Dear Christian Educator:
We invite you to use, and we hope you will link to <http://www.college-scholarships.com/schools/christian-colleges/>, which lists all U.S. Christian colleges and universities. In fact, ours is the only site which lists not just traditional Christian colleges, but also Christian colleges and universities offering online degree programs. Elsewhere on <http://www.college-scholarships.com> are links to 70 scholarship search data bases, GPA and student loan calculators, a guide to the FAFSA, information on online degree programs for adults, and dozens of helpful articles for college students of all ages. We hope that you, your students, and their families find our site helpful, and we welcome your suggestions and comments. Best Wishes, Dan Rosenfield American Educational Guidance Center aegc@earthlink.net November 16, 2015 Elizabeth Redden Nearly a million international students are studying at colleges across the U.S. The newest data from the Institute of International Education’s annual Open Doors survey shows a 10 percent increase in international students from 2013-14 to 2014-15 -- the highest annual rate of growth at any point over the last 35 years. International Students in the U.S. Of particular note is a big jump in Indian student enrollments. “While students from China still far outnumber those from any other country, the real story this year is about the growth of students from India,” said Rajika Bhandari, IIE’s deputy vice president for research and evaluation. “What we’ve found is that Indian students coming to the U.S. increased by almost 30 percent over the prior year to reach a record high of almost 133,000 students in the U.S." The majority of students from India (64 percent) study at the master’s and Ph.D. levels. The United States’ gain in students from India has come at a time when the United Kingdom has experienced declines. “We know that Indian students have always been very attracted to the availability of excellent science and research facilities on U.S. campuses and also within U.S. industry, which Indian students really view as being a leader in innovation, research and development as compared to any other destination in the world,” said Bhandari, who also cited the stabilization of the Indian rupee as a likely reason behind the increase. “Students are finally beginning to recover from the steep devaluation of the rupee against the dollar some years ago. While the rupee still remains weak, the fluctuation has stabilized to some extent, therefore allowing more students to afford a U.S. education.” India is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the U.S. The number of students from the No. 1 country of origin, China, continued to grow -- albeit at a slower rate than in recent years, by 10.8 percent. Other major sending countries with strong growth include Saudi Arabia (up 11.2 percent) and Brazil (up 78.2 percent). Both countries have generous government scholarship programs funding study abroad, though the future of Brazil’sScience Without Borders program is uncertain after the government, facing a budget crisis, announced an indefinite freeze on new awards in September. The scholarship program continues to support thousands of students who are currently abroad. "The budget for 2016 is under construction by the Brazilian Congress and until we have it we cannot indicate the exact moment that awards will be resumed," Adalberto Luis Val, the director of international relations for CAPES, a Ministry of Education entity that administers the scholarships, said via email. Latin America and the Caribbean was the fastest-growing region of origin for international students in the U.S. in 2014-15, increasing by 19 percent over the year before. The number of students from Mexico increased by 15.4 percent. The U.S. and Mexican governments have several initiatives in place to try to increase academic exchange between the two nations. Other countries of origin with double-digit growth include Vietnam (up 12.9 percent), Iran (up 11.2 percent), Nigeria (up 19.9 percent), Kuwait (up 24 percent), Venezuela (up 12.4 percent) and Spain (up 14.8 percent). There were declines in the number of students from South Korea (down 6.4 percent), Canada (down 3.8 percent), Taiwan (down 1.3 percent), Japan (down 1.4 percent), Turkey (down 0.9 percent), Hong Kong (down 1.1 percent) and Thailand (down 1.7 percent). Top Places of Origin for International Students in the U.S. A total of eight American universities enrolled 10,000 or more international students in 2014-15, up from just four the year before. Those universities are, in descending order of enrollment, New York University, the University of Southern California, Columbia University, Arizona State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northeastern University, Purdue University and the University of California at Los Angeles.
