Student Union
- By Hitender Rao
Doctors from India Frustrated by Visa Issues
NOTE TO READERS: This story is Part 1 of a two-part series.
Bijender Kumar, the son of a farmer in India's northern state of Haryana, came to the U.S. on an H-1B visa in 2007 after graduating from medical school in India.
He landed a residency in Toledo, Ohio, and then earned a master's in business administration in medical business from Kelley School of Business at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in 2016.
Now, Kumar is the medical director at Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield, Indiana.
"It's a matter of pleasure to look back and see as to how a person who came from a modest background was able to make it to this level," he told VOA. "The fact that a person who came from what I came from can go to Kelley and sit in class with distinguished physicians is amazing."
India exports more foreign medical graduates than any other developing nation, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
In 2016, of more than 210,000 actively licensed foreign medical graduates (FMGs) or international medical graduates (IMGs) in the U.S., nearly 50,000, or 23%, graduated from schools in India. The next-largest group of international doctors — 35,971, or 17% — are from the Caribbean, according to 2016 research by the Federation of State Medical Boards.
An IMG is a U.S. citizen or green card holder who obtained their degree outside the U.S., while an FMG describes a foreigner who completes a degree in their country of origin.
But the number of doctors who graduated in India and sought a "certificate of good standing" — required in India for working abroad — declined from 2,984 in 2015 to 1,497 in 2017, according to India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data cited in news reports.
Jaivir Singh Rathore, who worked as a resident in adult neurology from 2013 to 2017 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said most foreign medical graduates struggle to get their foot in the door of the U.S. medical field. He now serves as director of the epilepsy division at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Florida, after working as a medical fellow at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Rathore said he came to the U.S. on a J-1 student exchange visa in 2010 and eventually received a green card that afforded him more stability. He later became a U.S. citizen through family-based immigration.
Immigration experts have indicated it could become more difficult for foreign nationals to get H-1B visas or find other immigration pathways to work in the U.S.
"Tougher green card control will force doctors to explore other options (to work in the U.S.)," said Ranvir Singh Rathore, a doctor of internal medicine in Toledo, Ohio, and Jaivir Rathore's brother.
"It's a big hassle to live and practice on H-1B or J-1 visa because of the uncertainties that loom," Jaivir Rathore said.
Visa hurdles
A foreign worker with an H-1B visa can stay in the United States for a maximum of six years; with a J-1 visa, up to five years.
"Despite the fact that there is significant physician shortage — especially regarding specialists in many parts of America — it doesn't seem like the [Trump] administration is making any significant changes to help with these immigration issues for physicians of foreign origin," Jaivir Rathore said.
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) wrote in April 2019, "The United States will see a shortage of up to nearly 122,000 physicians by 2032 as demand for physicians continues to grow faster than supply."
Exploiting doctors
"Many physicians from India and other foreign countries … consider and explore options in other countries like Canada or Australia," Jaivir Rathore said.
Some U.S. licensed physicians return to India because they are highly valued for having education, training and experience in the U.S., especially in the private health care sector, said Anupam B. Jena, an Indian American and associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.
"Some physicians that I know, including myself, think about it sometimes … to probably do part-time consultancy in India's leading private sector hospitals and with charity organizations," Jaivir Rathore said.
"As telemedicine is becoming vogue, the idea of making American dollars while living in India is becoming a reality and many Indian doctors, especially in the field of diagnostic radiology, are already doing that," he said.
See all News Updates of the Day
US remains top choice for Indian students going abroad
About 69% of Indian students traveling abroad for their studies chose the United States, according to a Oxford International’s Student Global Mobility Index. Other popular choices were the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
Education Times reports the main influencers for deciding where to study abroad – for Indian students and others – were parents. (April 2024)
Malaysian official: Schools can’t turn away from global tensions
Zambry Abdul Kadir, Malaysia’s higher education minister, said protests spreading across universities in the United States show that schools can’t ignore political tensions.
Helen Packer, reporting in Times Higher Education, said the minister reminded educators that universities are key in the development of leaders, individuals and societies. (April 2024)
Social media breaks are difficult, but necessary
Between online classes, maintaining social connections and working on projects, college students can have a hard time disengaging from the demands of technology.
