Foreign and Foreign-Born Engineers in the United States Infusing Talent, Raising Issues (1988) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix D: Commissioned Papers Presented at the Workshop
Appendix D: Commissioned Papers Presented at the Workshop
Pages 89-184
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From page 89... ...
Falk · Cn Foreign Engineers In Academe: Daniel C Drucker Effect of Foreign Nationals on Federally Supported Laboratories: Glenn W
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From page 91... ...
To me, this illustrates several points about the Me of foreign engineers in our labor market: · We have a strong market for engineering graduates in spite of large foreign Inflows. o We wed have a serials shortage if foreign nationals did not enter air work force.
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From page 92... ...
, Open Institute of International Education, 1986. Doors, 1985-86, New York: FIGURE D-1 Number of foreign engineering students at all levels, 19551986.
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From page 93... ...
schools have had relatively little difficulty staying in the United States to work, especially if they wanted to stay for graduate work. What seems to shock people about the rising importance of foreign nationals in U.S.
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There was a definite Shift ~ federal polity away freon fellowships to individual students, with the ~ tation that increasing numbers would be supported as research assistants on projects supported by the federal government. I suggest that one unintended consequence of this shift away from fellowship support is increased federal support for foreign nationals.
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From page 95... ...
In particular, the social sciences and most of the life sciences are fields where employers seldom report shortages, where salaries are relatively Can, and where ff,e foreign nationals make up a relatively small proportion of the near entrants into our work force each y-;.r, when ~r" with engineering. The exceptions to these generalizations are a ~ st all exceptions that procure the genera]
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From page 96... ...
Anecdotal reports indicate that some foreign nationals who work in the United States for large U.S.-headquartered, multinational firms will be transferred to foreign sit-= within the same multinational firm. Firms ~ ght, for example, be starting a new laboratory outside The United States and wish to provide training and experience at a similar U.S.
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From page 97... ...
I hen ermines the 1983 and 1985 response ~= for all of the 1981 respondents, calculating response rates separately for those born ~ the United States, those born abroad but who were U.S. citizens in 1981, foreign nationals on permanent visas in 1981, and foreign nationals with temporary visas in 1981.
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From page 98... ...
mess eng Beer Meg doctorates tend to be relatively older compared with other immigrant engineers, have probably been in the United States for a longer ~ lad of time, and thus Bight be expected to have a lower emigration rate. Another way to examine the plausibility of the emigration rate estimates shown in Table D-3 is to use them to estimate total emigration during the period.
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From page 99... ...
~ fauna no support at all for the notion that foreign nationals working In the Unity States withal any degrees freon U.S. universities might earn less; but this is a small group, and ever if we act this weak evil (n~ significant at the 0.05 level)
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From page 100... ...
~ do, however, concur that foreign eng meers probably depress earn mgs below what they would be in their absence. Based on existing empirical research of the eng meeting labor market, I think the following is hard to disagree with: if foreign engineers had not been allowed to enter the U.S.
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Would it affect cur view of the desirability of foreign engineers in the U.S. labor market?
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What about emigration? If some of the foreign nationals emigrate, waNld that reduce the net gains to the United States from admitting foreign sbudents?
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From page 103... ...
To see the benefit of foreign veneers, consid~rwhat weld happen if the entry of foreign engineers were res;tricted. Me tot immigration qua would almost certainly be filled, but the average skill level of immigrants would decline.
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From page 104... ...
1984. Foreign Engineers in the Whited States: Immigration or Importation?
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From page 105... ...
labor market was extensively used as a secondary source for the bacX3rcund of this study. tative in nature inasmuch as it aims to get a handle on such nonquantifiable issues as the advantages and disadvantages of employing foreign engineers, the role of the immigrant engineer in U.S.
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From page 106... ...
describe barriers to the hiring of foreign engineers; 0 Determine the prospects for growth of the foreign engineer into upper-level management and the role (if any) that cultural and language differences play in the conduct of business and the calculus of growth; Determine the level of interest in the subject of foreign engineers in U.S.
