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Increasing Internationalization and Diversification of the Student Body: Case Study of a Proven Proactive Recruiting Model and Strategies for Further Enhancement

Abstract

International student enrollment at U.S universities is on the decline after experiencing healthy growth in the last decade of the twentieth century. Competition from Europe, Australia and other countries, along with the culmination of conditions which discourage foreign students from coming to the U.S has played a significant role in reducing enrollment numbers. Globally, more and more students strive to achieve a higher degree from renowned institutions of learning, and if U.S universities desire to have a major part of this market, they will have to adopt a comprehensive set of recruitment strategies to attract overseas students.

This paper presents identified best practices that can be adopted by our institutions based on a student survey and recruitment experiences of faculty members involved in international student recruitment efforts. A model for recruiting foreign students was created from the effort and it is hoped that this model can be adopted by traditional U.S universities in enhancing results of their overseas recruiting efforts. U.S institutions of higher learning should find this model useful in creating a long-term strategy for internationalization and diversification of their student bodies. Also, the model should serve well as a starting point for a university’s recruiting efforts, which can then be further enhanced through interactions with current students and alumni.

Introduction

As educational systems are developing rapidly in many parts of the world, worldwide competition for international students has increased and become fierce. Figure 1 is derived from excerpts of the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) Opendoors 2005 Report.1 These statistics show that the total enrollment of international students in U.S universities reduced by 1.3% between academic year 2003-2004 and academic year 2004-2005. International enrollment in the fields of engineering during the same time period reduced by 2.4%.2 However, the reduction in fields of engineering technology and related fields reached an unprecedented 42.1%.3 This should be a wakeup call to colleges and universities who teach these fields. These over a longer period could translate into substantial reduction in the U.S academic base at those institutions.

Further, statistics provided by American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) shows foreign student participation of only 5 % in engineering technology and related studies as shown in Figure 2.3

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Agarwala, R., & Mehta, M. (2006, June), Increasing Internationalization And Diversification Of The Student Body: Case Study Of A Proven Proactive Recruiting Model And Strategies For Further Enhancement Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--342