Mandi Kanhema, a student from Zimbabwe studying at the University of Oklahoma, says international students face hidden barriers and a lack of resources. She talks about them here. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentMost members of the U.S. Congress have stood firmly behind Israel since the Hamas attack last month, but not Cori Bush. The Missouri Democrat called Israel’s response a “war crime” and an “ethnic cleansing campaign,” and was among the few House members who opposed a resolution supporting Israel. Her unwavering stance has angered some in her district. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell on Monday dropped a U.S. Senate bid to challenge Bush in next year’s 1st District Democratic primary, and moderate Democrats believe he could win. Bush isn’t alone. She’s among a small group of Democrats viewed bymore
Leave a commentFor the first time in 15 years, China is no longer the top source of international students in the United States. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that as of September, there were more than 320,000 active Indian student-visa holders, compared with 254,000 from China. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentIsabella McNutt, a student from Budapest, Hungary, studying at the College of William & Mary in the U.S. state of Virginia, went to her first American football game at the school. “It’s a surreal daydream of dressing up in gold and green and going to tailgates before herds of students flood the stadium to see a series of fumbles, sacks and, hopefully, a touchdown or two,” she writes in The Flat Hat, the student newspaper. Read her story here. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentKae Takazawa, a student from Japan studying at El Camino College in California, found adjustment to campus life a rough road. Financial issues, language barriers and health problems made for a rough start. Takazawa writes about the experience in The Union, the school’s newspaper. Read it here. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentThe U.S. House of Representatives plans a vote on Thursday on a Republican plan to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel by cutting Internal Revenue Service funding, setting up a clash with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House. Republicans unveiled the bill on Monday, in the first major legislative action under new House Speaker Mike Johnson, despite President Joe Biden’s request for a broad $106 billion package that would include funding for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid. The bill will face its first test of support in a morning procedural vote, a hurdle it needsmore
Leave a commentThe recent mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, sent college students in the area into lockdown. One of them was Alan Wang, a 21-year-old student from China who studies at Bates College. He spoke to Diego Lasarte of The New Yorker about the experience and how it’s changed his opinion of the U.S. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentActivists, donors, students and the media are reading university statements carefully. With reputations and donations on the line, presidents are struggling to find the right words. Nick Anderson of The Washington Post has more. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentDavid Obiukwu, a student from Nigeria studying at Allen Community College in the U.S. state of Kansas, talks about his experiences as an international student and gives advice on adjusting to college life. Read his comments in The Allen Flame, the student newspaper, here. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentThe U.S. House of Representatives will vote Wednesday on whether to expel New York Representative George Santos because of his indictments for corruption. Santos pleaded not guilty to a 23-count federal indictment on October 27 that included charges of laundering funds to pay for his personal expenses, illegally receiving unemployment benefits and using donors’ credit cards without their consent. The charges also include Santos reporting a false $500,000 campaign loan and lying to the House about his assets. The 35-year-old lawmaker has seen his congressional career marred by controversy since its beginning, when it was revealed that much of themore
Leave a commentU.S. President Joe Biden has nominated Kurt Campbell, the U.S. National Security Council’s coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs, to be the State Department’s No. 2 diplomat behind Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In an email obtained by VOA and addressed to State Department staff members, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Campbell’s nomination “comes at a critical inflection point,” coinciding with the United States’ investment in an “unmatched network of alliances and partnerships” in the Indo-Pacific. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Campbell will replace Wendy Sherman, who retired on July 28. Campbell was assistant secretary of state formore
