VCU Office of International Education

I have written about Kuwait and their “beautiful people” before but I believe I have mis-characterized the city before I compared it to Florida. No, it much more like Los Angeles with its wealth, its preening, and the boys who strut around like peacocks, fanning their feathers (or their M Class Mercedes) in hopes of being seen. Who cares about seeing, just be seen.

Our School of Dentistry (SOD) has, for a long time now, enjoyed a very good reputation among aspiring dentists from Kuwait. It is one of those rare medical programs that accepts several international students and one in which the students do very well. In fact, there are several SOD graduates that are members of the governing association of Kuwaiti dentists, and the pipeline that has been established will continue to grow if the number of applications I am seeing to the program continues.

On this trip I had the pleasure of meeting students who have already committed to VCU. These two students, from the American International School of Kuwait (AISK) are future engineering graduates and come from a school with a great reputation. The resources provided to these students are second to none, and their counselor, Mark Ray, does a good job of preparing them to apply to college. Unlike some schools, Mark makes sure his students’ grades aren’t inflated. So even though these two students are both taking the IB curriculum, they will not be able to earn higher than a 4.25 gpa. And the grades are not weighted. Why is this important? Well we, as a university, need to have confidence that schools are properly assessing the students that are applying to VCU. Sometimes the students are not as great as their gpa’s might suggest and they are exposed as they make the transition to a new country, culture and curriculum. I always have confidence in the students who apply from AISK because they have been put through a rigorous curriculum where they have to write, and their grades reflect their true potential.

Another school I visited is Al Bayan Bilingual School (ABS). There I visited with members of the Junior class. While there, I received and invitation to come back the next day and play basketball with their Varsity team. So, since the morning held nothing for me, I decided to knock the dust off and play some hoops. For almost 2.5 hours I played with teachers from ABS and their coach (whose wife is the head college counselor at ABS) against their starting five. I have to say I represented Richmond pretty well. These guys are long and athletic yet they don’t understand spacing and taking care of the basketball. And for a little guy like me whose only assets on the court are quickness and the ability to make a lay-up, I was in hog heaven with their turnovers and inability to fill space on defense. But they will be fine. And I look forward to returning there in the fall to play again and follow their season.

The fair in Kuwait was a very good one for us. The main programs of interest were Life Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Business and the Arts. Many of these applicants are undergraduate.
So while we are not LA or South Beach it seems that something in Richmond is appealing, at least to some students from Kuwait.

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Riyadh is the administrative capital of the country and it is considered one of the most conservative cities in the country. Think of it this way. Al Khobar may be considered Chicago, Jeddah as Vegas, and Riyadh, well maybe Lynchburg, VA.

While I never saw a Tawah (in charge of identifying public practices against Islamic norms), just the threat of their presence permeates the attitudes of the youth and as a result Riyadh, while a beautiful and, ahem, modern city is rather staid.

I arrived at the airport in the late afternoon to rather comely weather, low 70s with a breeze. Both the sun and moon still carried weight in the sky and later that night the Middle East was the sight of a major lunar eclipse.

All this travel numbs one to airport operations and security procedure but they can get your attention quickly here in KSA. After successfully clearing customs and security I was asked by a female colleague to help her lift her bag onto the x-ray machine belt. The security officials asked me to move away and when I tried to explain my actions they promptly asked me to step into another section where they made sure to go through every piece of luggage I had, even though I had already been cleared without problem or concern not 200 seconds earlier. I can respect a show of will every once in a while so I simply smiled and asked sir, for another. But, that was the last time in my entire stay that I experienced any inconvenience or unfriendly behavior, in fact, as I came to learn, this is a very hospitable country if you allow it to be.

