Merit-based green cards a good idea

When we think of advanced careers for our future graduate students, we often leave international graduates out of the equation.

They study at American research universities but then must return to their country of origin because their visas are temporary.

Legislation proposed last week by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) harmoniously and sensibly reconcile the American higher education system and immigration mechanism.

Known as the STAR Act, or Securing the Talent America Requires for the 21st Century Act, this proposal would secure long-term economic stability and would strengthen the UCLA community.

The STAR Act attempts to overhaul the immigration system by allocating green cards won through lotteries to students with science, technology, engineering or mathematics, or STEM, graduate degrees from U.S. universities.

A removal of current expiration dates on international student visas may reduce the graduation anxiety present in the already insecure atmosphere of UCLA as spring quarter comes to an end and job hunts begin.

With the proposed legislation, the number of green cards distributed will not increase, but will provide merit-based green cards rather than lottery-based ones.

The legislation can serve as a reminder to research universities that advanced talent ““ whether foreign or domestic ““ is worth cultivating. And in this day and age, training and retaining the most highly educated segment of the population is not only economically sensible, but economically imperative.

This happens at a time when many individuals find a return home attractive as their home countries continue developmentally improving, said William I. Newman, professor of earth and space sciences.

In the face of circumstances where people do not have the choice to stay, they simply return home and we thus train our competition, but if they had a choice, a significant number would want to stay, Newman said.

Political freedoms have not followed economic developments of countries such as China, he added.

Those students who have the opportunity to choose to remain in the United States after graduation will serve as vital knowledge workers to this century’s information- and innovation-driven economy. Retaining highly trained workers here will help jump-start vital STEM-related areas of the job market and hopefully provide a spark to the economy.

The legislation would also attract international students to research universities such as UCLA.

UCLA’s research reputation rests on the brightness of its students and professors.

Giving international students the option to receive a permanent visa also adds a reasonable incentive and rationale for those willing to apply to American universities.

Similarly, if international graduates remain in the United States and achieve scientific or work-related innovations here, these advancements will develop under an American banner and to the university’s advantage. With advanced skill sets and brain power being cultivated in the United States and then flown overseas, America’s position as an innovative global leader is on the line.

The STAR Act gives the opportunity to rectify this and secure a more stable, knowledge-driven job market.

Jing Xu, a second-year student at the graduate school of education, said she thinks the new policy proposal is an indicator for future years as to what the United States looks for in the labor force.

According to a 2010 graduate survey conducted by the UCLA Student Affairs Information and Research Office, the most popular choices of major were engineering, management and physical science.

While the legislation places other fields at a disadvantage compared to STEM programs, it offers a realistic glance of where students and politicians are placing their bets.

The argument that this would in turn stifle the domestic economy and leave domestic workers and graduates unemployed does not consider the foreign competition of the brightest minds that the United States now challenges.

It is better to induce internal competition for high-skilled labor within the United States than to allow foreign countries to easily compete against the United States with the skill set acquired at American universities.

And while it is true that not every international student will find the STAR Act attractive, establishing a mechanism that might expand the demographics of the job market is still useful.

Most Chinese students want to stay and get working experience, but they then return to their home country because of strong family ties, culture and a labor market where a United States diploma makes you stand out, Xu said.

Others unwilling to remain permanently attached to the United States might use the green card merely as a convenient travel document that bypasses the daunting process required to obtain a visa, she added.

But the STEM Act, what Republican candidate Mitt Romney has called a green card stapled to a diploma, at least logically paves the path for a more sensible and less confrontational education and immigration system in the United States.

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