INS tracking of international students is about to get even more intense.

One week from today, the INS will implement a new program called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS.

Under SEVIS, all colleges, universities and graduate programs which receive federal funding will be required to transmit electronically detailed information on every international student directly to the INS, the State Department, and the Department of Education. Schools will transmit students’ grades, course loads, majors, addresses, and any changes to this information.

If schools fail to do so, they will lose federal funding.

USA Today reports that up to a thousand schools will not be ready by the Jan. 30 deadline. The INS will force these schools to suspend international student registration.

All of this comes after hundreds of foreign students were either denied visas by the State Department or missed the start of the fall semester because of delays in immigration proceedings.

Guests:

• Murray Welch, director of the Office of International Services at Johns Hopkins Medical School.
• Greg Leonard, Vice President for Newfront Software based in Cambridge. New Front has been developing the software that will be used in the SEVIS system.