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From page 107... ...
Gt~ ~2 labor force. Abortion of 1984 were foreign nationals foreign engineers in the U.S.
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From page 108... ...
more than half of all new engineering Ph.D.s entering the work force are foreign nationals. Can we infer "dependency" from such 108
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From page 109... ...
Would the United States suffer if it lost nearly one-fifth of its engineering work force? Can it remain competitive with only half as many engineering Ph.D.s?
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From page 110... ...
Respondents from consumer-oriented businesses said that communication difficulties arising from language differences were real problems. In a later question concerned with the prospects for growth of the foreign engineer into upper management, language difficulties were repeatedly mentioned as factors.
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From page 111... ...
As far as foreign nationals are concerned, the Denigration and Nationality AM prom vices Cat a foreign national (aireac3y In the United States) van seeks i~mnigrant stabs for the purpose of E - Cement is ineligible to receive such a visa and is then excluded fen admission into the Unit States at this the.
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From page 112... ...
The only outstanding foreign engineer "issue" that seemed to be on the mints of those with whom the author spoke concerned whether such personnel would be allowed to become naturalized citizens and remain in the United States after a term of employment. Interestingly, a further search of the IRI membership handbook reveals that at that 12 percent of the senior R&D managers frog the Fortune 500 were foreign born or foreign-tra~ned -- an observation that brings us back to my survey an]
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From page 113... ...
At present, IBM is the only one of these four giant multinationals with a non-American director on its board. TO ISSUE AS ISSUE m e last questions on the survey were t'Does the subject of the ~ncreasing presence of foreign engineers in U.S.
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From page 114... ...
ache discussions that the issue was irrelevant. The only problem pointed to by survey r~porxtents was the saw as that pointed to ~ discussion -- na~y, the problem that wed arise Chard a significantly go ~ ter proportion of foreign engineer'; choose to return to their rmtive countries.
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From page 115... ...
Rearing ~ mire that and report commissioned by the study c~mitt~ of the ARC will explore the subject, a Short brief on the education issue is ~ order. As one Ray validly infer freon Finn's stay, the employment of foreign nations s In Africans corporations is dirty linked to the presence of foreign students in American colleges.
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From page 116... ...
i.~ __ ,. ~ 1955 1960 1970 1980 1985 O Business/Ed Humanities OScience 63 Engineering lIG[~E D-6 Distribution of foreign students, ~, field of sandy, 1955 116
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From page 118... ...
Americans choosing c~ in the sciences arm engineering, we are increasir~ly depe bent on foreign nationals in scene of the most important specialties" (Bloch, 1986)
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From page 119... ...
The artificial barriers to entry must be layered. mere is an urgerlt Seraphic and market need to signify current regulations so as to make it easier for American ir~s~cry to employ foreign-born graduate students.
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From page 120... ...
engineering fields is warranted, and a major agenda for strengthening the educational system at all levels is imperative. As far as foreign engineers themselves are concerned, the lead~rship for altering and extending the value screen to enable the proper use of the large number of foreign graduate students presently in America's technical schools properly rests with the present and next generation of Amerir~'s industrial research managers, a group that, as we have seen, contains a remarkable representation of the foreign-born themselves.
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D s in the United States are awarded to foreign nationals.
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5. What are the prospects for growth into upper management for the foreign engineer?
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From page 125... ...
Conseq~en~y, considerations of incentives to at~cract more American engineering students into graduate sway TmSt Cake into account the skates of bo ~ cur ~ nt arm near-fubare job markets. To assist In such evaluations information about the current icb ~ rket for eng meers is presented.
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From page 126... ...
. .'t Hammerer, this labor market has, as yawn above, deteriorated further.
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From page 127... ...
An effort is made to cover · the broad spectrum of important topics related to foreign engineers An academe, from undergraduate students to professorial staff. Among these are the questions raised by those who cbeerve the increasing fraction of the foreign-born among the professoriate and the current dominance at the entry level of foreign-born assistant professors who received their undergraduate engineering education in developing ccuntries.
