Transcripts
Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland
Interview for Astana TV
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Astana, Kazakhstan
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: I’m doing an article about Kazakh students.
Ambassador Hoagland: I think that’s an excellent idea.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: So I wanted you to give answers for the part where I’m going to talk about Kazakh students in America.
Ambassador Hoagland: Okay, you just ask the questions, and I will answer them.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: Okay. Can you remember when the first foreign students came to America to study?
Ambassador Hoagland: When the first foreign students came to America to study I personally can’t remember because that’s been happening for well over 100 years. Even back in the early 19th century, there were students from Europe, from China, and other places studying in America’s colleges and universities, so it’s a very long tradition.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: Have you ever been a foreign student? Have you ever studied in foreign countries?
Ambassador Hoagland: I did, and that was when I studied for one year in France at the University of Grenoble to learn French. So I was a foreign student at the university level.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: So you know how a student in a foreign country feels.
Ambassador Hoagland: Oh, very much so. You arrive, and you don’t know where things are. You don’t know how to start. But you build a new life, and it becomes very interesting and very exciting, and in the end, very useful.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: Were there any problems in France while you were studying there?
Ambassador Hoagland: No, not any real problems. I just, like every foreign student, had to get used to a new language, new shopping, new food. But I wouldn’t say that was really a problem. That’s what makes life interesting.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: Can you describe American students’ opinions or thoughts about Kazakh students? How do they treat each other?
Ambassador Hoagland: I think American students and Americans in general are very open to and very welcoming of foreign students. This is something that Americans like very much. If the student is a high school student, he or she lives with an American family. If the student is at the college or university level, especially in smaller towns, the community takes a real interest in the student. Foreign students are an important part of educational life in the United States, and people are very welcoming of foreign students.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: Can you tell how many foreign students come into America each year?
Ambassador Hoagland: It changes year by year. For example, right now there are nearly 625,000 foreign students studying in the United States. And in fact, that’s an increase of seven percent over last year. So if you look at a graph of the number of students studying in the United States, it continues to go up.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: This question is about the young student, the girl who was invited to attend the inauguration ceremony. Is it a tradition in the United States to invite guests?
Ambassador Hoagland: It’s really not a tradition. This is something new that President Obama wanted to do for his inauguration, to symbolize his openness and inclusiveness and his interest in other parts of the world. So I think it was a wonderful opportunity for this young lady.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: Do you have something to tell students that want to go to America to study?
Ambassador Hoagland: You know there are already many students from Kazakhstan studying in the United States. We have a number of exchange programs at all levels of education, but on the Bolashak Program, there are about 800 Kazakhstani students in the United States right now.
We are always willing to help with educational advising. We have educational advising centers in different parts of the country as well as here in the capital. When students go to those centers, they can find out exactly the procedures for applying to enter the educational institutions, and they can look for the opportunities for financial assistance that many universities provide for foreign students.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: Is there anything that Kazakhstan can teach American students [inaudible]?
Ambassador Hoagland: Of course there are many things. That’s part of the whole wonderful process of educational exchange. When American students come to Kazakhstan, they learn the history, the customs, the culture of the country. It opens a new world to them, just as happens everywhere else in the world. So, yes, it’s exactly the same thing that happens.
Rustem Rakhimov, Astana TV: Thank you.
Ambassador Hoagland: You’re welcome.
