2008 Woodie Awards
Desire for Diversity in U.S. Universities, Colleges Continues to Grow
Justine Axelsson
Issue date: 3/16/05 Section: News
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She also came to Salve because of the scholarship she was offered and because her brother Sibo, who is a junior, had been here for a year and liked the school.
Mutanguha is an international student from Rwanda. She attended a private international high school in Africa and because of her father's position as a diplomat, she and her brother were given the choice to attend college in any country they wished.
She chose to come to the United States. As she was applying to colleges she focused on two important factors, climate and diversity. Some of her top choice schools were Lynn University in Florida, and various universities in the Boston area.
Although Rhode Island is not a particularly warm place during the school year, nor does Salve have the diversity of a city college, Matilda could not pass on the scholarship she was offered and she could not ignore how much effort was made by Salve to recruit her and how the school was always in touch with her high school counselors.
International students like Mutanguha have become vital to the American college environment. U.S. schools like Salve are now becoming more competitive than ever, and they are taking great measures to recruit international students and increase diversity among campus communities.
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, costs and competition are forcing colleges to "step up" their sales pitches overseas.
Laura McPhie Oliveira, vice president for enrollment at Salve Regina University, experiences first hand the competitiveness of colleges and the emphasis on diversity because she is also the person in charge of recruiting international students.
Oliveira has worked at Salve Regina University for 10 years and during that time, she has seen Salve's campus flourish with the different values and styles of education brought here by international students.
When asked why colleges need diversity on campus, Oliveira replied, "It is obvious that the world we live in is diverse. In order to be truly educated we have to be prepared to open our minds and accept diversity. It opens our world."
Though the United States is considered the "melting pot" of the world, international students bring a different kind of diversity than American citizens. For example, a large percentage of international students are brought up speaking several languages and this is the kind of diversity that expands provincial American views.
Salve Regina alone has enrolled students from places such as
Japan, Greece, Germany, Sweden, Anguilla, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Africa, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic.
According to Oliveira the success that universities have in recruiting international students lies in the extra measures the schools take in making their students feel at home and comfortable.
As an example, Salve Regina focuses for the most part on personal contact. Oliveira feels that initially international students need someone to be there for them. It is also the job of people in Oliveira's position to ensure that the students do not face any problems with immigration or paperwork upon entering the country.
As an even further step, Salve's adviser for international students, Casey Burrey, sees to things such as picking arriving students up from the airport in Providence, arranging housing with the Naval War College families in case students cannot return to their countries for college breaks, taking them on shopping trips to get whatever they need, and just being there as a familiar face to talk to.
"International students cannot just pack up the car like we did," said Oliveira. "Making them comfortable here takes a little more work."
Such extra measures are evidence of the increasing competitiveness that the U.S. faces with other countries.
"The United States used to be the only option, but now a lot of students are choosing to go to Australia or the U.K. for their educations, especially after 9/11," said Oliveira.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 570,000 foreign students come to American institutions each year. Because of this, more colleges are offering money in the form of scholarships, grants, and fellowships.
In fact, schools have created entire offices to ensure that overseas students who want to apply have a reliable source to go to, constant information, and help with immigration to the U.S.
While smaller schools such as Salve Regina do not always have the funds to give various scholarships to all of their international students, state universities such as the University of Rhode Island are better equipped to meet the financial needs of their international students.
Dr. Dania Branford-Calvo, director of international students at the University of Rhode Island, said that she "feels very comfortable saying that the university has more than just people making promises. The faculty and staff work hard at bringing diversity to our community so we really try to meet the financial needs of our foreign students."
One if the advantages to being a large state university is that the office of admissions and the international students office are not alone in the
recruiting process.
Organizations such as the Chinese, Korean, and Indian Students Associations play a big role in recruiting students and these organizations create a network at the university where international students may already know other incoming students through the organizations. This is very appealing to students who are coming into an environment where they may not know anyone.
Branford-Calvo, who has been at URI for six years, believes that her perspective may be fairly new but that the main reason students come to schools like URI is because of how much effort is put into making it a friendly environment.
She feels that the staff goes out of the way to assist any students that may have problems or worries upon coming to the United States and that student participation on campus is so significant in making international students feels welcome.
"The students here provide survival guides for another," she said.
It seems like cost does play a large role in the ability of U.S. schools to recruit international students but what seems even more important is the work that schools are doing to make their communities warm and welcoming to international students through their desire to expand knowledge and diversity.