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From page 128... ...
Many of our very best engineering graduate students came from abroad. At most of cur research universities, The proportion of foreign graduate students in almost all of the eng Leering departments has exceeded a level that raises questions and concerns among many oonstibuencies in both the public an]
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From page 129... ...
prof-~soriate mainstream of ence" in all fact, despite students, and professorial staff in engi Such groups were viewed by most of the at most of the schools of engineering as not in the engineering. Many thought of them as a "foreign influthe then-negative connotations of that term.
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From page 130... ...
I] NDE~ ENGINEERING STUDENTS Under 10 pement of a:~1 undergraduate degrees in engineering are abed to foreigners.
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From page 131... ...
that these additions to the professorial staff have been selected by the existing staff, which is still dominantly native-born in alJ[ost all departments -of all engineering schools. The choices reflect the traditional art yet continually evolving judgments of relative quakier amoral all those availably e for academic positions.
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From page 132... ...
Will future undergraduate curricula take on still more of a backward look than today? In most instances the undergraduate engineering education given to our new assistant p~vf~~sors in their he country was a copy or reflection of U.S.
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How many ultimately acme back to the United States? · How are graduate engineering curricula, design, and pace of 1nstruction changing to meet the needs of foreign students?
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From page 134... ...
There is such a shortage of promising domestic graduate sbudents aiming for an eng veering Ph.D. degree that they are not and will not be displaced by foreign applicants, although a superb foreign graduate student may be given a higher priority than an ordinary domestic one.
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From page 135... ...
~ con view that a mediocre Bert increases the load on a faculty Beer because esr~i~ done oust be checked with care, and that a ~ rginal student is for worse, clearly is not shared by the majority of professors. As a consequence, it seems clear to me that the average quality of foreign graduate students in engineering has declined appreciably over the past 15 or so years.
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From page 136... ...
Scme of the foreign students return to their homeland, but the major reason for the drastic reduction is the purposeful choice of a nonacademic career by so large a fraction of the very best Ph.D.s. The average quality of engineering graduate students, foreign and domestic, has decreased appreciably for several reasons.
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From page 137... ...
Also, they too now suffer frmn a significant and worriers dense in highly qualified domestic students.
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From page 138... ...
ucation Present-day eng Leering undergraduate students are the best engineering students ever, superior in their verbal ability to most students on campus and vastly superior in their mathematical ability. They quality has ~r~ the lesser~ng of the quality in their education.
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From page 139... ...
The computer revolution In industry and education provides strong evidence that the principle we agreed upon in eng peering education three decades ago remains valid today. At that time, we abandoned the earlier mcde of eng Bearing education with its strong emphasis on current practice and its absence of research orientation.
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From page 140... ...
. Participation In cross-discipl mary research activities of the high intellectual character visualized In the guidelines for Engineering Resc arc h Centers would provide an extremely valuable component of engineering education for undergraduate as well as Graduate students.
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From page 141... ...
Furthermore, the severe shortage of available faculty of appropriate quality has degraded the average quality of engineering education ~ this country aver the past 10 years. This "crisis in engineering education" is exacerbated by the great increase in the number of undergraduate eng peering students, students of the highest quality ever, but would persist were the numbers to be cut in half.
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From page 143... ...
- present erg of the junior year. :Cn 1900 that level was But He pent ~ of Air =~ sore year.
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Bucker to the American Association of Engineering Societies, Port St. Lllcie, Florida, Bay 6, 1982.
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The robber of the NAE [Nation31 Academy of Engineering] and those honored by the engineering societies bear ample witness to the ability and suor==n of this component of the professorial staff as sell as those earlier engineering Ph.D.s.
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From page 147... ...
minorities. Opinions vary on how to best resolve some of the questions that arise concerning foreign nationals.
