By Thomas Burns
University of Missouri

For decades, the young men (and increasingly young women) of international origin have looked to complete a university degree from overseas as a way to secure a productive career and personal lifestyle.

The fields of study that international students have traditionally chosen have developed over time, the majority of students chose to enroll in the physical or applied sciences such as physics, chemistry, and engineering. Today many more students are looking for careers in the accounting, counseling and of course the M.B.A. degree area.
Many students have traditionally chosen the United States as the land of educational opportunity. The US hosts three-fourths of the students around the world who study outside their home country, with an annual international student population greater than 450,000.

However, it is not always an easy task on setting specific goals on picking the right college or university to attend. With over 3,600 recognized institutions of higher learning in the US, many students become confused on how schools in the US are regarded. Many students turn to professional travel personnel to help them decide where to study in the US This is often not the best way to go about making such an important decision on the quality and academic excellence of a college or university.

I have asked William Eddy, Dean of the University of Missouri - Kansas City's School of Business and Public Administration - to discuss the trends in business studies in America. However, I would first point out three critical factors every student should look for before choosing a university overseas.

First: How is the institution ranked? By ranking I mean a professional nongovernmental agency (NGO) whose task it is to study schools and degree offerings.

In the US this NGO body is called the Carnegie Foundation for the advancement of Teaching, which groups accredited institutions into 11 categories.

According to Ernest L. Boyer, the commissioner, the classification points out the academic complexity and scope of the intuition. A student thinking about study in the US may very well wish to find out where a particular school stands in the classification system.

Second: Accreditation, of which there are two types; institutional and specialized. Institutional accreditation is recognition of an institution as a whole; specialized accreditation is recognition of specific programs of study within the institution.

Specialized accreditation requires independent examination from a professional organization concentrated within that specific area of expertise. A student thinking about study in the US may very well want to know what type of accreditation does the school possess. It will be assumed that the school carries accreditation, but does the individual study program carry specialized accreditation from a recognized agency?

Third: Cost. To study for a year in the US students can expect the range of expenses to go from US$13,500. In no way does cost relate to quality.

For example, students, in general, will find the overall cost of living in the middle states of the US to be 20 percent less than on either the west or east coast of the US A public-state institution will charge much less for tuition than a private college, even with the out-of-state charges. Two years community colleges will have costs at least one-third less than four-year schools. It therefore pays to carefully investigate the price control options you as a student can exercise in choosing a college or university.