Duke tracking foreign students with new database
The Associated Press
August 1, 2002 1:32 am
Posted on 08/01/2002 6:33:37 AM PDT by Constitution Day
The Associated Press
Duke tracking foreign students with new database
August 1, 2002 1:32 am
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University was one of the first schools to use a new database that electronically tracks foreign students studying in the United States.
The electronic database, called the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System, was created to replace the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's lengthy, paper-filled process that precedes a student's enrollment into a college.
The database was also designed to enable the immigration service to keep better tabs on foreign students, said Catheryn Cotten, director of the International Office at Duke.
Staff members from Duke's International Office were the first to log on and enter a student into the database, which will eventually contain the records of all foreign students in the United States.
About 1,100 foreign students attend Duke, making up about 10 percent of the student body. As soon as a foreign student is accepted, Duke will now enter his or her paperwork into the database to begin tracking the student.
"When the system is fully functional, the immigration officer at the port of entry will be able to scan the bar-coded document, see where and when the student got his visa stamp and see that Duke is the school he was planning to come to," Cotten said.
Duke would know when the student has entered the country and would await his or her arrival. Any changes in a student's file would have to be made by logging onto the database instead of sending a paper off to the immigration service.
The electronic system has been in the works for nearly a decade, but Sept. 11 brought a new push to get the system up and running. The INS has to certify schools to use the database. An estimated 70,000 institutions issue visas to foreign students.
"There is a huge collection of bona fide schools," Cotten said.
"It's also the case that some of them are out there just producing documents to get illegal aliens into the country. I think this new system will help minimize those," she said.
The Justice Department wants all institutions to begin using the new database by Jan. 30, 2003. But some college lobbying groups have said that doesn't provide enough time to implement the system, which will require schools to spend tens of thousands of dollars on compatible software.
The database is written into law and all universities will have to follow suit eventually. When remains to be determined, since the Justice Department plan is in the public comment period. Glitches still have to be worked out.
After Sept. 11, the Justice Department criticized the paper-driven system the INS was using before the development of the database was complete.
Scrutiny intensified when it was discovered that three of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers had student visas. One had entered on a visa, while two others entered on travel visas and switched to student visas. But when it comes to stopping potential terrorists from entering the country, Cotten said the country shouldn't stigmatize foreign students.
"I think it is probably unfortunate and inaccurate that the media and Congress have put so much emphasis on the student connection to terrorist attacks," she said. "There were a couple of people who were students, but many others who were not students were here on a host of other visas."
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Tough. It isn't that hard. The tech sector is depressed right now, it's a good time to get this type of work done.
Get with the program, Academe. We're at war here, and this is minimal.
Not only is it a good time to get it done, it's a good place to get it done.
Duke, UNC and NC State are all close to the Research Triangle Park.
A lot of tech workers are unemployed right now.
Naww....they can't count that high!
I like that name!
If I didn't know better I'd think you were ...gasp...a Dook fan! :)
I have to give credit for "Orange County Community College" to billbears.
Are you in or out of the woodwork at the moment? :)
I pulled for NC State even in the dark days of Les Robinson.
A fair weather fan is no fan at all, ya know?
I'd use that with some of my commie friends, but they probably wouldn't even get it--'Orange County? Where's that? We're in Wake County...'
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