Agricultural & Applied Economics Association

Graduate Students from Less Developed Countries: The Continuing Demand for U.S. TrainingAuthor(s): Russell StevensonSource: American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Feb., 1979), pp. 104-106Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Agricultural & Applied EconomicsAssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1239508 .

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Graduate Students from Less Developed Countries: The Continuing Demand for U.S. Training

Russell Stevenson

Four years ago, in June 1974, the writer compiled information on the enrollment of LDC graduate students in U.S. university departments of econom- ics and agricultural and resource economics cover- ing five academic years, 1969-73 (AJAE).

The 1974 survey revealed without question that a significant percentage of graduate students studying in fields related to the economics of agriculture comes from LDC countries. Among the fifty-five departments in that five-year period, there were a total of 5,094 entering graduate students of whom 1,480 or 29.05% came from eighty LDC countries. In some departments the percentage of LDC stu- dents was higher than 50%. The presence of such a large number of LDC students in U.S. graduate programs underscores the importance of efforts to strengthen their professional training within the host departments.

Early in 1978 the International Committee of the American Association of Agricultural Economics (AAEA) set in motion a further study of U.S. train- ing and related research activities for LDC students with special funding from the Agency for Interna- tional Development. The primary target group was the network of Land Grant Universities-including the 1890 colleges-with departments of agricul- tural, food, resource, and applied economics, in- cluding those universities where agricultural eco- nomic interests are subsumed within a single de- partment of economics. We also included a sample

of private university economics departments where international agricultural economic interests are served.

General Observations

The graduate program (M.S., Ph.D., nondegree) is noted only at the point of entry. It may reasonably be assumed that significant numbers of LDC stu- dents who enter a graduate program at the master's level continue into or through the Ph.D. (table 1).

Only the major source of financial support is noted even though some LDC students receive financial assistance from more than one source (ta- ble 2).

An effort was made in the second survey to iden- tify those Western graduate students (U.S., Canada, U.K., Europe, and Australia) who upon completion of their programs had given evidence of a major interest in international agricultural eco- nomic development (table 1). The AAEA's Interna- tional Committee as well as international donor or- ganizations are concerned to know what portion of the emerging agricultural and resource economics professional community is disposed to work on international problems.

This particular total, 410 individuals representing 13.2% of the 3,087 non-LDC group over the four years, should be viewed skeptically. It was evident in correspondence and phone conversations with a number of department chairmen that this category of students is difficult to capture. The survey pro- vided no clear formula for identifying those West-

Russell Stevenson is secretary-treasurer of the Agricultural De- velopment Council.

Table 1. Numbers of Students in Forty-eight Departments

1974-75 1975-76 1976-77 1977-78 Totals

All entering graduate students 1,006 1,200 1,148 1,155 4,509 LDC entering graduate students 356 342 360 364 1,422a LDC M.S. students 209 216 226 251 902h LDC Ph.D. students 142 120 126 105 493c LDC nondegree students 5 6 8 8 27d Westerners graduating with major

interest in international agri- cultural economic development 114 104 89 103 410e

a The LDC group (1,422) represents 31.5% of all entering graduate students. b Of the LDC group, 63.4% enrolled at master's level. c Of the LDC group, 34.6% enrolled at Ph.D. level. d Of the LDC group, 2% enrolled in nondegree programs. e Among the non-LDC graduate students, 13.2% (3,087) indicate a major interest in international agricultural economic development.

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Stevenson LDC Students in U.S. 105

Table 2. 1,422 LDC Students' Distribution by Sources of Financial Support, 1974-1977

Percentage of Total

Agency Number LDC Group

U.S. government agencies 266 19 AID 252 USDA 9 Fulbright 5

Foreign government agencies 312 22 U.S. universities 242 17 Foundations and nonprofit

agencies 175 12 Intergovernmental agencies 54 4

FAO 10 United Nations 25 World Bank 9 OAS 8 NATO 1 Inter-Amer. Bank 1

Self-support 367 26 Not indicated 6

Total 1,422 100

ern students with a "major" interest in agricultural economic development.

Finally, in table 3, one notes the distribution of LDC students by universities. They are spread across the United States. Universities in the far West have the largest numbers enrolled, whereas universities located in the South have, as a group, the highest percentage of LDC students enrolled.

Trends

I conclude with some thoughts regarding significant trends that emerge over the nine-year period cov- ered by the two surveys:

There is a continuing strong demand for graduate level training in U.S. departments of agricultural and resource economics as measured by the total number of entering graduate students. The average annual number of entering graduate students during the five-year period from 1969-73 at the fifty-five responding departments was 1,018. During the sec- ond period, 1974-77, the average number of enter- ing students at forty-eight responding departments increased to 1,127.

The demand is strong among LDC students. Their percentage of the total entering student group ranged from 26.6% in 1969 to 35.3% in 1974. Their enrollment increased in absolute terms from 269 at fifty-five departments in 1969 to 364 at forty-eight departments in 1977.