Nationally, 40.9 percent of international students are undergraduates; 37.2 percent study at the graduate level. Another 9.6 percent study in nondegree programs (including intensive English programs) and the remaining 12.3 percent are participating in a postgraduation work authorization period known as optional practical training. Click here for the entire article. Open Doors 2015: International Students in the U.S. Up Ten Percent to Nearly One Million; Highest Rate of Growth in 35-Years; Increases Reported in 44 States. Study Abroad by American Students Picks Up Momentum
In 2014/15, there were 88,874 more international students enrolled in U.S. higher education compared to the previous year. India, China and Brazil account for most of the growth in international students on U.S. campuses. While China remains the top country of origin of international students in the U.S., increasing by 11 percent to 304,040, India’s growth outpaced China’s this year, with students from India increasing by 29.4 percent to a record high of 132,888. This is the highest rate of growth for Indian students in the history of the Open Doors project, which spans back to 1954/55. The last time India grew at a comparable rate (29.1) was in 2000/01 when the number of students from India exceeded 50,000 for the first time. In 2014/15, China and India together accounted for 67 percent of the increase in international students, and they now constitute nearly 45 percent of the total number of international students in U.S. higher education. There were large increases in the number of students from Brazil, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, all countries whose governments are investing heavily in international scholarships for their students, sending tens of thousands of them abroad to develop a globally competent workforce. Nigeria also ranked among the fastest growing international student populations in the United States. Students from Brazil increased 78 percent to 23,675 this year, accounting for 12 percent of total growth. Latin America & the Caribbean was the fastest growing region of origin for international students in the U.S., increasing by 19 percent over the prior year, and benefiting from the support of 100,000 Strong in the Americas, a public-private partnership led by the U.S. State Department, as well as other initiatives launched by governments in the region. International graduate students at U.S. institutions increased more than international undergraduate students, reversing a two-year trend in which undergraduates accounted for the greater number of new students. This is largely because most of the students coming from India were studying at the graduate level. The increase in undergraduate students from China, which drove overall numbers in recent years, was at a lower rate of growth in 2014/15 than in prior years. However, 2014/15 was the first year ever that Chinese undergraduates outnumbered Chinese graduate students. Read the entire article here.
Celebrating Ramadan in the United States
Posted: 18 Jun 2015 05:00 AM PDT Ramadan is an Islamic holiday in which Muslims fast for a month. Learn more from international students in America who are observing the holiday. Ramadan is a month of the Islamic calendar, all Muslims observe this as a month of fasting. Ramadan started on June 18, 2015 and will end July 17. The dates may […] The post Celebrating Ramadan in the United States appeared first on International Student Voice Magazine. By: Eric Metaxas
Published: June 11, 2015 8:00 AM In 1992, Bei Cun, considered to be one of China’s leading avant-garde writers, did something that really shocked his readers and admirers: He converted to Christianity. But given the explosive growth of Christianity in China, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. If you haven’t heard of Bei Cun, that’s okay. Neither had I, probably because his work hasn’t been translated into English. I only learned of his story because my BreakPoint colleague and friend Roberto Rivera recently read Philip Jenkins book, “The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South,” which tells Bei’s story. After becoming a Christian, Bei wrote what Jenkins calls a “Kafkaesque story” entitled “The Marriage of Zhang Sheng.” In it, the protagonist, a scholar, opens a Chinese-language Bible and happens upon Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” The passage leaves Zhang’s “intellectual assumptions in ruins.” Bei, just like his literary creation and hopefully his readers, interprets it as pointing out “the failure of relying upon mere human ideologies that neglect God.” In an officially communist state, this is an “explosive” thing to say. The story ends with Zhang embracing Christianity just as Bei did. In China, intellectuals and the avant-garde are running toward Christianity, while their Western counterparts tend to run away from it, if they’re not denouncing it. It’s not just intellectuals and the avant-garde. In his award-winning book, “Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China,” Evan Osnos writes that China is “in the midst of a full-fledged revival.” While Osnos mentions Christianity mostly in passing, his mentions hint at a remarkable story. He says that there are “sixty to eighty million Christians.” It’s so large that “as [he] traveled around China, [he] stopped being surprised by [his] encounters with Christians.” These numbers are even more astounding when you take recent Chinese history into account. At the time of the Communist takeover in 