This fall, the number of non-immigrant students enrolled at Eastern Michigan University is slightly down from fall 2009.
In fall 2009, 1,020 non-immigrant international students were enrolled. For the fall 2010 semester, 972 non-immigrant international students are enrolled.
Even so, the university is optimistic about the number of international students it has, according to Kathryn B. Orscheln, the director of admissions.
“We would like to grow that number, but it’s still a pretty good number,” she said. “We’ve stayed pretty steady over the last five years.”
Some of the international students who attend EMU came through one of the many exchange or agreement programs EMU offers.
“Exchange programs are really designed to send us students and we send them students,” Orscheln said.
Orscheln said various academic programs around campus have agreements with colleges overseas that are seen as “a good fit” for EMU students.
Orscheln believes EMU has a wealth of things to offer international students.
“I think one of the things is the location,” she said. “There is a nice international flavor in Southeastern Michigan. When we talk to international students or overseas advisors, one of the things they ask us is, ‘Are there Middle Eastern restaurants? Are there Buddhist centers?’
“…They come here because they want to study with Americans and with people from other countries, but part of them wants to maintain their core values that they were raised with. Some of us that have always been here might not appreciate what that means to them.”
Orscheln said the size of the university is also appealing to international students.
“We’re not too big to be scary and we’re not too small where they don’t feel like they fit in.”
The faculty is also a draw for international students.
“We have faculty that are very welcoming to our international students,” Orscheln said. “I know we have students that graduate and go back home and talk about that.”
Many would be surprised to find out international students hear about EMU through word of mouth, Orscheln said.
“It kind of makes sense because we know the most effective way of spreading the word to any student, but especially international students is word of mouth,” she said. “It is those students who tell their friends and relatives…it makes sense that the more who graduate and go back, will tell others.”
The university has international students who represent a total of 81 countries.
India, the No. 1 country international students come from, has 293 students here. China is the second largest exporter of EMU students with 194, and Saudi Arabia rounds out the top three with 107.
“For the last six years, China has been our number two country and we have grown in numbers of students from China,” Orscheln said. “It keeps going up every year.”
The university has international students from all over the globe including three from Vietnam, one from Tajikistan and many other countries.
Of these students, 972, 590 are seeking their graduate degrees and 382 are working toward obtaining their undergraduate degree.
A large number of the students —375 to be exact— are enrolled in the College of Business, 268 in the College of Arts and Sciences, 183 in the College of Technology, 80 in the College of Health and Human Services, and 27 in the College of Education. The 39 remaining students are currently undeclared.
International students attending EMU have several resources they can use to get acclimated to living and studying in the United States.
The International Student Resource Center offers students assistance with their grammar, writing and reading as well as coping with English as a second language.
Laura Clarke, a junior, has had the opportunity to get to know several international students during the years she has been a student.
“I think it’s great that we have the chance to study with people who are from different countries,” she said. “The international students I’m friends with have taught me about their culture and I’ve shown them things about mines. That’s what college is all about.”
Bandar Alkhayyal, a graduate assistant in the office of international students, said he chose to attend school in the United States because of the vast opportunities.
“There have one of the best education systems in the world,” Alkhayyal said.
Alkhayyal said he chose EMU because of the computer science program, which is what he obtained his undergraduate degree in. He is currently in the engineering management graduate program.
Alkhayyal has been in the United States since 2005 and for the first six to nine months, he was homesick for Saudi Arabia.
He said the hardest thing to adapt to was getting used to not being around his family.
However, he said his experience at EMU – more specifically the office of international students – helped him to get over it.
