With the strategic plan nearly complete, Ball State has one more initiative to cross off the list — raising international student enrollment to 1,000 students by the year 2012.
Since 2006, students from more than 70 different countries have enrolled for classes on campus. The academic year 2006-07 saw new enrollment increase by 29 percent, when Marty Bennett, former director of International Services, developed a five-year strategic plan for recruiting students from other countries.
International student enrollment on campus increased to 651 at the beginning of Fall Semester 2010. By the end of the academic year, enrollment had reached 812. Marilyn Buck, associate provost, said the numbers should go up throughout the year.
This fall, 615 international students were enrolled to the university at the beginning of the semester.
Scott Cantrell, director of International Student Services, said he expected the numbers to be down a little bit this year.
"We're not particularly going in the wrong direction," he said. "We knew this year there would be less students enrolled because of some technical reasons."
Some of the factors he mentioned dealt with program changes. The registration deadline for the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program closed early this year, and some classes for international students are now being taught online.
Buck said she expects more students to enroll throughout the semester and in early spring.
"We're not as far as it may sound from 1,000," she said.
Of the 812 students enrolled last year, the majority of them came from China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
Buck said the university emphasizes recruiting international students as a way to add diversity and establish a global connection. International students also provide an income to the university because they usually pay out-of-state tuition.
As part of its recruitment efforts, the university sends individuals to attend career fairs in an assigned country. Other spokespeople such as President Jo Ann Gora, travel to different countries to establish connections with other university leaders.
However, Buck said the best way to recruit international students is to share stories from students who have experienced studying abroad.
"The best recruitment we can do is that [the students] have an outstanding experience while they're here," she said. "And then they'll go back and send family members and friends over here to get their education."
HELPING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Some of the services the university offers are assigned foreign student advisors, living-learning communities, culture exchange programs and organizations from specific countries such as the Chinese Student Scholar Association.
Another service the university offers is the International Conversation Hour. International and domestic students are encouraged to attend the sessions to interact and learn more about different cultures.
Chen Xu, an international student from China, said the program has helped her interact with other students, which she found difficult in the beginning.
"The most challenging part is making friends with [domestic students]," she said. "I don't know how to open my mouth. I'm a little shy."
Junior pre-med major Wendy Chiang arrived to the U.S. two years ago and enrolled on the program to establish relationships.
"I was a freshman, and I was here alone," she said. "I did a lot of things on my own. I had no help basically. I had to find a place to live, find a place to eat."
Chiang said she now attends the program almost every week and helps international students start conversations with people from other cultural backgrounds.
The Intensive English Institute, an academic unit that works directly with the associate provost, helps students gain a higher level in their English speaking and writing skills.
The institute offers a fundamental level and seven regular levels. Each level lasts seven weeks. The IEI has 106 classes, with 26 faculty and 14 graduate assistants.
Deborah McMillan, associate director of the IEI, said there are about 220 students enrolled in the institute.
The institute saw a significant growth in 2007 when there was an overall international enrollment of 366 international students on campus.
With more international students on campus, the demand for IEI classes has increased.
"When we realized some students were not even ready for our level one, we created a fundamentals level," she said. "We like to say we are a very responsive program."
Michael Spence, associate professor for the curriculum in the IEI, said the program asks for students to accommodate to the American culture, but the program also responds to the need of its students.
"You can't put them in a position to fail," he said. "They're here on a very supported program. It's like walking the plank, and then pulling the plank off and saying ‘swim.' It's just not fair."
Cantrell said it's important for international and domestic students to learn to work together.
"In the global situation we are working in, we need to make these connections to understand how the world works," he said. "People are going to be traveling more and working globally."
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