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From page 148... ...
institutions, particularly at the graduate level, and owing to a large foreign interest in exploiting technical developments from this country, it is important to assess the effect of foreign nationals in our laboratories on our eco, nomic competitiveness and on our military security. The federally funded laboratories produce a large fraction of the research and development (R&D)
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From page 149... ...
graduates will be foreign students on temporary visas and thus probably will be unavailable! ' (Committee on the E5ucation and Utilization of the Engineer, 1985)
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In fact, as we Shall see, many foreign students make successful bic3s to remain In the United States. Today, In saw tonics fields, foreign graduates outn ~ ber citizens.
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To the extent that foreign nationals affect these mte~ctions, we Dust brooders the focus of this study. Wile the statistics ~ntrcx3~ above give she useful perspecfives, many questions a ~ ut the effects of foreign nationals cannot be quantified on the basis of data that the author could identify.
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From page 152... ...
. requirements and pay scales that influence relations with foreign nationals relative to citizens.
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From page 153... ...
Although basic science is supposed to be widely shared, according to government directives, one frequently finds difficulty in dist mguishing basic science from developments that can lead quite directly to commercialization or improved weapons. Such uncertainties create problems in dealing with foreign nationals in t ~ ology.
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From page 154... ...
(1983184) SOURCE: "Foreign Students in Science and Engineering, Nature 321 (6071)
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From page 155... ...
The author has not local a data source for graduate-lesrel scents In other nations; ~t In the Union States, there is a huh greater concentration of foreign nationals at the gee ~ ever. Moreover, this concentration is rising.
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From page 156... ...
de-trees was about 40 percent. ~ , , and during the same year the portion of foreign students Presently, about 60 ner J .
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From page 157... ...
ACTS OF FOREIGN NAIIoNALS Noting Practices In my limited queries of federally supported laboratories, I found that those engaged in defense research rarely or never hired foreign nationals. Mast other laboratories had a strong preference for citizens but were willing to apply for immigration for very exceptional candidates.
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From page 158... ...
This may be one reason that foreign students preferentially seek advanced training. In future years many of these for eignem will have attained citizenship and may become the bosses of those who sought more immediate cash returns.
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From page 159... ...
Even when a subject is unclassified, it may fall under export control regulations, or it may have consciences In cc~3rcial cc~r~etitiven==s. For ~nstance, foreign students Frau Ordain countries are forgiven access to suits.
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From page 160... ...
Interaction with Industry mat Employs Foreign Natiormls A similar set of circumstances surrounds interactions at national laboratories engaged in national defense work with industry when in~ustry employs foreign nationals. Many laboratories find it more difficult or strategically unwise to have extensive interactions with foreign nationals, even though they may be employed by American industry.
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From page 161... ...
degrees awarded to foreign nationals hovering near 50 percent, we expect to see increased numbers of these individuals in the U.S. labor force.
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From page 162... ...
Candidates. Postgraduate Plans of U.S.=rra~ned Foreign Students in Science and Engineering (Report No.
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From page 163... ...
One-h~1f of the joint sem mars are held in Japan, and fewer Americans are supported for travel to them than for travel to seminars in the Unity States. We can asinine, then, that since cooperative Resear~h participants aft always go to Japan, about 1,000 American eIlgineer,; went to Japan under this pr~rmn in 25 years.
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From page 164... ...
Since Japan has a number of notable achievements -- ~n engineering for earthquaX e-resistant buildings, tunnels, and bridges; in mlcrcelectroni~; in manufacturing applications; and in consumer product engineering -- one wanders why so few of our engineers turn up there. The Japanese have over 13,000 science and engineering students here at any given time.
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From page 165... ...
1986. Summary Report 1985: Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities.
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From page 166... ...
1985. Foreign National Scientists art Engineers in the U.S.
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From page 167... ...
At the local level, the number of domestic graduate students in engineering is insufficient to meet the demand for research and teadhi~ assistants. The imposition of a ~ imit on the ab solute number of foreign graduate students (rather than a limit on the relative representation of foreign students)
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From page 168... ...
residents (including resident foreign students) and to nonresident foreign nationals are shags as a function of time ~ Figures ~21, 1~22, and ~23.
