Please note: On May 10, 2016, DHS replaced the 17-month STEM OPT extension with a new 24-month STEM OPT extension. All existing 17-month STEM OPT EADs will remain valid until the EAD expires, is terminated or revoked. For more information about the new STEM OPT rule, please visit the STEM OPT Hub. 

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) academic programs are important. Government agencies, organizations, and officials at schools across the United States realize that STEM graduates are the key to the future of technology, economic growth and job creation. President Obama’s administration believes the United States needs to put more emphasis on enrollment to earn STEM degrees, both for U.S. students as well as for F students. The Department of Homeland Security also has joined this effort by providing opportunities for F students who graduated with a degree in certain STEM-related fields. Such benefits include a 17-month extension for optional practical training and expanding the list of STEM degree programs that qualify for the extension.

Building and advancing STEM programs also is a priority for officials in individual states as well as in colleges and universities. According to Inside Higher Ed, the governor of Connecticut announced a new program to promote enrollment in STEM fields. The program, entitled “Next Generation Connecticut,” will provide more funds for STEM programs on University of Connecticut campuses. The article reports that “(t)he money will be used to hire more faculty members, enroll more students, build new STEM facilities and dorms, and create new doctoral fellowships and a STEM honors program.”

Inside Higher Ed also reports on the “25 by 25” initiative at Texas A&M University, which "aims to increase engineering enrollment at the university to 25,000 students, up from 11,000 now, by 2025.” Unlike the program in Connecticut, however, this initiative will have no additional state funding. Instead, its financial support will come from the “extra money that growing enrollment brings.”

For more information, visit our STEM resource page.

Are you interested in studying STEM in the United States? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

Source:

• Finding More STEM Students, Inside Higher Ed