Transcripts
Richard E. Hoagland: Discussion with Students
November 19, 2008
Ambassador Hoagland: Good evening. I am delighted to meet with so many students who are interested in studying in the United States. Yesterday my government released the 2008 Open Doors report, which gives statistics about the number of foreign students studying in the United States and American students studying abroad. One thousand four hundred and fifty-six Kazakhstani students were studying at American universities in 2007-2008, and this is especially important because it represents an increase of 20 percent more students than the year before. These are students from Kazakhstan who are participating in our educational exchange programs. Very important, they are part of the Bolashak Program, and they are private students.
I would very briefly like to tell you why I think students from other countries choose to study in the United States. First, the quality of our educational institutions, both undergraduate and graduate, the quality is very high and the degrees that you earn are recognized all over the world.
Second, we have so many different kinds of options that students can choose to follow. For example, you can gain an education and a university degree in traditional humanities, general education studies which prepare you for many different kinds of future professions. If you know what you think your career will be you can go to a specialized scientific institution. If you have finished your university education in Kazakhstan or in other countries, then you can go to an American university for a higher education degree. There’s an opportunity for every student, no matter what you want to accomplish.
There’s another reason why I think it’s important for students to study in foreign universities, like I did when I was a student. I studied at a university in France. What is important, you become friends with students in that country. You meet their families. You participate in cultural events and sports events and you travel to see different interesting locations. So if you are a student from Kazakhstan you will learn much more about the United States and what it is really like, from real people. But even more important, the American students and their families will learn from you about Kazakhstan. So if you do study in the United States you become an ambassador for your country. You are an ambassador from Kazakhstan.
Right now in general there are about 600,000 foreign students studying in the United States. So I hope that every one of you has the opportunity to join that group of students and become ambassadors for Kazakhstan. So I wish you great success, great luck, and I will now answer any question you have. I will try to answer any question you have.
Who will be the first?
Question: Ambassador, did the crisis affect the educational system, in particular, the way of teaching Economics and Finance?
Ambassador Hoagland: I think the financial crisis in the entire world, not just in the United States, will have some effect on foreign students studying in the United States. But it’s very important to know that the major universities, many universities in the United States, have big financial resources that can provide financial assistance to students. So I think the world financial crisis will not have a huge effect on students studying in the United States.
…
Question: What kind of opportunities are there for an English teacher in sphere of exchange of experiences, between America and Kazakhstan.
Ambassador Hoagland: Are you an English teacher?
Question: Yes.
Ambassador Hoagland: I think that is a wonderful profession. Congratulations. If you go to continue your education in the United States and you want to become a higher level teacher of English, you will meet many professors who are specialized in teaching English as a foreign language. They have many methodologies that will be interesting for you. But at the same time you can explain your methodologies to them. So I think it would be a very useful and very positive experience.
Question: An exchange of information?
Ambassador Hoagland: Yes, it’s an exchange of information. It goes both ways.
Question: Very useful for America and for Kazakhstan.
Ambassador Hoagland: Of course.
Question: I am a student in the 8th grade of the history and physics school and I’m interested in the FLEX program. Can you tell me some information maybe about adjusting in America and about studying in the U.S.A.?
Ambassador Hoagland: Yes, I will a little bit, and my colleagues can help me if I do not say the right things.
FLEX program is one of our educational exchange programs for high school students. FLEX means Future Leadership Exchange. And people in many countries in this part of the world apply, young people, apply for this program. If they are chosen they go to the United States for one year of secondary education and during that time they live with an American family that have students of the same age. And from what I have seen, almost every foreign student just adapts very quickly, just like that. They have a new American mother, new American father, new American brothers and sisters. And then after that one year, come back to your school, finish your education, but what a broader view of the world you have. What a new experience you have. It’s very positive for the other students in your school, too, because you can give them information that they could never learn in another way. I think it’s a wonderful program.
Question: Some of our students don’t have opportunities.
Ambassador Hoagland: I know there are not enough places. I’m sorry.
Question: I think that it’s very helpful, and when you come back to Kazakhstan, you understand you have second parents and you can write letters to them.
Ambassador Hoagland: I’ve seen everything positive about the program. I agree with you, yes.
Question: I am in high school, Lyceum #9. If you pass the Bolashak exam to become a college student will we have any competition among the international students in order to enter the American universities?
Ambassador Hoagland: From Bolashak program, you mean?
Question: I mean after passing Bolashak exam, will we have any type of competition among the international students for entering university.
Ambassador Hoagland: You are not really competing against other international students because the Bolashak program of Kazakhstan already has relations with many universities in the United States. So they will help those who are approved for Bolashak to find a position at one of the many different universities. So if you are approved for Bolashak, and Bolashak says yes, you can study in the United States, they will find a place for you.
Correct? Would you like to add to that?
Natasha Franceschi, Cultural Affairs Officer: No, I think that covers it. Yes.
Question: The FLEX program is for people in secondary schools. Do you have programs for students from universities? Same program, FLEX? Is it practical for students from universities?
Ambassador Hoagland: There are different kinds of educational exchange programs that my embassy is responsible for. FLEX is for secondary students. We have another program called Undergraduate Program. That’s for those who are in the early years of university. And then there are other educational exchange programs for people who are at even higher levels. The Fulbright Program is for graduate students; the Muskie Program is for graduate students with special career interests. So we have many different kinds of programs.
Does that answer your question? Or would you like to continue?
Franceschi: We have a list of all of the programs sponsored by the U.S. government, and Irina has copies of it so you can take a copy from her and it will list all the different opportunities, as well as some of the requirements and the deadlines.
Question: What do you say about the perspectives of education in the United States and how the government of the United States pays attention for the education?
