
concerned about accepting offers of admission from U.S. universities.
On April 19, President Trump signed an
executive order that tasked the heads of four departments to “suggest reforms
to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid”
applicants. The intention of the order is to close the
current loophole that brings in less skilled and lower-paid workers and replace
the lottery system with a merit-based immigration system, thus giving master’s
degree holders a better chance of getting H-1B visas. Quoting from the latest
Pie News (the British journal for professionals in international education) Dr.
Brindley told Indian students as well as education counselors that “…emphasis
on the most highly skilled workers, could actually have the potential to benefit
foreign graduates of American colleges.”
Dr. Brindley highlighted the fact that
the United States needs international students qualifying from American
universities since “foreign talent is needed to fill skills gaps in the U.S.
labour market in some industries, such as IT.”
“The fact is,” he explained, “that not
enough Americans are graduating from technical Masters courses such as Business
Analytics and Information Systems (BAIS) and Computer Science.” The possible reasons
for this range from a general lack of interest in Math and Science to the high
burden of debt that most American students carry with them after four years of
a Bachelor’s program, making employment more appealing than starting on a
Master’s degree.
Speaking to students in Delhi, Mumbai,
Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, the USF faculty also pointed out that:
· Recent
public notices are focused on lower-level positions and those with fewer
skills.
· Removing
abuse and fraud from the H1-B Program could lead to more “spaces” available for
students with Master’s degrees and above who are seeking mid-level and higher
positions.
· Increased
monitoring and enforcement of compliance is directed at H1-B dependent
employers with 15% or more of their workers on H1-Bs.
·
The
additional guidelines for computer programmers are targeted at individuals
without a higher degree – not at students who will be doing their Masters at a
recognized research-intensive university.
· The
median annual salary in year one for students graduating with a Masters’ degree
from USF’s College of Engineering or the College of Business has been $70,000
and $65,000 respectively – the degree and the salary range are both out of the
‘targeted” low-level positions. These, in fact, are the skilled applicants the
new guidelines aim to attract.
Touching on speculation about changes
in the rules for Optional Practical Training (OPT), Dr. Brindley encouraged
students to use WhatsApp and other social media to reach out to international
students who are graduating from American universities this month to confirm
that many are applying for OPT positions. “There have been no legislative
changes to the program. It remains intact and available for our students.
Nothing has changed,” he stressed.
USF took the unprecedented step of
extending its deadline for Masters Programs for Fall 2017 from February 15 to
June 1 to give concerned students more time to study the situation and make an
informed decision. Almost 10 percent of
USF’s 50,000 students are international students from 140 countries, with India
heading the list. The vast majority of
Indian students choose programs at the College of Engineering and the College
of Management, with Computer Science and BAIS being the most popular choices.
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