Changes to SMU’s Curricular Practical Training Policy maymean a change in plans for some international students this year.The policy allows international students the opportunity to gainvaluable work experience that is otherwise restricted by their F-1student visas.

In the past, students would find internships with outsidecompanies. The International Office would then issue an I-20 workpermit for a restricted period of time in which that student canwork for the company, usually during the summer. Once the I-20 hasexpired, the student would have to apply for CPT again and getanother I-20 from the International Office.

The new permanent CPT policy, cleared by the Office of LegalAffairs in mid-July, says that students not only must maintainfull-time status but also states that work authorization will onlybe granted when the work is a required part of the degree program,such as the School of Engineering’s Co-op Program andaccounting classes 5325 and 5326.

The work experience will not be credit-bearing as long as itmeets those standards. If the work experience is part of anelective, then it must be for credit and count toward the degreeprogram.

Over the summer, about 30 international graduate students,mostly from the School of Engineering, drew up a petition with thehelp of a faculty member from the anthropology department toprotest changes to the policy.

“We were informed about these changes at a meeting on Jun.24, 2004 but we feel that the authorities involved have notsufficiently guided the students and did not provide satisfactoryanswers to many of our questions,” the petition reads.

The petition was sent to Associate Provost Tom Tunks, who latermet with several individuals, including the leadership of theInternational Office and the deans and associate deans of theengineering and business schools, to discuss the issuesinvolved.

“The Schools are working on ways to implement curricularcomponents to be in compliance with federalregulations…without putting students in jeopardy with thegovernment,” Tunks said in an email interview.

The result of the meeting was an interim CPT policy that wasposted on SMU’s website on Jul. 10, 2004. The interim policy,which is only applied to the engineering school, requires graduatesto take 9 credit hours in order to maintain full-time status, thekey requirement for them to keep their student visas, and allowsthem to continue taking their zero-credit internships if they havethem currently set up for this semester.

The new permanent CPT policy, Tunks said, should go into affectby Spring 2005.

Some students said they found out about the policy meeting bychance when one of them visited the International Office in June.The students said they felt that the International Office and theschools were planning to make policy changes without any studentspresent or any student input.

“I didn’t respond to the petitioners directlybecause they did not provide contact information, but the schooland International Office folks agreed to convey the outcome of themeeting to CPT-seeking students who came to them,” Tunkssaid.

Interpreting the Code

The meeting, for which the petition was sent, was prompted fromresearch conducted by the International Office that started sometime in mid-January.

Michael Clarke, director of International Admissions and one whowas present at the meeting, said the International Office concludedthat the policy needed to be more in compliance with the Code ofFederal Regulations.

“The Code of Federal Regulations is the document that allinternational offices use when they make decisions on internationalstudents,” Clarke said in a July interview. “Themeeting with Dr. Tunks is that based upon the research we havedone, we feel that it’s necessary for the safety of ourinternational students to have a more conservative interpretationof the code.”

CPT is a benefit for international students to take advantage ofduring their course studies, Clarke said. In its current state, nocourse credit is given for CPT.

But more conservative policy changes may make obtaining CPTharder for students.

Craig Monatgue* is graduate student in the School of Engineeringwho arrived in the U.S. in August 2003. “People who get CPTare considered lucky,” Montague said. He said gaining threemonths of experience in the U.S. greatly increases the chances ofgetting a job in the U.S. after graduation. Plus, he added,international students that have paid internships can use the moneythey earn to pay for the fees and other expenses of theireducation.

But the strictness of 9/11 is being felt, Clarke said.

Last year, SMU went on the Student and Exchange VisitorInformation System, or SEVIS, which registers every internationalstudent in the country with the federal government.

Clarke says that along with SEVIS, SMU’s InternationalOffice is subject to auditing every two years by immigrationauthorities to check for accuracy of files and information. Ifofficials see anything they feel is not in compliance with thecode, Clarke said, the university could be shut down.

The International Office’s research, which also included alook at similar policies at SMU’s benchmark peeruniversities, showed that some students, mostly graduates in theengineering school, were extending their graduation by workingfull-time off-campus under CPT. What would normally take two yearsto complete 30 hours of graduate training was taking some studentsthree years to complete.

“A student visa is for study, not to work,” Clarkesaid.

The students’ take on the issue

“It is possible for us to graduate on time with (the old)CPT (policy),” says Allen Harkinson*, also an internationalstudent in the engineering school. “Everything islegal,” he said

Montague says that most employers look for students who can workfull time, around 40 hours a week. Several students said it’sdifficult for a student to work 40 hours and be enrolled in threecourses at the same time under the interim policy. Since studentscannot get out of their course work, some lose internshipopportunities, Montague said.

Several other students said they chose SMU because of severalfactors. They could’ve chosen other schools in the U.S. oreven in other countries such as Australia, Canada or Great Britain,where education expenses are less.

However, many of them chose SMU because of benefits likeCPT.

“We had plans in our minds,” Montague said. But nowsome of those plans as far as graduation and getting a job in theU.S. are going to have to change under the new policies.

Under the interim policy, the necessary paper work has to befiled by Aug. 25, 2004.

“This is a little stringent since an internshipopportunity doesn’t come only during the beginning ofsemesters. It’s always project-based. When the project ends,the internship ends,” Montague said.

Some students met with the International Office leadership overthe summer and asked if the new policy can only apply to incomingstudents and the old applied to current students.

But unlike curriculum, policy is uniform, says Clarke, and mustbe applied across the board. He compared it to crossing from a 50mph speed limit zone into a 35 mph zone. If you continue going 50in the 35, you’re breaking the law, he said.

What it boils down to

Clarke reiterates that the International Office’s role isto diversify SMU and serve its international community.

“If we were not doing something in the spirit of the codeafter [what] we know [from our research], we should be shutdown,” he said.

Since the writing of their article, new developments have takenplace regarding CPT. Students report that the International Officehas been in better communication with them regarding thepolicy.

*These are not the students’ real names.