PSU looks to India for students
A Portland State administrator traveled to India to recruit students last month in response to a higher number of applicants from India than any other country. PSU has not recruited there in the past.
The number of graduate applications from India has more than doubled from 2005 to 2006, according to information prepared by Paula Harris, the associate director for international recruitment in the Office of Admissions, Registration and Records. When the number of Indian applicants began to grow significantly, Agnes Hoffman, associate vice provost for enrollment management and student affairs, proposed the university recruit in India this fall in order to make it to the educational fairs being held there.
Hoffman’s trip to India cost the university $15,750. Hoffman said she hopes that her trip will result in an increase in enrollment of Indian students, making up the costs of the trip.
Hoffman said she attributes the high volume of applicants from India to their growing desire to pursue graduate degrees in the United States and the reputation of Portland State faculty.
”They come because of word of mouth and because our faculty is well known,” Hoffman said. “Many of our faculty have written textbooks, are known internationally, have presented in India and are of Indian heritage.”
International recruiting has focused on east Asia in years past, but now steps are being taken to branch out, according to Hoffman.
”That’s where our students have come from primarily, and we wanted to develop those markets,” she said. “But if we don’t develop more than just the Asian market, then we risk being vulnerable in the event of negative world events.”
Hoffman said these events could result in a rapid drop in the enrollment of east Asian students that could have a negative effect on PSU, causing the university to lose the cultural enrichment and financial sustainability provided by those students.
Because of these risks, Hoffman said, PSU must be more strategic in its recruitment and branch out to areas where there is potential, like India and Latin America.
”We have to be very strategic about it because we don’t have the resources to spend exploring to be sure that we can make our efforts pay off,” she said. “In India there is an emerging middle class, and an economy that is growing at a very rapid rate.”
Of the 97 countries represented in PSU’s international student community, India ranks second behind Japan in the number of international students at the university, according to information provided by Harris. This same information shows that most of the students coming from India are pursuing graduate degrees in electrical and computer engineering, and computer science.
Although Japan had the highest number of students represented at PSU last year, it is projected by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning that India, as well as China and Korea, will surpass Japan this year. The overall number of international students is increasing significantly, with a projected 9.3 percent increase in graduate students in 2006.
Hoffman said that India views the United States as one of the most desired places to pursue higher education. “We are attempting to capitalize on the impressions of Indians about the U.S. education system, and encouraging students to seek our comprehensive research educational opportunities here at Portland State.”
The U.S. is not the only country competing for the enrollment of Indian students. Countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have organized concerted efforts to recruit in India, by way of large print ads and even billboards. According to Hoffman, this is because a growing number of Indian students have become financially able to afford education abroad.
”We of course would very much like to have those students in our classrooms,” Hoffman said. “They [people from India] are very driven to develop their country, and in doing so they are seeking the best education possible.”
