Latest news with #US-educated
Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
PDP reasserts self-rule demand, fields Irtiqa in key role on foundation day
SRINAGAR: PDP reaffirmed Sunday its demand for self-rule in J&K, saying it would continue to push for cross-border trade, easing of travel between the Union territory and PoK, and a 'dignified resolution' to long-standing political conflicts. 'PDP was never meant to be just another party… We stood for self-rule… We believed that peace in South Asia runs through the hearts of the people of J&K, and not over their heads,' the party said a day before its foundation day. Since unveiling its self-rule doctrine in 2008, which proposed cross-LoC economic integration and a dual currency system between J&K and PoK, the party has carved a distinct political path. Unlike most regional parties that have focused on restoring statehood following the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, PDP has consistently called for full restoration of the article — and now appears intent on re-centring the political discourse around its self-rule narrative, sources said. Delivering the official message this year was Irtiqa Mufti, US-educated eldest daughter of party president Mehbooba Mufti . Irtiqa, who edits PDP's monthly mouthpiece Speak Up, said the party's foundation day was a moment to 'reflect on the idea that gave birth to PDP'. 'In 1999, my grandfather Mufti Mohammad Sayeed founded this party with the belief that the people of J&K deserve dignity, dialogue, and democratic rights,' she said in her widely circulated message. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like No annual fees for life UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo Her appearance has fuelled speculation of her entry into politics, especially as her younger sister Iltija Mufti has been a prominent voice since 2019. However, PDP spokesperson Mohit Bhan said Irtiqa's current role remains within the party's communications team. Irtiqa has gradually stepped into the public sphere over the past few months, mirroring the political ascent once made by Iltija. Sunday's message marked her most visible role yet.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Priced out of the American Dream: How new H-1B rules are deepening inequality
In the sunlit classrooms of top American universities, international students have long pursued the H-1B visa as a logical next step, a bridge from academic excellence to professional opportunity. For decades, it symbolized merit, upward mobility, and a fair shot at the American dream. But a new shift in US immigration policy is poised to redraw that bridge, replacing its foundations of chance and academic achievement with one built squarely on salary figures. The Biden administration's proposed overhaul of the H-1B visa system, replacing the existing random lottery with a wage-level-based selection mechanism, is being framed as a measure to reward skill and restore integrity. But beneath the surface lies a sharper, more divisive reality: a growing disparity that privileges wealth over potential, experience over promise, and corporate scale over entrepreneurial ambition. The end of the lottery and the beginning of the pay-to-compete era Until now, H-1B hopefuls were entered into a random lottery when applications exceeded the annual limit, 65,000 regular cap slots, plus 20,000 for advanced degree holders from US institutions. It was a system imperfect, yes, but egalitarian in its essence. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like TV providers are furious: this gadget gives you access to all channels Techno Mag Learn More Undo An entry-level coder had the same statistical odds as a machine learning architect. That paradigm is now at risk. Under the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) proposed rule, priority will be given to those offered higher wages, ranked according to Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) wage levels, from Level I (entry-level) to Level IV (expert-level). In simple terms: the bigger your paycheck, the better your odds of securing a visa. What this means is seismic. An international graduate fresh out of an Ivy League computer science programme, earning $83,000 at a promising startup (Level I), may now lose out to a mid-career hire drawing $150,000 at a tech conglomerate (Level IV), even if both possess equal talent, and the graduate is US-educated. A system tilted toward the elite For tech giants flush with capital, this change is welcome. No longer will they have to compete on a level playing field with smaller startups or mid-sized firms trying to sponsor international talent. They can simply outbid. And for American workers, particularly those with growing concerns about wage suppression, the reform may appear protective on paper. By discouraging the hiring of lower-paid H-1B workers, the hope is to reduce exploitation and preserve wages. Yet critics warn that the very workers these rules aim to shield may now face intensified competition from higher-paid foreign professionals, who will be favored over domestic mid-tier talent due to their specialization and salary levels. But the most immediate impact will be on the international student community, especially those transitioning from F-1 to H-1B status. For them, this isn't just policy—it's personal. Innovation at risk: A startup squeeze Beyond individual dreams, this rule could stifle