The NJBIA shares what the global reach of academia can provide with a special digital program, “International Students and Scholars: Powerful Stimulus for a Dynamic Economy,” on Thursday, May 11, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The Garden State Immigration Policy Institute, an ongoing collaborative project between NJBIA and the New Jersey Business Immigration Coalition, developed this program to examine the economic benefits of introducing these new voices and brilliant minds to the country by way of academia. According to the NJBIA, this might include anything from courting early entrepreneurs to those behind the most cutting-edge technologies, all while building a culture in which these scholars can have another home overseas to cultivate their spirit of invention.
But NJBIA will lead with a discussion about the competition institutions in the United States face against other countries around the world, as well as the efforts to “maintain American leadership in this area, including creating greater opportunities for international students to transition to permanent residence,” as the event materials explain.
To register online ahead of the event, see the NJBIA event page at njbia.org/events.
Speakers range from national experts well-versed in policy to representatives of New Jersey colleges and universities, the latter of whom will expand on how their respective higher education institutions seek out and support these students throughout the process.
On the strategic side are professionals like Stuart Anderson, the executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a Virginia-based nonprofit organization that approaches immigration and similar topics through a nonpartisan, research-driven lens.
Miriam Feldblum, the co-founder and executive director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, is nationally recognized for her knowledge of “the intersection of immigration and higher education,” as per the group’s website, which unites leaders in the latter field for the common goal of “increasing public understanding of how immigration policies and practices impact our students, campuses, and communities.”
Others representing their respective institutions are Gokhan Alkanat, the associate provost for international education at Rowan University; Amparo Codding, an international student counselor, professor of Spanish, and Dean of the Arts, Humanities, and Wellness at Bergen Community College; Eric Garfunkel, the vice president for global affairs at Rutgers University; Elizabeth Gill, the director of international employment and immigration at Montclair State University’s Office of University Counsel; and Katsumi Kishida, the associate director of international students and scholars at Kean University and the chair of NAFSA’s Region X, a local chapter of the international educator association.
