The Oregon University System released its Fall 2011 enrollment fact sheet for the seven OUS institutions, which shows a 12.2 percent increase in the number of international students enrolled.
The number of international students is at an all-time high of 6,387 students, 1,923 of which are from Portland State. The University of Oregon boasts the largest number of international students of all the OUS campuses with 2,116 students.
The Oregon University System released its Fall 2011 enrollment fact sheet for the seven OUS institutions, which shows a 12.2 percent increase in the number of international students enrolled.
The number of international students is at an all-time high of 6,387 students, 1,923 of which are from Portland State. The University of Oregon boasts the largest number of international students of all the OUS campuses with 2,116 students.
In looking at the OUS as a whole, the numbers show that more and more students from China are choosing Oregon as their destination for higher education in the United States: this year, an additional 526 Chinese students are enrolled at OUS institutions over last year’s figures, with the highest concentration at University of Oregon.
At PSU, there are 299 international students from China, the second largest group in a country-by-country breakdown. The majority of international students at PSU are the 428 students from Saudi Arabia.
According to the university’s Office of Institutional Research and Planning, PSU saw a 3.4 percent increase in international students from last year’s 1,859 students.
Chris Anderson, assistant director for international admission at PSU, said one reason more students from Saudi Arabia are coming to PSU is because of the generous funding that the government in their home country provides, which covers full tuition and expenses.
Anderson said his position was created in June 2010 to help the university get in touch with prospective students overseas. By his own estimate, Anderson and his staff traveled to at least 16 countries within the past two and a half months to recruit students from countries like Iraq, Qatar, China, Vietnam, Brazil and Colombia. Anderson’s goal is to diversify and get students from all parts of the world to come to Portland State.
Although international students are not eligible for most scholarships offered by PSU, the Office of International Affairs does provide a number of scholarships to help international students offset the cost. One popular program is the International Cultural Service Program, which covers half the non-resident tuition and fees charged to international students in exchange for 90 hours of cultural services throughout the year.
These cultural services take the form of giving presentations to classrooms and community groups where students get to educate others about their culture. Last year, the ICSP offered 30 scholarships to students from Kenya, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Austria.
The estimated cost of attendance for international students, who pay the non-resident rate, is $34,482 for one year of undergraduate studies, compared to a resident student’s rate of $22,008, according to PSU. During a time when most Oregon universities are in a financial bind, having more international students can be seen as a good way to boost revenue.
Anderson said the difficulty most international students face is adjusting to the nature of an American classroom.
“In many parts of the world your grade is based on one test or reciting the lecture,” Anderson said. “In our classroom, students actually get to participate in discussions.”
In addition, there is the temptation of staying within one’s comfort zone in a new country. It’s common to see a group of international students from the same country hanging out among themselves on campus, and Anderson said the university tries to have international students integrate themselves with other peers.
At PSU, the International Mentoring Program helps put students in touch with a mentor who helps them make the transition to life in the U.S. Applied linguistics senior Jamie Bower is a mentor to nine students from India, France, Denmark and Japan. Bower said she helped them with registering for classes, finding housing and just about anything they may need.
“It’s really fun getting to know all the international students,” said Bower, who was an international student last year when she studied in Japan. “It helps me understand the cultural differences and language barriers [they experience].”
Although it’s Anderson’s job to recruit international students, he said other departments in the university deserve credit for attracting international students to PSU.
Anderson highlights the role of PSU faculty in doing research overseas, which in turn creates an international profile for the university with prospective students.
“When we have people from the universities that go abroad, that’s the biggest source of recruitment,” Anderson said, “We even had PSU President [Wim Wiewel] travel to Indonesia to meet with students this past summer, and the vice provost who traveled to China—it’s a campus-wide commitment.”
That kind of international profile attracts companies to invest in the university. Two years ago, Intel selected PSU’s Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science as the host institution for its $2 million Intel Vietnam Scholars Program. Since then, the company has brought over 52 students from Vietnam to study at PSU.
