A camera crew from Hong Kong shadowed and interviewed three Chinese students at Ball State University for a two-part documentary that will air this fall on Chinese national television.
"I am very excited about this because Ball State University is a very good university but many Chinese [students] don't know about it," Lin Ma, entrepreneurship graduate student, said.
The United States Departments of Education and Commerce, and the Department of the State are contributing money for the documentary, Martin Bennett, director of International Services, said. The U.S. is being pro-active in an effort to catch-up with its main foreign competitors, which already have federal funds aiding recruitment of international students, he said.
"The federal government is waking up to the fact that bringing international students in is a good thing for the country," Bennett said.
The camera crew will visit 14 universities, ranging from Ball State to Johns Hopkins University. Schools were chosen based on opportunities they offer.
The documentary will show the students' experiences at Ball State and will contain information about the university's dual-degree program, Bennett said.
The program involves students studying in China for one year, coming to Ball State for two years and spending the last year in China, he said. Only seven universities in the U.S. offer dual-degree programs, he said.
"It's called a dual-degree program because students get degrees from Ball State and the Chinese university," Bennett said.
Student's schedules are planned to ensure the proper number of classes are taken to achieve the dual degrees, he said.
Ball State became involved with this program in 2004, he said. Last fall, two students participated, and this semester 24 students are in it, Bennett said.
"In winter of 2004 the international program of Ball State went to my home university and did a lecture to encourage us to study in America," Yikun Yang, said.
The number of partner schools in China increased from three to 28, accounting for the change in participants, Bennett said.
"Last fall the students came from two of our three partners in China," he said. "This semester the 24 students represent 12 of our partner institutions."
Bennett said some of the schools only enter into the agreement to keep pace with their competitors and may not plan to be actively involved.
Ball State set the maximum number of students that would be accepted each semester at 24 or 25 in order to manage the growth of the International Studies program, Bennett said.
He also said monitoring each student's country of origin prevents the overrepresentation of one country on campus.
Total international enrollment is between 150 and 194, Bennett said.
China is second only to India in the amount of students sent to study in the United States.
With the program students can study computer science, business administration and telecommunications, Bennett said.
The degrees offered are chosen based on what the students demand, what may not be the most practical topic to study in China and what departments are willing and able to accommodate the students, he said.
"We could bring in wonderful students but are the resources here at the university to take care of them once they're here," Bennett said about initial concerns about the program.
Throughout the application process Ball State helps students transition to a new country.
Before accepting students, Bennett goes to China for two weeks to prepare the students for the questions that will be asked of them during the interview for their student visas.
"It's very hard to get an American visa," Yang said. "Marty [Bennett] interviewed each of us and told us lots of details and what kinds of things you should do to prepare, what questions you need to answer and what documents you'll need to present," he said.
Part of the difficulty in attaining a visa is the government's concern about students staying beyond the visas allotted time.
"The [dual degree] program's set-up requires the students to go back to China," Bennett said. "Parents have to pay a deposit to ensure their student's return."
Once arriving on campus, students participate in a weeklong orientation that helps them with the in move-in process as well as getting a social security number, opening bank accounts and finding jobs, he said.
After moving in, a series of both social and culturally informative events occur on the first and third Friday of each month, Bennett said.
These events are designed to allow students to educate each other and the university about cultural diversity, he said.
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