Louisiana colleges open doors for foreign students as numbers rise

The Daily Advertiser
Thursday, March 17, 2005

While the number of international students in the country declined 2.4
percent during the past academic year, the number of non-American students
in Louisiana has increased, according to a Institute of International
Education report.

The study ranked Louisiana 25th in the country the number of foreign
students on the state’s college campuses.

The Institute of International Education’s Open Doors 2004 annual report
documents foreign student mobility in the United States, as well as the
number of American students studying abroad. The IIE is a nonprofit agency
focused on education and cultural exchanges.

What brings a foreign student to study abroad in America varies. Ask
American students why they chose their school, and the answer would likely
change from person to person.

For Beatrice Talon, attending university outside of her native Haiti was the
only option if she wanted to study graphic design. Talon is in her third
year at UL and is the secretary of the International Student Council.

Talon and about 600 other international students are celebrating their
cultures and countries during International Week. She said the purpose of
the event is to open eyes in the community to the wealth of diversity
offered on campus in each student, including internationals.

“We’re hoping more people realize that we are on campus and that we have
activities,” Talon said. “We have a lot to offer with our different
traditions and cultures and all the stories we come with.”

Those stories are slipping away in some parts of the country as fewer
foreign students are attending college in the United States. The Institute
of International Education’s report attributes the decline to rising tuition
costs and students’ difficulty in obtaining visas, especially in scientific
or technical fields of study. Also, the IIE cites heavy recruiting of the
diverse students from other English-speaking countries.

This spring on UL’s campus, there are about 660 foreign students from about
100 countries, including lone students from Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Equatorial
Guinea and Moldova.

Many of those students find out about the university through word of mouth
or on the Web, said Rose Honegger, director of the Office of International
Affairs. The department helps international students acclimate to American
university life.

“Word of mouth is how a lot of students know about our campus, but also our
office. We’ve tried to get our Web site linked and translated into many
other languages,” Honegger said. “I know, for example, some of our Japanese
students have found out about our campuses through links in the Japanese
language.”

This spring, foreign students make up 4.2 percent of the student body. Last
fall it was 4.3 percent. In the past five years, the number of
internationals has declined. In fall 2000, about 5.3 percent of the student
body was from another country.

On UL’s campus the dominant source of international students hail from
India, although since 2000, the number of Indian students enrolled has also
slightly decreased.

In fall 2000, 245 Indian students enrolled at UL. This spring, 207 are
enrolled. Honegger said she believes a number of Indian students learn about
the university by word of mouth.

“A lot of them (Indian students) say that they found out about our campus
through other students,” Honegger said. “A majority attend for computer
science and engineering department. They say they have a similar interest as
the professor that they want to work with.”

Nationally, Indian students are the largest pool of internationals who
choose to study in the United States, with a total of 79,376 students.

Last year, the state saw 6,621 foreign students or a 1.3 percent increase of
internationals enrolled in universities compared to the prior year. The
number of American students enrolled in Louisiana schools studying abroad
was only 1,901. UL has a number of exchange programs that encourage students
to study abroad in France, Mexico, England and Italy. The petroleum
engineering department is also part of the US-Brazil Higher Education
Consortia Program, offering an exchange program for students at universities
in Brazil.

Last year, LSU and Tulane had the highest number of internationals. About
1,813 international students were enrolled at LSU, while at Tulane there
were 1,043 internationals enrolled. The leading field of study for foreign
students in Louisiana is engineering with 29.2 percent, followed closely by
business and management with 18.7 percent. The leading country of origin was
India with 22.9 percent, or 1,514 students.

Foreign students who come to study in the U.S. leave their money here. The
report estimates a $12 billion economic impact on the U.S. economy and a
$126 million economic impact in Louisiana by foreign students and their
families on tuition and living expenses.

Originally published March 17, 2005