Leave a commentPrinceton student Ukyung (Heidi) Nam, a first-year student from South Korea, says that the school’s International Orientation program needs to do a better job of educating students on race in America. “IO [International Orientation] shouldn’t stop at teaching about topical and logistical issues, such as visas and paid work,” she writes in The Daily Princetonian, the student newspaper. “It must integrate an actual session on race and the history and culture of racism in the United States into its programming.” Read her opinion piece here. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentPurdue University Fort Wayne has enrolled 182 international students from 22 countries, making it its largest group of first-year international students ever. Inside Indiana Business has the story. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentAdults over 60 serve in many of the highest offices in the US …
Leave a commentU.S. News & World Report takes a look at EducationUSA, a network of advising centers supported to the U.S. State Department. Its mission is to help students who want to study in the U.S. According to the story, EducationUSA has some 430 advising centers in more than 175 countries and territories. The centers can help students find the best school for them and help with the admission process. Read the full story here. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentKharbarhub.com, a news site from Nepal, walks international students through the process of getting a U.S. student visa in this article. It includes information about applying and interviewing for a visa. Read the full story here. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentAs colleges become battlegrounds for U.S. politics, and face declining enrollments, educators are worried that they have lost the American public’s trust. One way to fix this might be to expand access to online degrees. Michael D. Smith, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, argues that academics should embrace digitization as a means of saving the institutions they work for. Read his take in the Chronicle of Higher Education. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentStudent activists in the U.S. have long championed both the Israeli and Palestinian causes. Amid the war between Israel and Hamas, many students report feeling threatened for their opinions. Activists claim to have been doxed (when your identity is unwillingly leaked to the public) and threatened online. Douglas Belkin and Melissa Korn speak to students affected for the Wall Street Journal. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentKatalina Karikó won the award for helping pioneer mRNA technology, which was used to develop the COVID-19 vaccine. Before that, she fled authoritarian Hungary, failed to earn tenure and toiled as an underpaid research assistant for years, with few taking her ideas seriously. Yet she never gave up on her research. In this op-ed for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dr. Priya E. Mammen insists that Karikó’s accomplishment is “nothing short of heroic.” …
Leave a commentStudents can expect to pay $40,000 to $80,000 per academic year to attend a four-year American college or university, but there are ways to drastically reduce costs if you are an international student set on studying in the U.S. VOA’s Laurel Bowman has more. Camera: Adam Greenbaum, Saqib Ul Islam …
Leave a commentSonoma State University, a public institution in California, is offering guaranteed admission to any high school student who meets the minimum academic standards. In doing so, it joins university systems like the State University of New York, which sent 125,000 automatic acceptance letters last year. The scheme could expand access to education by reaching students who otherwise wouldn’t or couldn’t apply. Universities benefit, too, by admitting more students as the number of applications drops nationwide. Jessica Dickler has more for CNBC. (October 2023) …
Leave a commentRepublicans, whose party infighting has paralyzed the U.S. House of Representatives for three weeks, will begin again on Monday to try to pick a new speaker to lead the chamber and address funding needs for Israel, Ukraine and the federal government. Factional strife between right-wing hardliners and more mainstream Republicans led to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Oct. 3 and derailed leadership bids by two would-be successors: No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise and prominent conservative Jim Jordan. The leadership vacuum has stymied congressional action as it faces a Nov. 17 deadline to avoid a government shutdownmore
Leave a commentAll About America explores American culture, politics, trends, history, ideals and places of interest. Hispanics are now the largest population group in Texas, surpassing non-Hispanic white residents who have outnumbered other racial groups in the state since at least 1850. The switch likely happened in late 2021 but was not officially confirmed until the U.S. Census released official population numbers in June 2023. The numbers show that Hispanics have been the state’s largest population group at least since July 2022. Texas officials were expecting the change. “A significant proportion of that was being driven by more births than deaths,” saysmore
Leave a commentWith three months to go before the Iowa caucuses that he has staked his campaign on, former Vice President Mike Pence faces mounting debt and lagging poll numbers that are forcing questions about not only whether he will qualify for the next debate, but whether it makes sense for him to remain in the race until then. Pence ended September with just $1.18 million left in his campaign account, a strikingly low number for a presidential contest and far less than his rivals, new filings show. His campaign also has $621,000 in debt — more than half the cash hemore
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