innovation. Startups—long seen as engines of disruptive growth—often operate on tight margins and cannot match the salaries of multinational corporations. With limited ability to offer Level III or IV wages, their access to global talent could be choked. In essence, this creates a dual-track immigration economy: one reserved for those with institutional might and another fading away for risk-takers, early-career professionals, and the underfunded visionaries. A shift in philosophy, not just policy Proponents argue the wage-based system aligns better with a merit-driven immigration model. But in doing so, it risks conflating compensation with competence. Salary may be a market signal, but it is not always a proxy for skill, especially across fields like academia, research, and public service, where salaries lag behind private industry. An AI researcher at a university lab might earn far less than a data engineer at a bank, despite offering more specialized knowledge. By elevating salary as the singular metric of worth, the US risks overlooking entire sectors of value and impact. A call for balance and equity The new rule is currently under White House review, with a period for public comment. It is not yet final, but its implications are already reverberating across campuses and corporate HR departments alike. The intention may be to restore fairness, but fairness cannot exist in a system where opportunity is priced, and potential is dismissed for lack of immediate profit. To preserve its reputation as a destination for the world's brightest minds, the United States must strike a balance, rewarding genuine skill and curbing abuse, without closing the door on those just beginning their journey. Immigration policy must be rooted not only in economic logic but in a recognition of human ambition, educational investment, and long-term contribution. Until then, the message to many aspiring immigrants is unmistakable: If you can't afford the price of entry, the American dream may no longer be yours to dream. Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
The Star
14-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Indonesia eyes technocrat as top US diplomat after two-year gap
JAKARTA: Indonesia is poised to appoint a US-educated technocrat as its ambassador to Washington, ending a prolonged vacancy in a key diplomatic post at a time when the nation is recalibrating trade and business ties with the world's largest economy. Lawmakers in Jakarta have approved Dwisuryo Indroyono Soesilo (pic) as envoy to the US following a closed-door vetting process, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Adies Kadir told Bloomberg News. Soesilo, 70, is a former cabinet minister as well as a geologist and veteran marine governance expert. His nomination awaits a formal nod from President Prabowo Subianto, who is also expected unveil a slate of ambassadors on a date to be announced. The appointment also requires a sign-off by the US. A two-year absence of an ambassador in Washington, along with several other extended vacancies, has drawn criticism from former officials and analysts. They say the gaps have weakened Indonesia's diplomatic leverage amid shifting global alliances and economic pressures. Prabowo is pursuing closer ties with countries including China and Russia while also trying to negotiate a tariffs deal with the US, one of its largest export markets. A recent social media post by a former ambassador to the US, Dino Patti Djalal, urging Prabowo to swiftly fill positions has drawn more than half a million views. Foreign Minister Sugiono last month said the delay "was our mistake,' citing challenges in selecting suitable candidates. Soesilo, whose father served as US ambassador in the 1980s under former ruler Suharto, didn't respond to Bloomberg requests for comment. He acknowledged his vetting to local media earlier this month but said the process wasn't finished. Soesilo earned graduate degrees in remote sensing from the University of Michigan and the University of Iowa before dedicating much of his career to marine research and fisheries policy, including within Indonesian government agencies. He briefly served as director of fisheries and aquaculture at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, and later as coordinating minister for maritime affairs under former President Joko Widodo. He has not previously held a diplomatic post. The nomination is part of a broader diplomatic rotation involving 24 ambassadorial posts, including to missions in Germany, the United Nations and North Korea. Names are proposed by the president, and the picks mostly indicate Prabowo is favoring political loyalty and technocratic expertise over traditional diplomatic experience for the bigger roles. He has suggested a former campaign team member as envoy to Malaysia, and a one-time adviser for the mission in Singapore, a significant channel for foreign investment into Indonesia. Local media reported that the sister and adviser to Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, a powerbroker who backed Prabowo's presidential bid, is expected to serve as ambassador to Japan. Career diplomats have instead been nominated to positions considered less politically sensitive, including to Germany, Vietnam and the UN. Foreign policy experts have expressed concern about the shift in diplomatic strategy for the world's fourth-most populous nation, especially given uncertainties