International students at UI as of the fall of 2009 make up 8.9 percent of the school’s total enrollment, with 3.9 percent at undergraduate and 16.6 percent at the graduate level. According to the school, some 70 percent of the international students attend UI’s College of Liberal Arts, Graduate College interdisciplinary programs and Henry B. Tippie College of Business.
That increasing international presence, fueled by top-feeder countries China, South Korea and Malaysia, says Scott King, director of the Office of International Students and Scholars at UI, is the result of trends that have taken place for several years.
“About three or four years ago, the school started a concerted effort to get the word out about our university and do recruiting,” King says.
That recruiting has included trips made late last year by UI officials to Washington to meet with higher education officials from Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
Anticipating future international enrollment increases, Barron adds: “We see this as the direction we want to be moving in. To have a microcosm of the greater world here on this campus, in terms of the students’ backgrounds, locales, traditions, cultures, citizenship and countries, is all actually going to help make for a better learning environment.”