1949, there were an estimated five million Christians in China. The Communists, as Osnos tells us, set out to destroy China’s old belief systems, including its small Christian community, and by the time of Mao’s death in 1976 had largely succeeded. Even after Mao’s death, Christians are still subject to harassment, arrest, and imprisonment for practicing their faith. Yet there are now as many Christians as there are members of the Communist Party. By some estimates there’ll be more Christians in China than in the U.S. by 2030. And this doesn’t take into account the level of commitment required to be a Christian in China. Think about it: being a member of the Communist Party comes with real political and economic benefits. Being a Christian invites discrimination and even a knock on the door in the middle of the night. So why the explosive growth of Christianity in China? While a change in economic policies and the individual pursuit of fortune could address China’s economic problems, it could not provide people or the nation with a “sense of purpose.” So what emerged was a “spiritual void.” For many Chinese, that void is being filled by Jesus Christ. This puts the Communist Party, however, in a bind. On one level, they know that Christianity is good for China, especially in the area of morals. On the other hand, they’re afraid of a movement they can’t control. As I said on yesterday’s broadcast, Aslan is on the move. Extraordinary things are happening. I pray you find this as exciting and encouraging as I do. Click here to find the article. Brothers Molham and Mohammad Kayali spray-painted anti-government graffiti around Aleppo University in northern Syria in early 2012 and held up flags in protest against President Bashar al Assad's government. Worried that their lives were in danger, they gave up on school and fled to Turkey in September 2012.
They were reunited last year with their younger brother, Ebrahim, at Emporia State University, a small school in Kansas, joining among about 700 "academic refugees" now in the U.S. who either fled from the long-running violent conflict, attended universities that have closed or couldn't safely travel to schools in dangerous areas. The Syrian conflict has displaced tens of thousands of students, and some schools in Syria were attacked, including in 2013 when at least 10 students were killed at an outdoor cafe at Damascus University. It's a situation that has created an educational vacuum that universities around the world, including in the U.S., are seeking to fill in the hopes that the young Syrians will someday help rebuild their country. "The main reason you learn is you learn to benefit your country, to protect your country," said 28-year-old Molham Kayali, who is looking for engineering jobs after graduating last month. "People in engineering, people in architecture can rebuild the country, can rebuild the construction, everything." The New York-based Institute of International Education has helped organize a consortium of mostly U.S. and Portuguese schools and has provided 158 scholarships and 89 emergency grants to Syrian students, according to Daniela Kaisth, a vice president with the institute. Similar efforts were made to help Iraqi students after the U.S.-led invasion. The latest data shows that the number of Syrian students attending U.S. universities swelled from 424 students in 2009-10 to 693 students in 2013-14, according to the institute's Open Doors Report on International Education Exchange, published in partnership with the U.S. Department of State. Read the entire article here. Ancient Chinese pictographs have been around for thousands of years. Clues in the picture symbols show that the earliest Chinese words must have included basic historical facts from Genesis when the symbols were invented.
Click here to see the video. The growth rate in the number of students from India heading to universities abroad has outpaced China for the first time, according to a new report on Indian student mobility trends to the main English-speaking countries – the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
These five destination countries account for nearly 85% of outbound student mobility from India. Although overall student numbers from India heading abroad are still behind China – crossing the 300,000 mark in 2014, compared to more than 650,000 from China, big rises in Indian students going to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand point to a revival of interest from India after a four to five year drop, and a trend that will have implications on all receiving countries, according to the just-released report by New Delhi-based MM Advisory Services entitled Indian Students Mobility Report 2015: Latest trends from India and globally. Read the entire article here. Greetings,
If you (or a friend) register for Urbana 15 by June 30, you’ll get the lowest registration price, saving at least $70. But more importantly, you'll get to spend five days focused—on Jesus’ life and resurrection, on the Father’s heart for reaching people of every nation, on where the Spirit is leading. We are creating space at Urbana 15 for deep study of the Gospel of Matthew, multiethnic worship, prayer, conversation, and growth. There are also tracks for international students, pastors and church leaders, the business sector, tech students, and those interested in poverty and justice issues. God uses Urbana in people's lives. Would you spend a few minutes praying about two questions?
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