In Florida International University’s PantherNOW, Ariana Rodriguez offers strategies for taking a break from social media. (April 2024)
- By Melos Ambaye
Many master's degrees aren't worth the investment, research shows
Nearly half of master's degrees have a negative financial return, according to new research by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, an economic research organization.
The study indicates that many graduate degree programs do not increase lifetime earnings enough to be worth it.
While 23% of bachelor’s degree programs yield a negative financial return on investment, 43% of two-year degrees and master’s degrees fail to deliver a return, according to the study by Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at FREOPP.
Cooper assessed the return on investment for 53,000 degree and certificate programs to determine whether a student’s lifetime earnings outweigh program costs and the risk of not completing their degree.
His findings show that a student’s field of study was the overriding indicator of return on investment at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Engineering, computer science and nursing bachelor’s degrees have high financial returns on investment, while programs in education, fine arts, psychology and English usually have low returns.
Graduate degrees in medicine and law tend to have strong payoffs. But a large share of master’s programs, including the MBA, frequently have low payoffs, according to Cooper.
Although workers with master’s degrees earn 16% more than those with only bachelor’s degrees, Cooper says the figure fails to account for students who had “higher preexisting earnings potential.”
“MBA students typically have high preexisting earnings potential, having often chosen high-ROI undergraduate majors such as finance and economics,” Cooper writes. “So the MBA adds little value on top of that.”
The study indicates that high starting salaries are predictors of high returns on investment. Degrees with starting salaries of $57,000 a year or more deliver the best lifetime returns.
But the return on investment of a degree can vary depending on the educational institution.
“Students interested in fields with low average pay can still find some schools that do well transforming those fields of study into high-paying careers,” Cooper writes.
The quality of an institution also matters, said William Tierney, professor emeritus of higher education at the University of Southern California.
“An MBA from Harvard is a likely ticket to a good job,” Tierney told VOA. “An MBA from the University of Phoenix, less so.”
But students pursue graduate programs for more than just financial reasons.
“Some degrees open up careers in fields that students may enjoy, such as in the performing arts,” Robert Kelchen, head of educational leadership at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, told VOA.
“Others can help gain access to social networks or simply help students learn about a topic that is of interest,” Kelchen added.
Cooper told VOA that it might make sense for students in degree programs with low returns on investment to switch majors if they can still graduate on time.
He found the worst outcome for a student’s return on investment is dropping out of college “because they must pay for one or more years’ tuition and spend time out of the labor force.”
Lawmakers who fund higher education have a responsibility in ensuring “higher education delivers on its promise of economic mobility,” Cooper said.
Nearly a third of federal funding, including Pell grants and student loans, pays for higher education programs that fail to provide students with a return on investment, according to the study.
Cooper’s view is that “some schools should shut down low-ROI programs and reallocate institutional resources to programs with a better return.”
“There's definitely this narrative out there that higher education is always worth it, and you should always try to get that extra degree because it will increase your earnings,” he told VOA. “That's reinforced by colleges who make lofty promises regarding their graduate degree programs' outcomes, which all too often fall short.”
Harvard students end protest as school agrees to discuss Gaza conflict
Protesters against the war between Israel and Hamas were voluntarily taking down their tents in Harvard Yard on Tuesday after university officials agreed to discuss their questions about the endowment, bringing a peaceful end to the kinds of demonstrations that were broken up by police on other campuses.
The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said in a statement that the encampment "outlasted its utility with respect to our demands." Meanwhile, Harvard University interim President Alan Garber agreed to pursue a meeting between protesters and university officials regarding the students' questions.
Students at many college campuses this spring set up similar encampments, calling for their schools to cut ties with Israel and businesses that support it.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, and Israel's military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Harvard said its president and the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Hopi Hoekstra, will meet with the protesters to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.
The protesters said they worked out an agreement to meet with university officials, including the Harvard Management Company, which oversees the world's largest academic endowment, valued at about $50 billion.
The protesters' statement said the students will set an agenda that includes discussions on disclosure, divestment, reinvestment and the creation of a Center for Palestine Studies. The students also said that Harvard has offered to retract suspensions of more than 20 students and student workers and back down on disciplinary measures faced by 60 more.
"Since its establishment three weeks ago, the encampment has both broadened and deepened Palestine solidarity organizing on campus," a spokesperson for the protesters said. "It has moved the needle on disclosure and divestment at Harvard."
