International enrollment is going up at WSU
By Amy Geiszler-Jones
 With souvenir international flags in the background, Vince Altum, coordinator of marketing and recruitment with international education, holds his passport bearing several stamps from frequent trips abroad to recruit students. On a recent six-week trip he visited Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan. |
After four years of declining enrollment, the number of international students at WSU is on the rise again.
Last year WSU saw a resurgence in its international student numbers, with a 15 percent rise in spring 2000 and a 13.8 percent increase (158 students) in fall 2000 from fall 1999.
This past fall, WSU gained 57 undergraduate students for a total of 710 and 101 graduate students for a total of 614. Those 1,324 students represented 116 different countries, up from 99 countries in fall 1999, and 8.9 percent of WSU’s student body, according to John Koppenhaver, executive director of international education.
He expects the upward enrollment trend to continue this semester.
So why the jump in enrollment?
"The recovery of the Southeast Asian economies has played a role," says Koppenhaver. "We’d like to think that it is also in part due to our renewed efforts to attract international students. Southeast Asia is still our largest market, without question. The fact that those economies are getting better, if not totally recovered, is important. We also are recruiting much more aggressively."
Indeed, the recent itinerary of Vince Altum, coordinator of marketing and recruitment, is a testament to that. On a six-week trip in September and October, he went to Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan, sometimes visiting those countries more than once during that time. He’s gone to those areas twice yearly the past three years.
WSU has also stepped up recruitment efforts in other areas of the world.
During recruitment trips, WSU staffers go to education fairs, which typically run two days with exhibitors from 50 to 60 U.S., United Kingdom and Australian universities.
"We’re going into areas where we haven’t consistently recruited before," Koppenhaver says. "For example, we’ve gone to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela over the last four years at least once a year. We’re also recruiting in Africa and India. Not all of our recruiting is done the same way. In India, we’ve not had a physical presence. We work through a lot of agencies and educational advisers so we send materials there."
 John Koppenhaver, executive director of international education, talks to students during an education fair in Argentina. WSU international education program officials make frequent visits to foreign countries to recruit students. |
That lack of a physical presence hasn’t hurt enrollment numbers. The highest number of international students hail from India – enrollment increased from 192 to 267 students from fall 1999 to fall 2000.
WSU’s zealous recruitment efforts are distinctive in the regents system. At the University of Kansas, international students comprise 6.5 percent of the student body, while at Kansas State, they comprise 5 to 6 percent. At WSU, they comprise 8.9 percent.
WSU tends to apply "the early bird gets the worm" theory when it comes to admitting international students.
"The other thing that I think contributes to our success is that we have a goal in this office of turning around applications in three days," says Koppenhaver. "We don’t always make that, but it is our goal. That’s quite unusual. Normally students apply to four, five or 10 universities. In some, it takes three weeks, and for some, three months to respond." Students may be more apt to accept WSU’s admission offer if it’s the first to respond, he says.
While a large international student body benefits WSU’s budget – the non-resident undergraduate tuition of $311.30 per credit hour is 4.1 times more than residents pay – it also impacts the cultural life of the community and the academics at WSU.
"Because of our location in the middle of the United States, where we don’t have the diversified populations of places like New York, California or Florida, international students add a component to our community that is extremely valuable in terms of getting to know other cultures and people. International students are important, too, because they tend to be some of our best students. They tend to be academically very well prepared so they add an intellectual component, as well," Koppenhaver says.
