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Lure of the MBA For many international students, the most sought-after U.S. degree is the master's degree in business administration.
Foreign students do what it takes
for a degree in the U.S.By Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.comThe degree represents the most advanced thinking from the center of capitalism, education that is available only on a theoretical level, if at all, in developing countries.
"It's one of the most popular master's level studies and in terms of absolute numbers, probably the largest in the U.S.," said Jim Wills, associate dean for the University of Hawaii's College of Business Administration.
At UH foreign students make up about 14 percent of those enrolled in the MBA program.
But for many students from other countries -- no matter how bright -- pursuing a master's degree from a U.S. university is out of the question.
The cost of an overseas education is prohibitive. Whole families will pool resources together to help send a family member to the United States for schooling, Wills said.
But often, that's not enough.
To meet the expenses, U.S. universities provide fellowships and other aid especially to foreign graduate students. About 40 percent of the country's 240,000 foreign graduate students receive such help, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Because foreign students generally achieve higher grades, competition to enroll them can be strong. Universities such as UH will often take extra measures to attract the best and the brightest."They are kids that are one day going to go back and be business and government leaders in their own countries," Willis said. "That's good for us."
For two UH business students, it took two years of determination and considerable assistance before they began their MBA studies.
Russian student Azamat Koumykov enrolled in August for a special 15-month Japan-focused MBA program, which is a joint effort between the College of Business and the Hawaii Kai-based Japan-America Institute of Management Science. The program will culminate with a three-month internship at a company or organization in Japan. The college and the institute offer a similar program for students with an interest in China.
Koumykov wants to apply the knowledge he gains by one day working in both Japan and Russia. "It's a niche," he said. "Trade volume (between Russia and Japan) has doubled in the last year and there is a lack of qualified managers."
Business experts with cultural expertise and the language skills for both countries are already in short supply. Moreover, partnerships between the two countries are growing in promising areas such as energy supply, oil field exploration and fishing, he said.
The dream sometimes looked impossible to Koumykov, who comes from a town about 1,200 miles south of Moscow, a hundred miles from the Chechen front.
Even though his parents have good jobs -- his father is a physics professor and his mother is a gynecologist -- his father must supplement the family income by tutoring and consulting for an electronics firm.
Koumykov had already earned two master's degrees in Russia at an early age. He graduated high school at 12 and in 1991 spent four months in the United States at a school in Houston, Texas.
Koumykov is pursing and MBA at the University of Hawaii.
Azamat Koumykov
>> From: Nalchik, Russia
>> Age: 21
>> Background: Koumykov has worked as a field assistant to the United Nations World Health Organization and a volunteer English teacher for the Republican Lyceum for Gifted Children.
>> Education: Masters' degrees in English linguistics and management science from the Kabardino-Balkarian State University, Russia.
>> Quote: "Trade volume (between Russia and Japan) has doubled in the last year and there is a lack of qualified managers."
Thai is attending the University of Hawaii, studying for an MBA
Thai Thi Thanh Mai
>> From:. Hanoi, Vietnam
>> Age: 25
>> Background: Thai has worked as an editorial assistant for the South China Morning Post, as an English professor and as a sales representative
>> Education: Masters' degree in public management and economics from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Hanoi. Bachelor's degree in English, Hanoi University of Foreign Studies.
>> Quote: "For many of my friends who come to the U.S. self-financed, their parents have saved their whole lives."
Connections from the stay in Texas with Rotary International helped him implement a Rotary humanitarian assistance project in 1993 in his home, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, part of the Russian Federation. He also served several stints with the United Nations and the World Health Organization in two of the world's hot spots, the Balkans and Chechnya.
But Koumykov was determined to earn an MBA in the United States and specialize in Japan. Getting a visa was no small matter. It took three 2,400 mile round-trips to Moscow and cost about $1,500 between the travel expenses and the cost of the visa.
Even though his academic skills and achievements were never in question, Koumykov still had to prove he had enough money to go to school in the United States.
Thanks to scholarships and help from Rotary and UH, Koumykov was able to pull together enough for tuition and living expenses.
If there is one major difference he has noticed since coming to study in Hawaii it's the abundance of materials and equipment available to students.
"It was a shock," he said. "Back home we sat on remnants of 19th century furniture, there were no copy machines so we had to write everything and there would be one book between 150 people."
The weather, needless to say, is also a big improvement.
"Sometimes it was so cold the university had to close because it couldn't afford central heating," he said.
For Thai Thi Thanh Mai, who comes from Hanoi and is known to friends and colleagues as Mai Thai, the UH experience first required determination.
Like Koumykov, it took two years, much correspondence, financial aid and getting scholarships lined up before she could leave home to pursue her dream of an MBA.
A good academic record, jobs as an editorial assistant and the South China Morning Post's Hanoi bureau and teaching English at a university in Hanoi were not enough.
While UH accepted her application, overcoming government bureaucracy at home and proving she could pay for her education were major challenges.
Thai finally arrived in Hawaii in August, thanks to a scholarship from the Asian Development Bank and help from the East-West Center.
When she returns home to Vietnam she still wants to teach English but with her new business credentials will also try to gain a job as a business reporter at an English language newspaper or other media outlet.
The hurdles international students have to overcome before coming to study in the United States can be daunting, said Marsha Anderson, an assistant dean at the College of Business.
"I don't know how some of them manage it," she said. "We had one student from China who in order to get a visa had to show four years of living expenses in the bank even though he was only enrolled in a two-year program."
There have also been cases where the home government would not let a married female student bring her husband to the United States.
"Sometimes their own countries are afraid they would have a child here who would then become a U.S. citizen," she said.
Separation from friends and family can be hard for some students.
For Thai, it will be at least another year until she sees her husband, Nguyen, also a student, who is now studying in Belgium.
But thanks to technology, distances are getting shorter.
While the separation is hard, they can talk every day through the Internet, despite the 12-hour time difference. They can also see one another via Web cam.
"Whenever I'm home I'm online with him," Mai said. "In some ways it's like being in the same home and we even study together."
