The Inside Higher Ed article, “Brazil Scholarship Program Grows,” illustrates how international countries recognize that the world is flat and that more students need to pursue STEM-related majors if their countries are going to compete in the technology economy. Brazil has expanded its Scientific Mobility Undergraduate Program, which funds a year of overseas study for Brazilian undergraduates, primarily in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. Additionally, approximately 60 percent of the scholarship recipients have completed a summer internship either at a company or in a university research lab. Tom Farrell, vice provost for global engagement at the University of Nebraska notes:

“I think this is strategically important for both countries, so I really appreciate the way the Brazilians are managing and developing this talent pool.”

While international companies are encouraging and supporting their students in pursuing STEM majors at U.S. colleges and universities, U.S. students are shying away from such majors.

Top schools for Brazil’s Scientific Mobility Undergraduates at U.S. universities are:

College of UniversityNumber of Brazilian Students

University of California Davis

118
Illinois Institute of Technology

99

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

91

Western Michigan University

89

University of Utah

74

Arizona State University

73

University of Kentucky

72

University of Colorado at Boulder

72

Tennessee Tech University

63

Montana State University

63

The National Foundation for American Policy Brief (July 2013) notes that international students account for the majority of graduate students in 87 percent of Electrical Engineering programs and 76 percent of Computer Science programs at U.S. colleges and universities. The following table illustrates the percentage of graduate school students in STEM-related fields:

FieldPercentage of International Students
Electrical Engineering

70.3

Computer Science

63.2

Industrial Engineering

60.4

Chemical Engineering

53.4

Materials Engineering

52.1

Mechanical Engineering

50.2

Mathematics & Statistics

44.5

Physics

43.7

Civil Engineering

43.7

Other Engineering

42.1

Chemistry

40.3