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From page 169... ...
HE ~7: Bachelor's, ~st~r's, arm oral Degrees ~ E=~n~rir~ Awarded Artfully to Nonr~;ident Foreign Students (m percent) year Badhelor's Master's*
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From page 170... ...
! ,,~ Forelgn 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 YEAR Master's and professional degrees awarded In Veneering, 170
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From page 171... ...
If this is the case, the importance of foreign students at the master's degree level may increase even furthers The number of doctorates in engineering awarded annoy for the period 1940-1985 is shown In Figure D-23. Also shown are the data on nonresident foreign recipients and degrees awarded to U.S.
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From page 172... ...
First, the steam increase in the importance of nonresident foreign recipients In both absolute and relative terms is apparent. In 1985, nonresident foreign nationals accounted for 41.4 percent (Er~ineering }dryer admission)
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From page 173... ...
institutions. The large pro portion of foreign graduate students and of doctoral degrees being awarded to foreign nationals have raised a number of concerns.
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From page 174... ...
, it can be estimated that the state of California had in 1985-86 about 10,000 foreign students in engineering and engineering technology. Again, using the figures for the United Stat-= as a whole, it can be estimated that in 1985-86 the state of C~1 ifornia had 4,300 foreign undergraduate engineering students In 4-year institutions and 3,900 foreign grade ate students in engineering.
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EC concludes Fat: (1) Qualified dc~nestic students are not being denied admission to gate programs ~ er~gin~ring and computer science because of the presence of foreign students, 175
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From page 176... ...
600 500 400 300 200 100 _ O ~I l 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 YEAR Sane : Engineering M power C ~ ission, "Engineering and Er~in~=ring Technology Degrees Granted," Ehg~neer~ng E~hcation, New York: EMC, May 1986. \ Callfoirnla, Total /\ Universlty of Calltomia FIGURE D-27 DccLoral degrees awarded in engineering, 1969-1985.
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From page 177... ...
(4) The prc portion of graduate foreign students in California ' s public universities is leer than that in the 8 e 8 ~ e pRlVa.
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From page 178... ...
THERE D-10: Up versity of California Graduate Enrollment in Eng~neer1ng, 1982-1985 Percentage Year Total Domestic Foreign Foreign 1982 3~952 2~623 l/329 33.6 1983 4~098 21803 1~295 31.6 1984 4~250 2~879 1~371 32.3 1985 4~227 2~876 1~351 32.0 TABLE Dell: U Diversity of C=1ifornla Foreign Students as Percent of Total GradNat e Enrollment ~ Eng peering, 1982-1985 U.C. Campus 1982 1983 1984 1985 Berkeley 35.1 33.8 36.6 36.8 Santa Barbara 44.2 40.6 37.1 32.7 LDS Angeles 29.3 30.4 29.7 30.2 San Diego 33.3 28.2 27.2 29.1 Davis 33.0 27.6 29.3 26.9 Irvine 30.0 23.6 22.3 24.2 Tbt=1 33.6 31.6 32.3 32.0 TABLE D-12: New Foreign Graduate Students in Engineering, University of California, 1982-1985 U.C.
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From page 179... ...
and Foreign Students, 1978-1984 Percentage yea' Region Tbt=1 U
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From page 180... ...
. His corresponds to a 33.3 percent representation for the new foreign students.
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From page 181... ...
D = dc~stic; F = foreign The Her of master's and doctoral degrees ~ engineering awarded toU.S. and foreign students by ache Un~versi~r of-1ifornia end by all institutions In the state of California and ache nation during the perial 1980-3 984 are list in Tables ~14 and ~15.
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From page 182... ...
At the present time, the Anne production of domestic doctorates In engineering is insufficient to meet the beaching and research demands of engineering schools as well as the nets of industry and government. Out of necessity, a significant portion of new appointments is going to foreign nationals.
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From page 183... ...
1987. The impact of foreign students on engineering education in the Um ted States.
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From page 184... ...
U.S. Depar~t of Education.
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