By Mark D. Rentz
Arizona State University

According to the Institute for International Education, the United States enrolls more international students than any other nation in the world.

More impressive than mere numbers, of course, is the fact that dozens of present world leaders are alumni of American universities. The next wave of world leaders will most likely have benefited from higher education as well. Many authorities in higher education readily agree with Lawson Lau, author of "The World at Your Doorstep," when he states that one-third to one-half of the world's top positions in politics, business, education and the military will be filled in the next 25 years by foreign students presently studying in the US

Why are so many internationals coming to the United States to study? I put this question to hundreds of international world leaders who have gained a higher education degree in the US Here are a few excerpts from just two of my interviews:

1. Sir Geoffrey Palmer, former Prime Minister of New Zealand:

When I got to the university of Chicago, I found I was confronted with a university of the highest quality, where the students were very competitive, where the academic standards were extraordinarily high, and where the level of stimulation was unbelievably high &.I never had expected that an educational experience of that sort would have such a profound effect on my outlook on life.

I think you can say without any exaggeration that the educational opportunity I had in the United States had a pretty profound impact on my political career. Quite possibly, I would have had no political career but for that education. Furthermore, it helped me in that political career by virtue of the contacts I had with people in other countries.

From the point of view of graduate education, that's where the American universities excel &.The essence of it for me was exposure to first rate professors who had really something to teach of lasting value. It was an intellectual experience. Living in America is certainly a diverting and interesting thing to do. But that is secondary to the intellectual value of the education itself.

American can make a tremendous investment internationally through education. In this way, it can have profound influence in the world. I would never have become prime minister of New Zealand had I not studied at the University of Chicago.

2. Dr. Nicolas Ardito Barletta, former president of Panama:

I consider myself very fortunate to have studied in American Universities. I have no doubt that American universities provide the best environment in the world as learning institutions and as living experience for personal growth.

Perhaps the topnotch, dedicated student succeeds anywhere, but the average student needs a more stimulating environment. The environment provided to the average college student in the United States increases the likelihood of his success.

Through my years of university study in the United States, I learned more about my culture, my country, and myself. By learning about other cultures, one becomes more independent and detached about one's own.

Graduating from an American university will obviously not guarantee inclusion into the most prestigious list of who's who in the world, but for many foreign students who come to the United States for higher education, the experience is an academic journey that leads to new places, ideas, dreams, and opportunity.

The supplement that you have in your hands right now might lead you to such a place. If you study it well, you take the first step on that journey.