From rural Africa to the Ivy League

The Christian Science Monitor 09 September 2012

In early 2008, Joshua Foromera was a talented Zimbabwean high school graduate living as a refugee in South Africa. He fled Zimbabwe because of political and economic collapse, seeking higher education opportunities, writes Scott Baldauf for The Christian Science Monitor. Today, Foromera is a biology and chemistry major at Duke University, following his dream of finding a safer, more effective treatment for the virus linked to AIDS.

Foromera is just one of hundreds of foreign students with modest incomes attending university in the United States, thanks to private scholarships, enthusiastic volunteers, and the relatively small $12 million United States Achievers Programme (USAP) run out of US embassies in 13 countries on four continents.

At a time when the US’ strategic advantage in higher education is being tested, and global talent moves to emerging economic powers such as India and China, programmes like USAP help ensure that America’s colleges and universities still draw in the lion’s share of academic talent, and contribute to the economic boost higher education brings to the US economy.
Full report on The Christian Science Monitor site

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