In 2004, when Dr. Moshobab A. Alkahtani, Associate Professor and Director of Research at the Saudi Arabia Institute of Public Administration (IPA), graduated from VCU’s Center for Public Policy, there were eight students from Saudi Arabia on campus. Now, not even three years later, there are almost 200. I contacted Dr. Alkantani when I arrived in Riyadh to see if he would allow me to take he and his family to lunch or dinner to thank him for his contributions to VCU (he has advised many Saudi students on the benefits of a degree from VCU) and to catch up. He rang me back and explained that he had been recently occupied with the birth of his fifth child, just ten days prior. However, he offered to take me to lunch and work one night of the fair with me. I accepted his invitation and we went to lunch with one of his colleagues from the IPA and for two hours talked about the progress at VCU and the amazing growth of our student population from the GCC countries. On cue he produced an application for another IPA colleague who will come to VCU for one year of language training and a MPA.

The IPA is one of the government agencies where real reform has potential. In a country where change is slow to come, Moshobab’s group is working on training programs and policies that will bring can bring meaningful, positive change to the country. And the Kingdom seems serious about change and their investment in education is an indicator. The government realizes they must educate their largest segment of the population, those between 18-30. They are investing almost $30 USD in four new universities, while seven universities have been created in the past six years. Also, there are now as many women in school as men and this will force the government and the Saudi culture to make decisions about existing roles for women and the workplace. Moshobab’s IPA will have a large role in addressing the government’s involvement in these decisions and we are proud at VCU to contribute, to have our graduates play such an important role in the development of Saudi Arabia.

At Al Yamamah College, a place where one can earn a degree and be taught in English, we had two days of fairs from 9am – Noon and again at night from 5pm – 9pm. We did very well. The VCU brand has now permeated the Saudi psyche. We recruit in Al Khobar, Qatif, Jeddah, Dammam, and Riyadh. Our students are in several fields, from Engineering and Business, to Biostatistics and Advertising. Many students came up to me and told me about a friend they were interested in joining on campus or how their father or uncle graduated from VCU. There was such a genuine interest and friendliness that I forgot I was in Saudi Arabia.

The Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Riyadh offer’s one feature that no other hotel I have visited offers; a basketball court. Here a basketball court (and for that matter, a tennis court, which they have) doubles as a soccer pitch and for the two nights after the fairs I joined in playing with Saudi students and played for several hours. It was an unplanned raw example of hospitality and diplomacy. They accepted me with the only qualification needed some sort of football skill, which thankfully I have. I find that sports, in particular soccer and basketball are a wonderful bridge with international students, instantly spanning the cultural differences of our countries. Sometimes, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I will be a pizza or two for several international students as we watch Champions League football matches. Everything else dissolves and they could be in their home countries as easily as Richmond. Suddenly the major disagreements are forgotten and replaced by discussions on the merits of an in-form Henry or the demise of FC Barcelona to Liverpool.

Riyadh, not a second home, but I it seems one is always welcome.

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I love coming to Jordan. The people are very nice; the students are energetic, smart and reliable. Each time I visit Amman I learn something new about the city, I visit a new district. Admittedly, I have spent much of my time in the more affluent West Amman, home to my hotel and many of the private schools. Amman is deceptive and if you only arrive from the airport highway than you might think Amman is one long boulevard and five roundabouts. Instead it is a massive rolling mass of land home to millions, an mélange of Jordanians, Palestinians, Iraqis and yes, VCU alumni.

One of our alumni is now working as a Fulbright scholar for three years in Amman. Before entering our medical college for post-graduate studies, he studied as an undergraduate. While he was there he started VCU’s Muslim Student Association (MSA), a group that was later judged the number one student association of its kind in the United States. We are very proud to have him as an alumnus and I know he will serve the Jordanian people well through his research at a local hospital.

Recently I had sushi in Amman. Yes, sushi in a land locked Middle Eastern country. Why not, after all there is a Dairy Queen in the Omani airport. No, I have not had grits in Saigon. It gets better. The sushi restaurant is housed in a Howard Johnson’s Hotel. Do you remember those? They were such a vivid part of my childhood, traveling interstates in the last seat of a seven-passenger station wagon, facing the opposite direction of anyone else, staring directly at Dick and Jane as they drove to the beach. The Ho-Jos had the distinctive roof, the upside down roof at the main office. This one does not have it, and in fact the restaurant offers a panoramic view of Amman with a sixth floor view through glass no matter where you are seated.

