Orin D. Parker

At the very moment you are reading these words, there is undoubtedly a good student somewhere in Egypt, Syria or any of more than half a dozen other Arab countries who is thinking seriously about attending university in the U.S. If the student gets there, the chances are better than even that he or she will have done so with some assistance, if only indirect, from Orin D. Parker.

For the past three years, Mr. Parker has been president of America-Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST), the leading American private and voluntary organization which specializes in helping Arab students to enter and follow through with study programs at American universities. Each year, AMIDEAST gives at least some assistance to many thousands of such students who come into its field offices in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, North Yemen, Syria, Tunisia and the West Bank and Gaza.

There is little doubt in Mr. Parker's mind that this assistance is very much needed by the average candidate. "The marketplace of American higher education is really a jungle," he says. "We act as a friend, to guide the student through it."

Among the most important guidance AMIDEAST can give, Mr. Parker says, is to help in the selection of an institution that is appropriate for the particular student. But it can also do such things as translate and certify academic credentials; arrange for English-language training and admissions tests; give counseling in fields of study; and handle admissions applications.

From Soup to Nuts

AMIDEAST does much more, however, than just help individuals looking for admission to U.S. colleges. Much of its work is taken up in providing full administration—everything from setting up and monitoring programs to paying tuition and laundry bills—for students who are sponsored in their studies by governments, foundations or corporations. Not all of these programs are academic, either. Some of them are vocational or technical, such as a recent training course in the U.S. for employees of an Arab airline.

Mr. Parker runs AMIDEAST's operations from offices on Washington D.C.'s Massachusetts Avenue, and has a world wide staff of more than 140. Its busiest office overseas is now in Cairo, its newest is in Sanaa, Yemen, and the one where it probably has the most frustrations, day in and day out, is the office in East Jerusalem, which handles AMIDEAST's operations on the West Bank. These include the use of a U.S. government grant to help with "faculty development" programs at West Bank Universities—i.e., sending professors to the U.S. for graduate study—and to provide scholarships for needy students at local institutions.

"Israeli authorities keep trying to put themselves between us and our programs," Mr. Parker says, "even though the U.S. Congressional legislation which provides us with our funds specifies that we should deal directly with the recipients." AMIDEAST's operations, he says, are subject to constant harassment: "For example, the authorities will hold up the departure of professors for the U.S., even after their U.S. visas have been issued. Or they will ask us to submit the names and identity card numbers of students we propose for scholarships. They regard us as a pro-Arab organization, even though we're not involved in politics."

Back in 1951, when AMIDEAST got its start under its original name—the American Friends of the Middle East—it was very much involved in politics. It was established by the late Dorothy Thompson as part of an effort to improve relations between the U.S. and Arab countries, which had been strained after the establishment of Israel in 1948. In addition to providing educational services, for many years the organization also ran a clipping service, published a magazine, put on exhibitions, and arranged exchanges of visits by Middle East and American community leaders.

Students Make Friends

"Starting about the mid-sixties we began having problems getting enough funds for our informational activities," Mr. Parker says. "Besides, we realized that there was no better way to make a favorable impression on American understanding of the Arab world than to help bring Arab students and professors to the United States, and let Americans see for themselves what Arabs were like. This had a greater impact than any kind of propaganda. So we made the decision to concentrate only on education."

Mr. Parker joined the organization in 1960, and spent 13 of the next 22 years in the Middle East from which he returned in 1979 to take over as president. But he is far from being just an administrator. He spends much time speaking, writing and attending conferences on the subject of educational development. One of his writings, a perceptive paper on "Cultural Clues to the Middle Eastern Student," was first issued in 1972 and is still in demand on many U.S. college campuses.

Mr. Parker graduated from Brigham Young University in 1948 and did graduate work at Stanford, American University and the University of Baghdad. Just prior to joining AMIDEAST, he spent two years as a consultant to the Turkish Ministry of Press, Broadcasting and Tourism.