BI sees 20% rise in foreign students

MANILA, Philippines—For many Koreans, Chinese and Iranians, going to school in the Philippines is cool, especially those who are eager to learn how to speak English.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported on Sunday a 20-percent increase in the number of foreigners who were issued study visas for the school year 2010-11.

In a report to Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, BI student desk head Teodulo Estrada said that as of June 15, a total of 6,416 foreign students had been issued student visas for this year’s first semester, compared to the 5,343 last year.

Of these foreign students, 1,871 were newcomers, while 4,545 were already studying here in previous semesters.

Estrada said the figures were likely to go up. He said “hundreds” of foreign students’ visa applications were still being processed in Metro Manila and other field offices.

There was still no breakdown, but in 2009, the BI recorded 10,934 foreign students. South Koreans topped the list with 2,812, followed by Chinese (1,904) and Iranians (1,870).

Rounding up the top 10 are students from India (553), Indonesia (526), United States (507), Sudan (234), Taiwan (227), Burma/Myanmar (207) and Vietnam (140).

Aside from the BI main office, there has been a steady increase in student visa applications filed with the bureau’s field offices in key cities such as Cebu, Baguio, Davao, Angeles and Iloilo.

Estrada added that language schools in the country had the most number of foreign students, followed by the different state universities and colleges, mostly in Cebu and Baguio.

English, dentistry

South Koreans are usually attracted to the English language schools while many Iranians enroll in dentistry courses.

One Iranian student who initially took up dentistry in one of the schools in Manila’s “University Belt” is Amireza Jafari Tehrani, 21. He shifted to an engineering course this semester, saying he was better in math.

“Many of our dentists back home are Filipinos and they are good, so many of my fellow Iranians come here to study dentistry,” he said in a phone interview.

He explained that Iranian youth liked to study in the Philippines, as well as in Thailand, because tuition was cheap.

“But more go to Philippines because they also want to be hone their English speaking skills,” he added.

RP as education hub?

Since the enrolment period, foreign students have been swarming at the ground floor lobby of the BI main office in Intramuros to apply for visas, prompting Libanan to deploy additional personnel.

According to Estrada, the surge in student visa applications is a positive development in the country’s efforts to become an educational hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We will continue to look for ways to liberalize our rules on student visas so that more foreigners will be encouraged to study here,” he said.

The BI recently entered into an agreement with East Timor to encourage Timorese students to study in the Philippines. –Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer