Finding 1-1: International students and scholars have advanced US science and engineering (S&E), as evidenced by numbers of patents, publications, Nobel prizes, and other quantitative data.

Finding 1-2: International graduate students and postdoctoral scholars are integral to the US S&E enterprise. If the flow of these students and scholars were sharply reduced, research and academic work would suffer until an alternative source of talent could be found. There would be a fairly immediate effect in university graduate departments and laboratories and a later cumulative effect on hiring in universities, industry, and government. There is no evidence that modest, gradual changes in the flow would have an adverse effect.

Finding 1-3: Innovation is crucial to the success of the US economy. To maintain excellence in S&E research, which fuels technologic innovation, the United States must be able to recruit talented people. A substantial proportion of those people—students, postdoctoral scholars, and researchers—come from other countries.

Recommendation 1-1: The United States must maintain or enhance its current quality and effectiveness in S&E. A principal objective should be to attract the best graduate students and postdoctoral scholars regardless of national origin. The United States should make every effort to encourage domestic-student interest in S&E programs and careers. A study should be undertaken to examine the best policies and programs to achieve that end.

Recommendation 1-2: The overarching goal for universities and other research institutions should be to provide the highest-quality training and career development to both domestic and international graduate students and postdoctoral scholars of truly outstanding potential. Graduate admissions are directed toward fulfilling a variety of objectives, among which the education of the next generation of researchers should have the highest priority. This educational process will include