The plan to attract more foreigners to degree programs is part of the country's push to increase its soft power, or influence through culture and diplomacy.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked Republicans from bringing up a House-passed immigration bill offering permanent residence visas for foreigners with advanced degrees.
Ilona Kazlauskaite says: "Medicine and engineering are most popular for foreigners and more degrees are being offered in English".
We must loosen our visa policy so that foreigners earning advanced degrees in the hard sciences, in American universities, can remain in this country.
A third bill, introduced by Rhode Island's Patrick Kennedy, would completely lift the 20,000 limit for foreigners with advanced degrees from U.S. institutions.
It has become common in recent years for the annual quota of 65,000 regular H1-B visas (with an additional 20,000 visas for foreigners with advanced degrees) to be filled within weeks–sometimes days.
The Lebanese have long complained that their land was a proxy battlefield for meddling foreigners, to the degree that some even dubbed their fifteen-year civil conflict "the war of the others".
In comparison, in countries like Germany, Sweden and Canada, where the competition for spots in medical school is especially intense, 6 to 9 percent of students pursuing those degrees are foreigners, according to that study.
Mr. Bloomberg is pushing a four-point reform plan: giving green cards to foreigners who earn graduate degrees in the United States in science, technology, engineering and math; increasing the percentage of visas based on economic need; creating a special visa for entrepreneurs; and devising a guest-worker program for seasonal and labor-intensive industries.
Already a number of interesting initiatives exist, for instance programs run completely in English, special aid programs for foreigners, new internationally recognized degrees, and programs for guest lecturers.