The percentage of LDC students entering M.S.- level programs exceeds that of the Ph.D.-entering group by a large margin (table 1). This trend is contrary to the expectations of many in the devel- opment profession (AID personnel, donor and

Table 3. Distribution in Departments of Ag- ricultural Economics or Economics by Univer- sities of All Entering Graduate Students and Percentage from LDC, 1974-77

Entering Percentage of LDC LDC Students

Graduate as Total Entering University Students Graduate Students

Vanderbilt 123 90 Tennessee St. 28 70 W. Virginia 29 57 Utah St. 58 53 Wisconsin 55 48 Yale 75 42 Ohio St. 50 40 Arizona 32 40 Colorado St. 43 38 Oklahoma St. 34 38 Hawaii 24 38 Tennessee 33 37 Idaho 7 37 Mississippi St. 16 36 Iowa St. 62 35 Pennsylvania St. 24 34 Cal./Davis 33 33 Stanford 17 33 Nebraska 15 33 Chicago 84 32 Kentucky 28 32 Illinois 43 31 Florida 38 30 Oregon St. 66 29 Washington St. 55 28 Michigan St. 40 28 Purdue 39 28 Kansas St. 23 28 Louisiana St. 9 28 North Carolina St. 43 27 Minnesota 32 27 Cal./Berkeley 14 27 Auburn 7 20 Wyoming 4 20 Texas A&M 42 19 Massachusetts 7 19 Missouri 18 18 Cornell 17 17 Vermont 2 17 Maryland 17 14 Georgia 7 14 Nevada 4 09 So. Dakota St. 4 09 Arkansas 3 09 Harvard 10 08 Maine 4 08 Montana St. 4 08 New Hampshire 0

Totals 1,422

foundation representatives, U.S. faculty), who four years ago predicted a reverse trend in their review of U.S. training (Schertz, Stevenson, Weisblat, p. 32). In a report presented to the AAEA in August 1974, it was predicted that over the next decade

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106 February 1979 Amer. J. Agr. Econ.

Table 4. 1,422 LDC Students' Distribution by 87 Countries of Origin, 1974-77

Asia Africa Middle East Latin America

Afghanistan 14 Benin 1 Egypt 15 Antigua 1 Bangladesh 19 Botswanna 2 Greece 13 Argentina 12 Cambodia 2 Cameroun 7 Iran 106 Bahamas 3 Hong Kong 9 Cayman Islands 1 Iraq 10 Bolivia 2 India 45 Ethiopia 50 Israel 18 Brazil 71 Indonesia 35 Ghana 34 Italy 1 Chile 22 Japan 32 Ivory Coast 14 Jordan 6 Colombia 29 Korea 46 Kenya 10 Lebanon 8 Costa Rica 7 Laos 3 Lesotho 4 Libya 14 Cuba 1 Malaysia 60 Liberia 15 Malta 1 Dominican Republic 14 Micronesia 1 Mali 3 Morocco 2 Ecuador 7 Nepal 9 Nigeria 70 Portugal 2 El Salvador 8 Pakistan 35 Rhodesia 2 Saudi Arabia 16 Jamaica 5 Philippines 44 Senegal 3 Spain 6 Guyana 3 Singapore 2 Sierra Leone 8 Sudan 19 Guatemala 3 Vietnam 10 Somali 1 Syria 1 Haiti 1 Sri Lanka 2 S. Africa 3 Tunisia 13 Honduras 8 Taiwan 60 S.W. Africa 1 Turkey 18 Mexico 52 Thailand 93 Swaziland 2 Nicaragua 23

Tanzania 21 Panama 7 Togo 1 Paraguay 2 Uganda 11 Peru 17 Volta 3 Trinidad 3 Zaire 13 Uruguay 21 Zambia 2 Venezuela 28

Totals 521 282 269 350 (36.6%) (19.8%) (19.0%) (24.6%)

there would be a decrease in the demand for M.S. degree training in the United States as LDC institu- tions developed local capacity to train their own students at least at the M.S. level and in some cases at the Ph.D. level. Such local graduate training capacity is emerging most notably in Asia and in Latin America.

It was assumed that LDC students would more and more take their master's level training at home or in a select number of regional training centers, and that those who came to the United States would primarily enroll in Ph.D. degree programs. Clearly, this has not been the case.

Similarly, the nondegree option for the pre-Ph.D. student has not been exercised by any significant number (less than 2%), contrary to earlier expecta- tions (table 1).

Over the past four years, the percentage of LDC students coming from Africa and the Middle East has increased relative to the percentage coming from Asia and Latin America. In absolute terms, the largest number continue to come from Asia and Latin America in that order (table 4).

Over the period in review the sources of financial

support for LDC graduate students have shifted. There has been a marked decrease in available

funds from U.S. government agencies, foundations, and the universities themselves. Nevertheless, LDC students continue to come in increasing num- bers with the funding gap on the U.S. side being bridged by increased funding from foreign govern- ment agencies and from LDC students' own re- sources.

In the 1974-77 period, 733 of a total of 1,422 LDC graduate students (52%) were funded from non- U.S. sources. This is an increase of 16% during the past four years. Only a small percentage over the nine years was funded by intergovernmental agen- cies.

[Received July 1978; revision accepted September 1978.]

References

Schertz, L. P., A. R. Stevenson, and A. M. Weisblat, eds. International Training in Agricultural Economic De- velopment. New York: Agricultural Development Council, 1976.

"U.S. Graduate Students from Less Developed Coun- tries." Amer. J. Agr. Econ. 56(1974):816-18.

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