around US political dynamics. In the case of representation in Washington, "what matters most now is having access and experience with Trump himself,' said Dedi Dinarto, lead Indonesia analyst and senior associate at strategic advisory firm Global Counsel LLC. "Indonesia risks being left out of key conversations if its top envoy can't navigate that environment.' Since taking office last year, Prabowo has traveled frequently, including visits to China, the Middle East, Southeast Asian neighbors, Russia and Europe. He recently attended the BRICS summit in Brazil - the first since Indonesia joined the bloc earlier this year - and is scheduled for meetings in Brussels and Paris in coming days. "In a command-style government like this, where the president controls all foreign policy decisions, even appointing capable ambassadors becomes difficult,' said Nicky D. Fahrizal, a foreign policy researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. "Even ambassadors with strong diplomatic credentials may find themselves powerless.' - Bloomberg
Mint
13-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Indonesia Eyes Technocrat as Top US Diplomat After Two-Year Gap
Indonesia is poised to appoint a US-educated technocrat as its ambassador to Washington, ending a prolonged vacancy in a key diplomatic post at a time when the Southeast Asian nation is recalibrating trade and business ties with the world's largest economy. Lawmakers in Jakarta have approved Dwisuryo Indroyono Soesilo as envoy to the US following a closed-door vetting process, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Adies Kadir told Bloomberg News. Soesilo, 70, is a former cabinet minister as well as a geologist and veteran marine governance expert. His nomination awaits a formal nod from President Prabowo Subianto, who is also expected unveil a slate of ambassadors on a date to be announced. The appointment also requires a sign-off by the US. A two-year absence of an ambassador in Washington, along with several other extended vacancies, has drawn criticism from former officials and analysts. They say the gaps have weakened Indonesia's diplomatic leverage amid shifting global alliances and economic pressures. Prabowo is pursuing closer ties with countries including China and Russia while also trying to negotiate a tariffs deal with the US, one of its largest export markets. A recent social media post by a former ambassador to the US, Dino Patti Djalal, urging Prabowo to swiftly fill positions has drawn more than half a million views. Foreign Minister Sugiono last month said the delay 'was our mistake,' citing challenges in selecting suitable candidates. Soesilo, whose father served as US ambassador in the 1980s under former ruler Suharto, didn't respond to Bloomberg requests for comment. He acknowledged his vetting to local media earlier this month but said the process wasn't finished. Soesilo earned graduate degrees in remote sensing from the University of Michigan and the University of Iowa before dedicating much of his career to marine research and fisheries policy, including within Indonesian government agencies. He briefly served as director of fisheries and aquaculture at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, and later as coordinating minister for maritime affairs under former President Joko Widodo. He has not previously held a diplomatic post. The nomination is part of a broader diplomatic rotation involving 24 ambassadorial posts, including to missions in Germany, the United Nations and North Korea. Names are proposed by the president, and the picks mostly indicate Prabowo is favoring political loyalty and technocratic expertise over traditional diplomatic experience for the bigger roles. He has suggested a former campaign team member as envoy to Malaysia, and a one-time adviser for the mission in Singapore, a significant channel for foreign investment into Indonesia. Local media reported that the sister and adviser to Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, a powerbroker who backed Prabowo's presidential bid, is expected to serve as ambassador to Japan. Career diplomats have instead been nominated to positions considered less politically sensitive, including to Germany, Vietnam and the UN. Foreign policy experts have expressed concern about the shift in diplomatic strategy for the world's fourth-most populous nation, especially given uncertainties around US political dynamics. In the case of representation in Washington, 'what matters most now is having access and experience with Trump himself,' said Dedi Dinarto, lead Indonesia analyst and senior associate at strategic advisory firm Global Counsel LLC. 'Indonesia risks being left out of key conversations if its top envoy can't navigate that environment.' Since taking office last year, Prabowo has traveled frequently, including visits to China, the Middle East, Southeast Asian neighbors, Russia and Europe. He recently attended the BRICS summit in Brazil — the first since Indonesia joined the bloc earlier this year — and is scheduled for meetings in Brussels and Paris in coming days. 'In a command-style government like this, where the president controls all foreign policy decisions, even appointing capable ambassadors becomes difficult,' said Nicky D. Fahrizal, a foreign policy researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. 'Even ambassadors with strong diplomatic credentials may find themselves powerless.'