Ambassador Hoagland: That’s a very interesting question because education in the United States - we have a Ministry of Education, but the Ministry of Education does not absolutely control every university, every institution, every college. They set general standards and expectations. But in fact, the universities themselves set their own standards and they compete against each other. This is part of sort of the free market economy of ideas. Because if a university does not maintain high standards, it will not succeed. It will not attract students. So it’s the competition among universities as well as national standards and state level standards. So it’s a rather different system from other countries but it works very well. And it means there are many, many, many high quality universities, not just one or two.
Question: Is it true that a degree in small universities in the United States is better than from a huge university?
Ambassador Hoagland: No. I can tell you why. My first degree in the United States, personally, was from a small university. Then after that I went to a very large university for higher education: The University of Virginia.
You can receive high quality education at a small university or at a huge, major, world famous university. It’s not that one is better than the other. What’s more important is what do you want? Do you want to be at a famous, world famous major university with 10,000 students? Or do you want to be at a high quality, small university with 2,000 students? The question is where do you feel comfortable? What meets your traditional, cultural, and psychological needs? It’s personal choice.
Question: But I heard for example that at huge universities, not professors but teaching assistants, who are graduate students, are teaching classes.
Ambassador Hoagland: Graduate students can be extremely good as teachers. Sometimes the very famous professors at these big universities are not very good teachers because they are more interested in their personal research projects and in writing books. So what’s most important is professors, teachers, who want to teach, who like to work with students.
Question: Do huge universities change the prices and cost of, for instance, getting a degree because they know it’s very expensive.
Ambassador Hoagland: No, they don’t change the general price, but many, many universities, especially the bigger ones but also sometimes the small ones, offer what we call financial aid. They want foreign students. They want intelligent foreign students. So what they do, and this is part of the application process. You can apply for financial assistance.
So let’s say, for example, just for example, you apply to the very famous Harvard University in Boston. And you are accepted. But they say you must pay $30,000 a year. Can you pay $30,000 a year? Probably not. Could I pay $30,000 a year? No. [Laughter].
So there is a system called the Office of Financial Aid. They will look at you, compare you with other students, and they say aha, we want her to be a student at Harvard. And they will give you the money so that your family has to pay only a small amount. So the university itself will pay for your fees.
Question: So how much is the cost of studying at Harvard for one year?
Ambassador Hoagland: One year right now is probably at least $40,000.
Question: For four years?
Ambassador Hoagland: No, that’s one year.
Question: To get a bachelor degree?
Ambassador Hoagland: Probably. But there is financial aid. There’s financial assistance. That’s what’s important.
Franceschi: And all these universities would also say that they amount they are spending to educate each student is actually much much more than what they charge for the cost.
Question: You said you were in France, in Europe?
Ambassador Hoagland: I spent one year at the University of Grenoble in Southern France, yes.
Question: Then I would like to know about the differences and similarities of education in America and Europe.
Ambassador Hoagland: I can’t speak for all of Europe. France is rather interesting because it has a very traditional system of high level government schools, and then a second level of government schools, and then some private universities. I think that our system in the United States is much more egalitarian, which means that it treats all students - we believe that all students have great potential. It doesn’t matter if you come from a poor family or a rich family. Everyone has the potential and the possibility to succeed in life. And the most important place where you start is with education.
Now I have to be careful what I say because I’m a diplomat and I’m not from France, huh? But in principal the French system says that rich students should go to the best schools, middle class students should go to the middle schools, and poorer students should go to the lower schools. So it’s more of a class system. Not always. Not always. So please don’t think that I am criticizing the French system. It’s just a different system. That’s all.
Boy, if that gets published in the press, am I dead. [Laughter].
Question: What do you think about the higher education system of Kazakhstan?
Ambassador Hoagland: Let’s talk about the tradition of higher education.
In the Soviet Union education was very good. Ninety-eight percent of the population became literate. Education was available for everyone. It was a different system from ours, obviously, but it was a good system because people were educated. The Soviet universities produced some world class scholars, world class scientists, world class philosophers, very highly educated people. It was a very different system from ours. So I praise the system that existed, at the same time that I recognize it’s very very different from our system.
Question: What about the current situation?
Ambassador Hoagland: The current situation? Let me answer this way. I arrived in Kazakhstan seven weeks ago. I don’t have enough experience yet to make an intelligent comment about that. Okay?
One more question, then I must go do something else tonight.
Question: My name is Marina. I am a student of the first year. Program Work and Travel is a really popular program at our university. I wonder if it is a real useful program and maybe I will get some benefits from this program, or it’s just increasing of my colloquial language.
Ambassador Hoagland: [Laughter]. I think in principal that program can be very positive because yes, it will increase your colloquial language. It will give you real experience living and working in the United States. I think probably a full year education program is better, but I don’t want to say anything negative about that program. I know that more and more students from this part of the world are interested in that program.
A note. The cost of Harvard University in 2006, about $40,000 for one year. Without financial aid. But remember, financial aid is available if the university accepts you.
Ambassador Hoagland: Second last question. [Laughter].
Question: Can crisis affect the inflow of foreign students, the reduction of university financial aid funds, and the reduction of government-sponsored educational programs?
Ambassador Hoagland: I see at least for the next year no change in our government programs. I think the financial level will be the same. For universities in the United States, especially for the bigger universities, they have something called endowments. What that means is they have been saving and investing money, huge amounts of money. It’s sort of like the National Investment Fund here. It’s like Samruk-Kazyna. So it’s like a national wealth fund. It’s a university wealth fund. Those funds at big universities are very rich.
Now the income to those funds will probably be rather low for several years, but they still have lots of money. They really still have lots of money. So I don’t think you need to worry too much about the possibility of financial assistance changing dramatically.
Thank you very much. It’s very interesting to meet with you. I wish you good luck.