Sushi is not what I had in mind when I wanted to meet with a prospective student and her parents. This student, from Amman Baccalaureate School, recently applied to Virginia Commonwealth University and has been accepted, as she was to an Ivy League, and Big Ten university. But, she loves the cultural diversity of VCU and the resources provided to students in the new building for the School of Business so we decided to talk more about VCU over dinner with her parents. I asked her what she wanted to eat and she said sushi. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I smiled and said, “Of course.�? Let me tell you, Amman sushi is not Tokyo sushi, but it worked. The whole night did and I was very impressed, with the meal, the view, and the student.

So on this trip I again made plans to visit with this student’s parents. And this time this student, who has yet to decide on her university of choice, decided to assist me at the education fair, and helped recruit students to VCU with me. I think, rather, I know, that I have never seen a student who has yet to commit to a school, recruit at a fair for a school. But she did. One of the reasons I want this student to come to VCU is her personality. She is a natural leader. Yes, she is near the top of a class that will see 95% of its students go to America for college, and yes, she is quite possibly a future Jordanian Olympian, but what she does, what she says, what she thinks matters to others. The day I met her at her school in January, 8 other students contacted me about applying. Last night at the fair, I spoke to other students who came to my table because they knew she was thinking of going.

I did not train her. She had researched VCU enough, had watched “VCU Key to the World�? (http://www.vcu.edu/itsvcu/, Episode 2) enough times, that I left her alone to answer questions and to make key points in Arabic when needed. How many 17 year olds do know are willing to stand in front of hundreds of prospective students, many of them years older than her, and present on behalf of a school she has yet to attend, while giving up a weekend evening of her last semester in high school? As I write this, I think about that and it impresses me even more.

A student who will be starting his PhD in Electrical Engineering at VCU in August came to say hello. He and his wife will arrive in the summer for a session at our English Language Program first. I think she will probably end up working on a Masters. This student is also an excellent student. He earned a 4.0 GPA during his graduate studies and has been given a full ride from a host university in Jordan. In working with him, I asked him to identify a member of the E&C faculty with home he might want to work. I then took his application to this professor and explained what I thought the qualities were in the applicant. I then presented this student’s research to the professor and explained that he wanted to do work with him. So, come the fall, this student will begin he work in one of 50 research labs offered to our students under the guidance of our 45 member international faculty at the School of Engineering.

I saw other familiar faces last night. It is funny sometimes to think that in a matter of four months I can meet a total stranger, in a foreign country, and 9 or 10 emails, 5 text messages, 6 phone calls, 4 faxes, and 2 personal visits later they show up to a fair to say they can’t wait to be in Richmond in August. I can’t wait either.

To the best of my knowledge we will be between plus six and plus ten on the Jordanian front come the beginning of the fall semester. These are great students. The sushi is not bad either.

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Welcome to Morocco, here’s one of your two bags. While you will be able to clothe yourself you will not be able to make the triumphant pronouncement about VCU’s landing on Moroccan soil that you would with two large banners and a table cloth. Go get ‘em tiger. I think my banners are sunning it up in Marrakech right now, but they could be drowning their sorrows beneath the grey skies of London.

Morocco has its own level of intensity. Not the kind you find in India, but an interpersonal intensity that is seen on the faces of people you speak with, in the eyes of waiters, and in the sarcasm of a train conductor who won’t let you hop off one train to pick up the right train that is trailing by 10 minutes. Dodging cars while crossing the street in Casablanca is like avoiding raindrops, seek shelter where you can.

Casablanca is growing. The technical term for it is sprawl, but when there aren’t any rules to begin with you call it economic opportunity. The city centre was primarily built by the French who, I must say, did a pretty good job with their broad boulevards, use of green space, and roundabouts. They cannot help that no one decides to white wash the walls of the buildings lining the city streets or that people choose to ignore such bothersome details like traffic lights and lanes.

The Mohammed V mosque rises over the port and the souqs on one end of Casablanca, but the Casablanca Technology Park glimmers at the other end. This might no longer be the city of passports sold on the black market (or play it again Sam) but the entrepreneurial spirit lives on in IT and communication firms who are settling in, on the outskirts of town.

