Tatiana Babkina works in the American Information Center
in Yekaterinburg, Russia, advising students who want to
study in the United States. Part of the job involves running
pre-departure orientations to prepare students for the
experience of studying abroad.
But, until very recently, Babkina had never been to the
States herself. That put her in the awkward position of
piecing together an everything-you-need-to-know session
based on what she could glean from books, pamphlets and
the Internet.
 |
INTERNATIONAL GATHERING: (above, from
left)
Sarah Kersey-Otto, acting director of EMU's Career
Services Center, meets with Education USA advisers
Mini Buju Daniels of India; Tatiana Babkina of Russia;
Elia Bautista of Mexico; Michelle Mak of Hong Kong;
and Nina Vranesvic of Croatia. The international
education
advisers visited EMU May 20 as part of a
program
backed by the U.S. Department of State. |
"We have plenty of resources on how to write an essay,
when to study for a test, but here I would like to see
the whole picture," said Babkina, one of five overseas
educational advisers who visited EMU May 20 as part of
a program backed by the U.S. Department of State. "I'm
much more confident now. I can tell them (students) about
the great facilities, great libraries, classes, buildings
and career centers."
Babkina and advisers from offices in Croatia, Hong Kong,
India and Mexico also visited Siena Heights University,
the University of Michigan and Washtenaw Community College
in a weeklong sampler of higher education in Michigan.
Each represents an advising center affiliated with Education
USA, a global network supported by the Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs, and the State Department.
In their home countries, the five women help young people
interested in overseas study find the colleges and universities
that fit them best. To give them a better understanding
of the options, Education USA pays for 25 advisers to visit
institutions in five different regions of the country each
year.
"When an overseas adviser knows a place, they're going
to talk to a student more warmly and more familiarly," said
Dibya Choudhuri, an EMU professor of counseling, who led
a tour of EMU's counseling clinic and was an educational
adviser herself in Bombay, India, before she came to EMU.
The experience is less about making a sales pitch, more
about just making contact, said Choudhuri, who used to
host foreign visitors at her offices in India.
"It could even be the nuts and bolts of applying," Choudhuri
said. "Just having a face to connect it with makes a difference,
and we'd see enrollments and interest go up."
At EMU, accompanied by Claudia Bean, assistant director
of international admissions, the advisers met with admissions
and graduate school staff, and international faculty and
had an opportunity to talk with representatives from each
of EMU's colleges. They toured the library and the Coatings
Research Institute, learned about admissions and financial
aid processes, alumni relations and career services.
Michelle Mak, educational adviser at the Institute of
International Education (IIE) in Hong Kong, said
her visit will help her ease the concerns of parents who
only trust schools whose names they know, and many only
know the names of Ivy League schools.
"Usually, when parents come in to talk with me, one of
their big concerns is rankings and career opportunities
for their kids," said Mak. "Seeing career services, seeing
how they're helping students find jobs, will be extremely
helpful to me. Parents appreciate that. This is really
what they're looking for."
Nina Vranesevic, educational programs coordinator at the
Institute for Development of Education in Zagreb, Croatia,
said her U.S. visits will help her answer her students'
practical questions about studying abroad. According to
the IIE's Open Doors report, there were 539 Croatian students
enrolled in U.S. colleges in 2007, but Vranesevic's offices
took 10,752 inquiries about study opportunities in the
U.S.
"Eastern would be a school, (judging) by its standards
and campus community, that would be good for Croatian students," Vranesevic
said. "They (Croatian students) like an urban setting,
but not too urban."
Elia Bautista, outreach office coordinator for IIE Mexico,
was interested in learning more about EMU's College of
Education. Bautista comes from a region where academic
scores are among the lowest in Mexico.
"We have a school of education at my home university,
but we don't have a graduate program," she said. "I want
my students to have a graduate education with quality.
I want the students to come to this university and check
it out."
Like Babkina, Mini Buju Daniels, of the U.S. Educational
Foundation in India Fulbright Commission, was relieved
to finally have a firsthand experience to share with students.
"Now, it's alive," she said. "Now I'm able to advise students
in a much more proper way. I know the warmth. I'm overwhelmed
by the affection we've received."
Daniels is based in New Delhi, one of four USEFI offices
in India, which sent 449,969 students to the U.S. in 2007.
Even though Eastern is considered more of a regional
university, welcoming international students helps give
all EMU students a global experience, Choudhuri said.
"And one of the things we can do in the U.S. to
change our image is if international students come here
and have a good experience," she said. "Then, they're going
to have a positive feeling and a fondness that you really
can't replicate."
