There has been explosive growth in the international-education "industry" over the past three decades. What is fueling this growth?

The primary reason is the growing demand for higher education worldwide-particularly in Asia-largely as the result of two factors: improvements in secondary-school systems and increased affluence, both of which have created a demand for higher education that cannot be met, given the limited institutional capacity in these countries. In addition, the emergence of a global marketplace has increased the demand for transnational competence and international experience, especially in the professions. Despite major increases in tuition charges at U.S. colleges and universities, and decreases in federal financial aid to foreign students, international student enrollment in the U.S. has grown rapidly, from 53,107 in 1960 to 514,723 in 2000.

	Dunnett

The U.S. Department of Commerce ranks international-education services as a large part of the American service-sector gross national product. How much money do American universities bring in by selling U.S. educational products overseas?

The total economic contribution of the more than half million international students and their dependents in 1999-2000 was estimated by NAFSA: Association of International Educators to be approximately $13.3 billion, up 9 percent from the previous year. In 1998, education was the United States' fifth-largest service-sector export. New York State is second only to California in the number of international students it receives-55,085 in 1999-2000. These students and their dependents contributed an estimated $1,602,642,736-or $37,397 per student-to the economy of New York State in 1999-2000.

What about in Western New York? Is international education a financial boon to the region?

By all means. A Dec. 8, 1998, article in The Buffalo News conservatively estimated the contribution of foreign students to the Western New York economy to be around $50 million-an amount that represented "a pocketbook punch more significant that the Buffalo Bills." In fact, NAFSA calculates that international students at UB alone contributed more than $63 million to the local economy in 1999-2000. For UB, as for many public institutions, international students are desirable, in part, because of the higher-out-of-state-tuition they pay. However, economic impact is only one of the benefits-and not necessarily the most important-that international students bring to UB. International students are valuable assets in many ways, advancing the university's research and teaching missions, internationalizing the university community, and enriching the cultural and intellectual life of the campus.

What about numbers? How many overseas students attend UB today, compared to 30 years ago? How many UB students study overseas?

In Fall 2000, UB enrolled some 2,400 international students-not counting those enrolled in the English Language Institute-or about 9.7 percent of the university's total enrollment. Thirty years ago, UB enrolled approximately 500 international students. In 1998-1999, 178 UB students participated in an overseas study program, up from 169 in the previous year. This number is probably under-reporting between 25-50 students, since we have no way to track UB students participating in non-SUNY programs. In 1999-2000, UB sent a total of 260 students abroad, including students from other institutions.

Only 30 years ago, most "international education" programs involved student exchanges with Mexico and Western Europe. What has changed since then? What is the status of programs in Africa and Eastern Europe? The Pacific Rim?

Changing economic and geopolitical circumstances around the world have greatly affected the nature and scope of international programs. U.S. programs have moved away from their Eurocentric focus to embrace virtually the entire globe. In the past 30 years, for example, we have seen the economic ascendancy of Asia and a corresponding increase in enrollments of students from that region, as well as a proliferation of overseas academic programs in Asian countries. In 1980, UB was one of the first U.S. universities to establish an exchange program with a major Chinese university-the Beijing Municipal System of Higher Education-a program that continues to this day. In 1984, UB was awarded the contract for the first MBA program to be offered in China. UB developed the $15 million Malaysian cooperative-education program in 1986, followed by other programs in Indonesia and Taiwan. More recently, UB developed EMBA programs in Singapore and China, and is partnering with Konan University of Japan to deliver an innovative economics and business administration program. The collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989 created opportunities for much greater involvement by UB in Central and Eastern Europe. That year saw the beginning of negotiations leading to the landmark exchange agreement with the Jagiellonian University in Poland. UB had a major role in the SUNY project in Hungary to promote private-enterprise development. The university also was a key player in the development of the Riga Business School in Latvia, which offers a Western-style MBA program. In the past five years, the university's institutional activities in Africa have focused primarily on two exchange programs-the first with the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, established in 1995, and the other with Addis Ababa University (AAU) in Ethiopia, established in 1999.

Why don't we have more programs in Latin America?

Actually, in recent years UB has become increasingly active in the Americas. The university has had a number of long-standing exchange programs in the region, such as the one with Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico. Several professional schools maintain active linkages with institutions in Latin America. The most visible new initiative in the region has been the highly successful program at the University of Havana (UH), Cuba, which was developed by Professor Jose Buscaglia in 1997. Fall 2001 will see the launch of the new joint master's degree program in Caribbean Studies offered by UB and UH.

Which programs are you most proud of setting up?

Since international education is by its very nature a collaborative endeavor and often involves many persons working together, I take pride, not in what I have done alone, but in what the university as a whole has been able to accomplish in the international area. Some of the programs that UB can be especially proud of include our pioneering and durable exchange program with the Beijing Municipal System of Higher Education; the cooperative education program in Malaysia; our assistance program in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the first organized by an American university in that country since the Khmer Rouge takeover in 1975, and our landmark exchange program with the Jagiellonian University.

What question do you wish I had asked, and how would you have answered it?