Back to Inside

By Amy Geiszler-Jones

WSU is working hard to curb the symptoms of the “Asian flu” that have resulted in declining enrollments of international students and a loss of revenue for the university.

Part of the prescription means tapping into the markets of potential students in South America, the Middle East, Africa, Scandinavia and elsewhere around the globe.

For a number of years, WSU has had a fairly large international student population, reaching almost 10 percent of the student body in 1996. Most of those students called countries in Southeast Asia home.

Then, an economic crisis hit those countries earlier this year, forcing many students to return home, and now WSU international student enrollment is at 1,183 students, 8 percent of the student population. The university lost almost $1 million in revenue in fiscal 1998 from these students who pay higher out-of-state tuition.

“Even before the Asian flu, as we lovingly call it, became an issue, when I assumed this position, we decided that we needed to diversify our recruiting efforts,” says John Koppenhaver, director of international education since May 1997. “The Asian flu made it much more essential to look at other countries for international recruiting.”

Now places like Lima, Peru; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and St. Petersburg, Russia, are being added to the travel itineraries of international admissions staff.

“Particularly for this year, we have a very extensive recruiting plan,” he says. “We’re still going to Southeast Asia. That’s been our traditional market and the United States will continue to get more students from that area than any other single area in the world, even with the Asian flu. There are still more potential students there. However, we need to look at other areas.”

In some areas, students are quite eager to hear about U.S. institutions. During a five-city, four-country trip to South America in September, more than 26,500 students showed up at the five recruitment fairs. In Lima, Peru, alone, during the opening three hours of the three-day fair, more than 5,000 students showed up, snatching up literally all the material at every booth, including WSU’s.

“I brought back hundreds of requests for information because we simply ran out of materials,” Koppenhaver says.

Koppenhaver, associate professor of Spanish, has high hopes for the South American market. “I think the Brazilian market is a very good market for us,” he said. While large numbers of Brazilians study in the United States, currently only six are enrolled at WSU.

A return trip to South America is planned for March, and President Hughes will visit with Brazil education officials during a trip to five cities Nov. 8-20. Hughes is joining Wichita Mayor Bob Knight, City Manager Chris Cherches and Chamber of Commerce President Tim Witsman on the trip. Brazil is the largest South American importer of airplanes made in Wichita.

WSU is facing stiff competition in some of these markets.

“Everybody is recruiting more heavily now than they used to,” says Koppenhaver.

Efforts to gain international students aren’t limited to setting up booths and talking to thousands of students at recruiting fairs, though. Other initiatives include developing “articulated agreements” between foreign universities and WSU.

“Once we establish this kind of relationship, a formal agreement between two universities, WSU is going to be the first place students from those schools look at when trying to decide where it is they want to go,” says Koppenhaver.

He returned from a recent trip to China, during which he was part of a trade mission, with four proposals for such agreements. Two of the proposals are quite concrete, calling for shared/collaborative MBA programs.

Koppenhaver expects Hughes to seek similar proposals during his trip to Brazil.

While the locations of the recruitment efforts are changing, students consistently inquire about certain programs, such as engineering, computer science and business, says Koppenhaver. Law and medical schools, and programs in architecture are high on the request list, too. For those inquiries, Koppenhaver offers to share student requests with the University of Kansas or Kansas State University.

“I see my role as more a recruiter for the whole state of Kansas and our educational system. While I work first and foremost for WSU, I am delighted to share information about our sister institutions with prospective students.”

John Koppenhaver, second from right, international
education director, talks to students at a recruiting
fair in Lima, Peru. South America is one of the new markets
WSU is targeting for international students.

A large international student body is beneficial not only to the WSU community but to U.S. businesses and the countries the students call home.

While at WSU, international students expose Wichitans and other Kansans to other cultures. For American students, this can be valuable as they go on to work for companies that are competing in the worldwide market.

Many Kansas industries, for example, expect an engineering education to provide graduates with a broadly diverse learning experience, says Bill Wilhelm, College of Engineering dean.

“The significant group of outstanding international students preparing for the practice of engineering perhaps makes this college’s educational experience the most diverse in Kansas,” he says.

“Our students graduate having many opportunities to live with, team with and work with fellow students from around the world.

“In addition, the international students who graduate from WSU are in high demand both in the U.S. and their home countries as technology-related industries seek to raise the standard of living for all countries throughout the world.”

Inside WSU is published by the Office of University Communications for Wichita State University faculty and staff on Fridays - with an exclusive online versionevery other Friday - during the fall and spring semesters. Items to be considered forpublication should be sent to campus box 62 or amy.geiszler-jones@wichita.edu 10 days before publication.

Editor
Amy Geiszler-Jones

Online Designer
Matthew Hicks