Innovative program brings socio-economic diversity to foreign student population

Montreal -- All talented international students, regardless of economic background should have equal access to opportunities for study in the United States, says Rebecca Zeigler Mano, an EducationUSA adviser, who launched the innovative United States Achievers Program (USAP) in 1999.

The program has enabled more than 100 “economically disadvantaged” students from 13 countries to study at elite schools such as Harvard, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and many other top U.S. colleges and universities.  USAP helps highly talented, economically disadvantaged students negotiate and finance the application and financial aid process for admission to institutions of higher education in the United States. 

Zeigler Mano, an EducationUSA adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, discussed the goals and growth of the program with the Washington File May 25.  She is among the 80 EducationUSA advisers in Montreal for the NAFSA: Association of International Educators annual conference, a gathering of more than 7,300 educators, administers and government officials from 95 countries.

Zeigler Mano led a May 25 NAFSA conference session on the program with EducationUSA advisers from Brazil and the United Kingdom, outlining the USAP’s history, growth and benefits to students and universities. 

According to Zeigler Mano, USAP students represent the best of their countries’ youth, in terms of academics, leadership skills, community service and participation in extracurricular activities.  Key criteria for the highly competitive selection process include academic achievement, an ethos of giving back to community, economic disadvantage and demonstrated leadership skills.  The program provides guidance throughout the college application process, helps with test preparation and assists with financing the admissions process.

Discussing her reasons for launching the program, Zeigler Mano said USAP was an effort to reach a wider audience in terms of educational advising in Zimbabwe.  “The people who walked through the doors of the educational advising center [in Harare] were elite students who felt they had the funds that could take them to the United States, and yet this wasn’t necessarily the highest talent pool [of students in Zimbabwe],” she said. 

“We wanted to extend the idea that if you are a highly talented, dedicated student, regardless of your financial background, you have the right and the ability to access the amazing opportunities that are abounding in higher education in the U.S.,” the EducationUSA adviser said.

Another aim of the program, according to Zeigler Mano, is to build open-minded, skilled, well-educated future leaders who are committed to sharing their knowledge and experience to improve their communities.  

“Effective leaders come from backgrounds where they can relate to the majority of people, so finding someone who has grown up, in my case in Zimbabwe, in a rural village or a township urban background who then gets amazing educational opportunities is more likely to remember home and be able to do something in their life to make a difference for the people at home,” she said. 

Zeigler Mano challenged the community of international educators the NAFSA conference to improve access for economically disadvantaged students in international educational exchange.

On May 24, Zeigler Mano was awarded the “Marita Houlihan Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field of International Education” in recognition for her “imaginative activity, outstanding personal enterprise, and creative contributions to the field though research, writing, or program development.”  Houlihan, a former State Department official, pioneered in the establishment and administration of the Fulbright international student exchange program in the 1940s and 1950s.  

USAP STUDENTS ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE
Zeigler Mano said USAP students are achieving top marks at their U.S. schools and have big plans on graduation.  

On graduation from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania in 2005 with a degree in biology, Tafadzwa Muguwe, a USAP participant from Zimbabwe, was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study pharmacology at the University of Oxford in England.  After graduation, Muguwe will proceed to Harvard Medical School where he plans to continue biomedical research focusing on development of an AIDS vaccine, Zeigler Mano said.  Muguwe has been part of HIV medical research teams, focusing on the pathology of HIV-1 virus at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. This summer, he plans to work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. 

In a statement on her USAP experience, Doreen Mashu, a class of 2007 student at Ithaca College in New York, writes: “USAP has brought me to a place in my life I would never otherwise have imagined.  It’s a lot more than just studying abroad, it’s the connections, the friendships, the ‘familyhood,’ and the aspiration to be an active member of any community you live in.”

Mashu, majoring in accounting with a minor in economics, plans to become a certified public accountant offering financial advisory services to budding entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe and neighboring countries, with a focus on empowering women and young adults through entrepreneurial activities.

U.S. SCHOOLS VALUE DIVERSE FOREIGN STUDENT POPULATION
The consensus message from May 25 interviews with several U.S. university officials attending the USAP panel was clear – U.S. universities welcome foreign students and strive to achieve greater cultural and socioeconomic diversity among their student bodies.   

“The USAP students from Zimbabwe have been amazing members of the community.  Our students can learn so much about the world getting their perspective – both in and out of the classroom,” said Elisabeth O’Connell, director of international admissions at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Ann Kuhlmann, director of the office of international students and scholars at Yale University, told the Washington File: “For Yale it has really helped us with our goal of achieving greater socioeconomic diversity in our international student body.  The students -- individually and collectively as a group -- have changed the lives of their roommates and classmates giving them new, global perspectives they might not have had.”

“We all think about global education and global leadership in preparing students for a global world, so having USAP students on our campus adds incredible depth to our student body. Whether in a classroom talking about economics with students from Zimbabwe or in the residence hall or eating dinner together with USAP students from Uganda and Mongolia -- this adds to whole educational experience,” added Jale Okay of the admissions office at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

In fall 2006, USAP students from three more countries -- Colombia, Madagascar and South Africa -- will be among 52 students beginning school at U.S. colleges and universities.  Current participants include students from Bangladesh, Brazil, Latvia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, the United Kingdom, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

For additional information on the program, see the United States Achievers Program Web site or visit an EducationUSA advising center.