Casablanca American School (CAS) is near the technology park (Quartier Californie), and sits among some of the poshest homes you will find in Casa. Randy is the new college counselor and left Nawlins (as he puts it) for this school after 20 plus years as a counselor at a private high school stateside. He has a good group of students. I met seniors through sophomores in my recent visit. These kids on the IB program are smart, confident, and think that VCU is a really good bargain (I am not making this up as I go along).

As I meet more people from other universities I tend to agree with these students (did I mention they are smart?). When you think about what you will get in your first year as an international student at VCU for $27,000 USD you realize what a steal it is. Room and Board, Tuition and Fees, books and projected expenses all included. That is not to mention the escort service we offer from the airport or to an embassy in Washington, DC, or the free lunch international students receive each Wednesday at Coffee Hour, or the opportunity to have a conversation partner (read, free way to learn English). As I have mentioned before, everything an international student could want can be found at 916 W. Franklin Street, in the Office of International Education.

Eric Wickenheiser is a VCU alumnus who is teaching art classes at CAS. He came to my table during the fair at the school and encouraged his students to apply to the number one public arts program in the United States. He has been in Casablanca for just over a year, having left the American International School of Kuwait (AISK), where he taught for three years. In fact we have 3 students from AISK coming to VCU in the fall.

I met with students at Rabat American School (RAS). Rabat is the administrative head of the country. It is cleaner than Casablanca but less interesting. I could buy a pair of Diesel jeans in Rabat, but I could not get assulted at a soccer match. Life is a bunch of tradeoffs. The students at RAS are not unlike their friends at CAS: smart, curious and western. Two of the students had homes in Virginia. Most of them did not. Ellen Boucher is the counselor there and she too is new to the country and the school. But she was kind enough to organize a private meeting with me and about 15 students to discuss VCU. One student was there because her brother is transferring. Many of the students were interested in engineering and the arts.

Later in the day I gave a presentation at the Amideast office in Rabat. Amideast is an organization supported with a grant from the US State Department to promote US higher education in the Africa and the Middle East. We are a member school and two advantages to being a member school is that when you walk in the office the school pendant is posted on the wall, and they help organize information sessions for you. In this case I met with 10 interested students and I think I even converted one student who had already applied to a university in the Northeast. He was having problems with the paperwork they were asking him to do and I explained how easy it is to apply to VCU, and how our admissions people (Blair, Mas, Alica and Erin) work hard to process applications. In fact, if we receive an applicant's complete application on Monday, there is a good chance they will have their I-20 by Saturday if they are accepted. I asked if the other univeristy had the same turnaround and his face went blank.

The fair in Casablanca was a good one for VCU. With 170 programs we have most everything a student could ask for. The MBA is a big attraction, especially with the resources made available to these students with the new building that is being built. Also, I think these applicants like the concept of the CEO in the Classroom program, which brings local business leaders (did I mention Virginia is the best state in the country for new business growth?) into the classroom for lectures. As a matter of fact this week is the International Business Forum held on our campus. President Trani is sitting on a panel with business leaders from Richmond and Washington DC to discuss the impact of international business on the region and future opportunities. It makes me think of when the Chairman of Williams-Sonoma came for a similar discussion, which makes me think of when Tom Curley, the CEO of Associated Press came for a similar discussion. VCU does an excellent job of bringing internationally recognized leaders to campus.

Another attraction was Mechanical Engineering and again the 50 research labs, wireless classrooms, student lounges and the remarkably low student teacher ratio wowed the students. Engineering students spend so much time in the engineering building that it is nice to be able to work and relax in a wireless world. The other cool thing about our School of Engineering is they see themselves in the faculty. There are several international faculty members at the school and that brings a level of comfort to our students from abroad.

This was a quick trip to Morocco. We have a handful of Moroccans currently at VCU and I hope that our activities in the past two days have encouraged others that VCU is the place for them. I also hope my luggage arrives with me in Amman.

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