Open Lecture with Richard Sax

The open lecture of prof. Richard Sax (University of Rio Grande) “International Students in the 2nd and 3rd Decades of the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities for Belarus” was organized by BEROC on December 20, 2018.

Higher education is one of the industries in which the United States continues to attract more students than it exports abroad. In Fall, 2016, there were 1,078,822 international students studying in the United States, while 325,339 American students studied abroad. That is, there are 3.3 international students coming to American universities for every one American student who studies abroad. Europe sent 92,820 of those students (8.6% of the total) to America, yet Belarus sent only 319. Dr. Sax will discuss economic opportunities for Belarus in expanding the number of international students going both ways — Belarusian students studying in the United States, as well as American students studying in Belarus. Despite jingoistic comments by the current American President, there remain significant economic opportunities which can support the Belarusian economy as well as create success stories for Belarusian students if the number of international students increases in both directions: American students to Belarus and Belarusian students to any of the 3000 institutions of higher learning in the United States. 

Richard Sax earned a BA (Concentration in American Studies) at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. He earned his MA and PhD degrees from The University of Michigan. Over the past 36 years, he has taught and served as an academic administrator at: Dean of the College of Arts & Humanities at Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan; Dean of the School of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado; Vice President for Academic Affairs & Dean of the College at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio; Campus Dean & Chief Academic Officer at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus in Los Lunas, New Mexico. Since 2014, he has served in his present positon as Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Rio Grande & Rio Grande Community College in Rio Grande, Ohio.