The start-up of the Internet-based system, after years of criticism from lawmakers of the INS's antiquated tracking methods, is viewed by officials as a significant step toward monitoring foreign studentsand beefing up the country's anti-terror safeguards. The system is scheduled to be operational by July 1.

The INS was "supposed to keep up with [students], and obviously the schools were not cooperating. But the bulk of the problem was the system itself was antiquated," a Justice Department official said yesterday. "You can't push a million students through a paper system and expect to get accuracy."

The system is designed to provide up-to-date computerized information on non-immigrant foreign students, such as name changes and new dropouts, an official said. Each school will have 24 hours to record changes electronically.

Schools now maintain paper records on foreign students; the records are not kept in a central location and are not provided to the INS unless the agency requests them.

"It is the single best step the federal government can take to keep closer tabs on international students studying in the United States," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, a trade association that represents 1,800 public and private colleges and universities.

A 1996 immigration reform law required the INS to upgrade the system by which it keeps track of the 1 million foreign students studying in the United States at any time. The system must be in place by January.

Pressure to get the system up and running has increased since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Hani Hanjour, one of the 19 hijackers, used a student visa to enter the United States, saying he wanted to study English. He never showed up for class.

INS officials have noted that they lack agents to track down and apprehend foreign students who drop out of school or fail to show up.

"This will create the possibility of monitoring international students far more carefully and in real time," Hartle said. "But INS will still have to act on the information it receives. Whether INS will have the resources to act on the information it receives remains to be seen."

The system will link every U.S. embassy and consulate abroad with every INS port of entry in the United States and all schools eligible to enroll foreign students, Hartle said.

Before foreign students can apply for a visa, they must be accepted by a school, which will enter their names and identifying information in the database. The students will pay a $95 registration fee and be issued a paper receipt. It must be presented along with the acceptance letter to a U.S. embassy or consulate to apply for a visa, he said.

Offices will be set up in schools to ensure that the institutions comply, a Justice Department official said. Repeatviolators will be ineligible for international study, Hartle said.

Victor Johnson, associate executive director for public policy with the Association of International Educators, said he supports the system but expressed concern that the schools are being rushed into compliance by Jan. 1.

"There is going to be an issue of how soon the schools are going to have to have their technology systems up and running," Johnson said. "I think the schools would like to go from a paper system to an electronic system and, in an ideal world, they'd like to do it under less scrutiny."

Reported By Washingtonpost.com, http://www.washingtonpost.com

06:43 CST