Posted on 10/14/2002 9:07:44 AM PDT by Nachum
CAIRO - With fewer Arab students being welcomed into the United States because of stricter visa rules, Canada is becoming a popular second choice for post-secondary education.
Representatives from more than two dozen Canadian colleges and universities spent the weekend in Cairo as part of a recruiting campaign.
"The situation in the U.S. is very difficult these days after the 11th of September," says Mustapha Eman, a 24-year-old engineering student in Egypt. "Middle East students have restrictions placed on them."
He walks slowly through the crowded room of tables and exhibits that makes up the Ottawa-sponsored education fair, hoping to get into graduate school in Canada.
About 800 young Egyptians who had applied for student visas to study in the United States are now stuck without the necessary papers to go to school.
Canada's Ambassador to Egypt, Michel de Salaberry, says we should open the door to them.
"If we're really serious about fighting terrorism, about getting rid of the stupid notion that there's a war between civilizations, then we should precisely be looking to give young people a chance to live in other countries," according to de Salaberry.
Visa requirements are tougher than ever, he says, and universities always select top talent. If foreign students are accepted, they usually pay at least four times the tuition that Canadians are charged.
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