Hearing of House Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness and Subcommittee on Select Education - Tracking International Students in Higher Ed...

HEARING OF THE HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE ON 21st CENTURY COMPETITIVENESS AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON SELECT EDUCATION: TRACKING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A PROGRESS REPORT

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Mr. Van Hollen. Well, thank you, Chairman Tiberi. And I want to thank you and Mr. McKeon and Mr. Hinojosa and Mr. Kildee for their leadership on this issue. And before I introduce a friend and I think a great leader in the state of Maryland and around our country, let me just say a couple of words if I might, Mr. Chairman.

As you and others have said, I think this is a very important issue. The fact of the matter is, we do have a big crowd of people in the other Committee I serve on, Government Reform, looking into the question of steroids use in baseball, and that is obviously a very important issue as well. But we should have a fuller room here, because the consequences of decisions made on the issues we're talking about are going to have very long-term consequences for our country.

Obviously, we want to keep people out of this country who seek to do us harm. That's in our national security. It's also in our national security interest to make sure that we have a strong economy and to make sure that we have a presence around the world and a positive image around the world.

And I've been alarmed by the statistics that have shown the rapid drop-off in the number of foreign students here because
of the consequences it has on high technology sector, the consequences it has on our economy, and the fact that it's not just that we're not being made stronger, but those students are going somewhere else. Those students are going to our competitors, our economic competitors around the world. So what we're losing, they're gaining. And I think that if we don't correct the problem quickly--and the problem with this of course is perceptions.

Once perceptions take root, it becomes much more difficult. Even as steps have been made to make the process better, and I want to congratulate Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Maura Hardy at the State Department. We've worked with her and others to try and improve the situation, and they have. But we need to be very careful because of the signals that have been sent. We're going to have to work double hard to reverse the signals that have been sent that people may be more unwelcome here.

With that, Mr. Chairman, let me introduce the President of a great institution, the President of the University of Maryland at College Park. We were very lucky in the state of Maryland many years ago to be able to recruit Dan Mote, Dr. Mote, to the state of Maryland. He has dived in from the very beginning, an energetic leader. And as we talk about Ambassadors and how the people who learn here in this country are great Ambassadors for us overseas, he's a great Ambassador for the presidents of colleges and universities around our country. And I really look forward to his testimony.

So thank you for being here.

Mr. Tiberi. I also want to tell the gentleman from Maryland that you also recruited back to Maryland a good friend of mine,
Britt Kerwin, who was with the Ohio State University, and we miss him.

Mr. Van Hollen. Well, thank you. We are very happy to have Britt back, and we have a great team. The only thing we're
going to be working extra hard on next year is to get the Terps in the NCAA. But thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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