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Biden’s Election Will Lure MBA Students Back to the U.S., But Not Overnight

Biden’s Election Will Lure MBA Students Back to the U.S., But Not Overnight

Joe Biden’s election will undoubtedly come as a relief for international students exploring MBAs, colleges, and other programs in the U.S.

But given years of unwelcoming policies toward immigrants under the Trump administration and a loss of foreign students because of the Covid-19 pandemic, winning them back may not happen overnight.

Take Thao Phuong Le, 27, who grew up in Hanoi, Vietnam. She graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania, earned a master’s in finance at Villanova University, and went home to work as an equity research analyst in Vietnam for four years. When it came time to look at MBA programs, she didn’t even bother applying to a U.S. school out of fear and frustration over U.S. policies. She arrived at Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in October.

“Canada is a country that applauds international diversity,” says Le, whose younger brother also enrolled at the school for a master’s degree after graduating from Villanova. “Compared to the U.S., Canada has become more and more welcoming.”
 

Biden’s Election Will Lure MBA Students Back to the U.S., But Not Overnight

Such sentiments could pose problems for U.S. universities, even as a Biden presidency is expected to put out the welcome mat by eliminating anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions, making it easier for U.S. companies to hire skilled workers from overseas, and reversing the ban on visitors from a number of predominantly Muslim countries.

The stakes are higher at business schools, which rely more heavily on foreign students. According to a Bloomberg Businessweek Best B-Schools analysis of the magazine’s top 20 U.S. schools, foreign students make up 29.5% of the class that began at elite schools in August or September, down from 34.9% two years ago. In contrast, international students represent 5.5% of all students in U.S. higher education, according to the Open Doors report by the U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International Education. That report, which tracked the 2019-20 school year, showed a 1.8% decline in students from abroad—even before the pandemic struck.

In a further indication of the challenges, the proportion of international students applying to U.S. full-time MBA programs in 2016 was 50% of total applicants. By 2020, the share of foreign applicants had declined to 35%, according to Rahul Choudaha, director of Industry Insights & Research Communications at the Graduate Management Admission Council, which owns and administers the Graduate Management Admission Test.

The rest of the planet, especially in the English-speaking world, didn’t stand still. Canada has a national policy to encourage immigrants. Le, the Rotman student, was met at the Toronto airport by representatives from the school, who also arranged her two-week quarantine and a ride to her hotel.

Biden’s Election Will Lure MBA Students Back to the U.S., But Not Overnight

To respond, U.S. schools can also take fresh steps to attract students, says Rich DeCapua, founding president of the Global Alliance for International Student Advancement.

“They can rebrand how the U.S. is welcoming,” says DeCapua, who worked in student services with international students for two decades at schools that include Brandeis, Boston College, and Northeastern University. The reversal of some policies, including the ban affecting predominantly Muslim countries, would help, he says. So would not limiting the length of stay, as the Trump administration proposed in September.

Like at many business schools, the numbers have declined at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, where international enrollments for the entering class fell to 28% this year from 35% last year. Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, dean and professor of finance, says a priority and challenge for Tepper will be to continue to draw international students despite travel restrictions and the temporary closure of embassies that issue visas. 

“The strength of our nation has always been linked to our ability to attract the world’s top talent and, in particular, the ability to bring top brains from so many different countries to work side-by-side with Americans,” Bajeux-Besnainou says. 

The issue is personal for her: She is an immigrant born in Paris who became a U.S. Citizen. “I believed in this country and its unique ability to foster freedom and innovation,” Bajeux-Besnainou says. 

University of North Carolina’s Flagler School of Business also faced a drop in international enrollments though an unexpected surge of applications and enrollments from domestic students at UNC blunted the decline for the semester that began this fall.

“It remains to be seen if there’s any brand erosion,” says Dean Douglas Shackelford. “If we perceive that there is, we’re going to roll out a welcome mat. We want you at Chapel Hill.”

It may be an important message, especially for international students who have been in the U.S. under the Trump administration. Liam Chai, a 21-year-old senior from Taiwan now at the University of Chicago, studying neuroscience and minoring in human rights, says he may not want to pursue graduate studies in the U.S. While he’s set for a consulting job in the U.S. when he completes his degree, he may decide to return home to Taiwan, perhaps to obtain a master’s degree in public health.

“My reservation is that, having been here in the U.S. over the last 3 ½ years, I’ve seen so much that is wrong with the country, and I don’t think most of these things are going to be changed with a Biden administration,” Chai says.

Read More: Foreign Enrollment at U.S. Colleges Drops by Most Since 2003

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