Summer Nebrakan, Thursday, July 20, 1978 Paga 7
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Until two years ago, male undergraduates in Taiwan
were not allowed to leave the country for study and as a
result nearly 90 percent of all Taiwanese students in the
United States are graduate students.
Robert Kao, president of the Free China Student
Association, said that because the Taiwanese army was
undermanned there were no deferments given and all
males served two years in the army.
Two years ago, that policy was changed and now
students can choose between the army and college, he
said.
Over 3,000 students come to the United States each
year, Pam Shao, vice president of the Free China
Student Association said.
Because English is required for five years in high
school and one year in college, most students want to
study in an English-speaking country.
The United States offers the best opportunities for
graduate work, she said, compared to places like
Australia that take a limited number of students. She
could have studied in Australia, she said, but the
chances for assistantships are better in the United
States.
There are also other reasons for studying in the
United States, she said.
Kao said he also likes the "melting pot" atmosphere
in the United States and prefers the midwest as well.
"By living in the central part of the country it is
easier to travel around during vacations to the east or
west coasts," he said.
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Art by Kent Swain
Students from India come to the United States on
their own or their parents pay their way according to
Sugnyan J. Suneetha.
Few or no scholarships are given by the government
because India has many very high quality universities.
Many people find this surprising, he said, because one
usually does not equate poverty with education.
"India is one of few countries that has a lot of
educated people," Suneetha said, and so the
government does not feel justified in sending students
abroad to study what they could study in India.
As a result, many Indian students attend school
wherever they can get some form of financial aid,
according to Anandan, another Indian student.
In addition some go where there are Indian
professors under whom they can study.
Some students are familiar with Indian professors
here because they worked with them in India. The
Indian government does not allow students to leave
India for undergraduate instruction in foreign
countries.
Most of the Indian students in the United States
study science and technology. Anandan said because it
is with this background that students can return to jobs
in India.
Anandan said he believes studentgs from India
usually have fewer problems than other foreign
students because Indians know English quite well
before they come to the United States.
He said he studied English from the time he was ten-years-old
and then as an undergraduate because all
science and technology courses are taught in English
and only few classes are taught in the native Indian.
One of the biggest adjustments for Indian students is
becoming adjusted to the "very, very different food" in
the United Sites.
Anandan said he was a vegetarian when he came to
Nebraska and has since modified his diet, but he misses
the spices he was accustomed to and said most Indians
believe the food here is bland.
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The naturalization of the oil industry in Venezuela a
few years ago led its government to start a scholarship
program for foreign study, said Neptali Reyes, so that
"the knowledge to carry on the operations needed for
development" could be brought to the country.
Reyes was one of the first Venezuelan students to
come to Nebraska when he came in 1975 with a group of
ten others. He said he did not select Nebraska to study
at but that it was selected for him.
Now, however, some of the students come here
because "we tall them about the good life," Reyes
said .
Reyes said Venezuela does not have as many
universities as the students need and the scholarship
program has also helped to ease crowding in the
colleges at home. Venezuelan students also study in
European. Central and South American countries.
After becoming educated here, the Venezuelan
students will return to Venezuela to "pay back" the
government for the scholarships.
Reyes said there is no contract, but by just being in
the country and working in either government or
private industry he will be repaying his country.
"It is a moral thing." Reyes said. "After all this
money that the country has spent." he said, he is
morally obligated to return.
Reyes said the scholarship program is too new to
have see., any results yet but he hopes his country's
economy will benefit.
Reyes said American students are much more
complacent about community problems than students
in Venezuela.
American students are sometimes "like robots,"
Reyes said. "They study, they get a degree, they get
married and they get a job."
"They are more passive they let the problems go."
In contrast, he said, Venezuelan college students
"will protest until they see a solution."
He said tuition raises which go unquestioned by
great numbers of students here would be protested in
Venezuela.