U.S. colleges and universities have seen an increase in the number of international students enrolled, in part due to poor economic situations in the students’ home countries, according to an annual report.
The Open Doors’ 2009 report, released Monday by the Institute of International Education, found an increase of about 8 percent in the number of international students enrolled at U.S. colleges, setting a record high of 671,616 students.
The number of international students at UT pursuing undergraduate degrees rose 5 percent from last year to 1,637 this year, and the number of graduate students stayed nearly unchanged at 3,123.
“Whenever there is a downturn in the economy, we see an increase in applicants,” said Lucy Faulkner, the senior administrative associate at the Graduate and International Admissions Center.
Teri Albrecht, the manager of UT’s International Office, said the University has seen an increase in total foreign student enrollment at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
“I think part of this has to do with the economy, in that students are enrolling in higher education to enhance their educational credentials because it is difficult right now to be in the job market,” Albrecht said.
While smaller colleges employ more recruiting techniques to attract international students, Albrecht said UT has no centralized strategy.
“However, many departments and colleges recruit through the strength of their academic programs and the international networks that they have,” she said.
Michael Smith, the director of English as a Second Language Services at the International Office, said UT doesn’t need to recruit because of the high number of applications they receive from interested foreign parties.
ESL Services provides foreigners with preparatory assistance in learning English. The office helps prospective graduate or undergraduate students, foreign teachers and other people looking to improve their English.
Smith said he has seen an increase in the number of people coming to make use of the ESL Services, and he expects the number to continue to increase or level off. He said the program saw two groups of teachers from South Korea withdraw over the summer because of a fear of the H1N1 virus, but he doesn’t expect that to cause too much concern.
Smith said there was a decrease in the number of international participants who planned to attend UT without financial assistance, but an increase overall because of partnerships that were made between the International School and institutions abroad.
As the value of the dollar fell last winter, Smith said many prospective students from Korea, many of whom paid their own way, could no longer afford to come to UT. Koreans, who made up 40 percent of the international population last fall, are now 24 percent of that population.
The Republic of Turkey’s Ministry of National Education and the Bolashak Scholarship in Kazakhstan each provided funding for 20 students to use ESL Services and, upon completion, enroll at UT. Another 10 international students were sponsored by Sonangol in Angola.
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