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Business Standard
27-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Donald Trump's anti-Harvard campaign fuels interest in UK universities
For the past 15 years, Don McMillan, a college-admissions consultant, has worked just down the road from Harvard University, one of the most prestigious schools targeted by his clients from the US and around the globe. This month, he expanded his business 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) and an ocean away to tap into what's becoming a rapidly growing line of work: Advising the students who are souring on America and looking to go to college in the UK instead. 'There's more of an interest now for US students to study in the UK,' said McMillan. 'In the past our American students might only apply to Oxbridge and St. Andrews. Now they will look at a broader range.' The main deadline for UK undergraduate admission was at the end of January, too early for the impact of Trump's recent policies to have had an effect. But interest has since surged as his administration started slashing funding, revoking the visas of foreign students and trying to block Harvard's overseas students from entering the US, escalating a clash with the university that's been playing out in court. Studyportals, a platform widely used to research colleges, said that foreign students' searches of British universities rose 10 per cent in the year through May, with the number of those looking at American schools falling by a similar amount. Among Americans, the focus on UK schools was up 12 per cent. An influx would be a welcome shift for UK universities whose finances have been squeezed in recent years as domestic tuition failed to keep pace with rising costs and international enrollment fell short of expectations. Over 40 per cent had deficits in 2024, according to a report last month by the Office for Students, which warned that the pressure could continue if fees from foreign students don't rise as much as expected in the years ahead. The British Council, which promotes UK cultural institutions abroad, said earlier this year that Trump's return to the White House — along with heightened restrictions on studying in Canada and Australia — could increase the number of those opting to come the UK. At Bayes Business School in London, Andre Spicer, the executive dean, has already started trying to recruit them. His school recently hosted its first alumni networking event in Manhattan since the pandemic and he has been utilizing US-educated faculty members in a push to market the school to Americans. One selling point: It costs £50,400 ($69,200) to earn a Master of Business Administration degree in 12 months, less than the cost of the typical two-year programs in the US. 'And you can escape the Trump years,' he said. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government has stopped short of actively encouraging such efforts, in contrast to the European Union, which recently announced a €500 million ($586 million) plan to lure research scientists after the Trump administration started slashing such funding. In fact, facing political pressure from Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform UK party, whose popularity has surged in opinion polls to overtake his own Labour Party, Starmer has been weighing steps that could discourage international enrollment. His government is considering imposing a 6 per cent levy on university income from tuition fees from such students, as well as cutting the amount of time that students can stay in the country after graduating to 18 months from two years. Yet those are fairly small disincentives compared with the steps taken by the Trump administration. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who earlier this year moved to expel some foreign students who were engaged in anti-Israel demonstrations — said last month that the government is planning to 'aggressively' rescind the visas of Chinese students who have ties to the Communist Party or are studying in 'critical fields.' He also instructed embassies worldwide to stop scheduling interviews for student visas ahead of the US government's decision to implement stricter reviews of applicants' social-media profiles. Amer Mourad, the London-based chief executive officer of Global Study UK, said that has been particularly worrisome to students in the Middle East. Last month, he was contacted by the mother of an Egyptian student who was trying to make fallback plans, worried the US would block his enrollment due to politically oriented social-media posts. Mourad has recently seen other prospective students from countries in the region switching their focus to UK universities instead of those in the US. 'Clearly there is fear,' he said. Ewen Nemeth, an 18-year-old from Chester, in northwest England, was accepted to Edinburgh and Warwick universities but had planned to take a gap year and apply to Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania for the next year. Now, he's opting for a backup plan — taking an offer from Warwick to start this fall at the school in Coventry, about 95 miles northwest of London. He'll avoid the hassle of working on US applications, and skip the uncertainty of heightened visa scrutiny. For Americans, interest in the UK had already been on the rise, with US undergraduate applications up 12 per cent by the January deadline for the upcoming academic year. City St. George's, in London, has been among the beneficiaries. Mattias Frey, deputy dean and department head of media, culture and creative industries, said the number of US graduate students applying to its creative writing program more than tripled in 2025 and he's expanding staff to accommodate them. He said the students haven't been directly citing US politics as a driver of their decisions 'but there's something in the air about it.' 'I would call it a safe space that maybe they're not feeling right now in the United States,' he said. McMillan, the Boston admissions consultant, said he's been picking up on that, too. He said roughly half of the Middle Eastern students he has been advising are planning to apply to an English-speaking university outside the US in the next application cycle, a sharp in increase from just one in five in previous years. For his American clients — who were almost always focused on US schools — it has shot up to 15 per cent. 'I expect this number to rise,' he said. Since Trump's return to the White House, McMillan has spent more time researching and visiting campuses in Europe, where his company already has consultants in Italy and France. This month, the 18-person firm hired someone in the UK for the first time, anticipating it will become a more prominent destination. 'There's a real gap between the administration and the vast majority of Americans who value and understand the importance of this intellectual richness that's coming to the US,' McMillan said. 'We're concerned about the brain drain.'
