International Students of Agriculture in U.S. Institutions Precursors to Academic Success

agriculture. As an increasing number of individuals from other nations seek educational programs from U.S. institutions, questions have arisen concerning the equitable treatment of the admission applications from these individuals. How are records and transcripts from international institutions evaluated and interpreted to determine if an applicant has a reasonable chance of success in an American institution? How may standards for admission be applied to a diverse set of prior educational experiences? Answers to these questions are significant to agricultural education in both a national and an international context. U.S. institutions which accept international students into graduate programs have had difficulties in properly evaluating the academic performance records of these students (Sentz, 1985). Standards for admission are not easily assessed when compared with unfamiliar measures, Further, many international students come from countries in which the English language is not the native language. In an effort to assist in the assessment for acceptance for graduate study, U.S. personnel who oversee the academic programs of these individuals have often functioned on the assumption that a positive relationship exists between measures such as English proficiency and academic success in graduate study in the U.S. As departments of agricultural education increase their activities in international training, information on the reliability and validity of assessment measures would be useful to individuals responsible for evaluating the academic records of potential students from educational systems similar to each other but dissimilar to the U.S. system. These personnel would have increased confidence in determining acceptable standards for admittance into their programs. Personnel from the sending institutions would have like standards on which to base their decisions to send students to U.S. institutions.