November 29, 2005
International student enrollment declines slightly at Purdue
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A national report released this month found that the number of international students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities declined only slightly during 2004-05 from the previous year, and that trend is reflected at Purdue University.
Purdue had 4,921 international students enrolled in the 2004-05 academic year, down from the 2003-04 all-time high of 5,094, said Michael Brzezinski, director of the university's Office of International Students and Scholars.
"Open Doors 2005," an annual report on international academic enrollment, reported that during the 2004-05 academic year, there were 565,039 international students enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States, off about 1 percent from the previous year. The 2004-05 numbers are the most current available nationally.
"Open Doors" is published by the Institute of International Education with support from the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
The number of international students enrolled at Purdue this fall semester reveals another slight decline. There are 4,831 undergraduate and graduate international students enrolled currently at Purdue, down 90 students from the previous year, Brzezinski said.
But Purdue's numbers indicate the tide could soon be turning, at least at the undergraduate level.
Brzezinski said Purdue is making gains in recruiting freshmen international students. This August, a record 401 international freshmen enrolled at the university.
"Purdue has done a great job of marketing itself overseas, and that, combined with improved efficiency in the Department of State's visa application process, bodes well for Purdue's future international enrollment," he said.
Brzezinski said the overall decline in Purdue's numbers can be attributed to two external factors: competition from universities abroad and problems with the visa application process.
"We are seeing a decline in international students, especially at the graduate level, because the graduate programs in some key countries, such as India and China, have improved, so there is less of a need for students from those countries to come here," he said
To address these issues, International Students and Scholars, the Graduate School and the Office of Enrollment Management are coordinating on new international graduate student recruitment initiatives with support from the Office of the Provost, Brzezinski said.
For the 2004-05 academic year, there were 1,943 international students enrolled in graduate school, compared to 1,894 this year.
Brzezinski said there is increased competition from Canadian, British and Australian universities, which are luring some international students away from the United States because it is easier to obtain visas to those countries.
"After 9/11, changes in the visa application process made it very difficult for international students to enroll in U.S. institutions, especially for students who hailed from Middle Eastern countries and Southeast Asian nations such as Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia," he said. "Many students from these countries simply could not gain student visa clearance in a timely fashion.
"Back in 2002, prospective students found that a wait for a visa would be anywhere from a week up to a year. That made planning to attend school in the United States very difficult, so many of them chose to go elsewhere. The Australians and British used this problem to their advantage. They devised and implemented recruitment programs of students from around the world with funding from their national governments."
Brzezinski said that the U.S. State Department has improved its system for granting visas, and now the wait time is generally within a month.
"Prospective students and their parents are starting to see that it's not impossible to obtain a visa," he said. "So even though our numbers went down a bit, we are beginning to regain ground."
In 2005-06, Purdue retained its No. 2 ranking among Big Ten universities in international student enrollment behind the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, which has an international enrollment of 4,904, according to numbers provided to Purdue.
Purdue also ranks second among all public institutions, behind the University of Illinois, in international enrollment, and ranks third in the nation among all institutions, behind the University of Southern California and the University of Illinois. These rankings are consistent from the previous year, Brzezinski said.
Brzezinski also reported that in 2005-06, the top countries sending students to Purdue are India, 1,021; China, 782; South Korea, 680; Taiwan, 222; and Indonesia, 221.
The top majors chosen by both undergraduate and graduate-level international students attending Purdue for 2005-06 are engineering, management and science.
Writer: Kim Medaris, (765) 494-6998, kmedaris@purdue.edu
Sources: Michael Brzezinski, (765) 494-7084, mbrzezinski@purdue.edu
Douglas Christiansen, assistant vice president for enrollment management and dean of admissions, (765) 494-7014, dlchristiansen@purdue.edu
John J. Contreni, dean of the graduate school, (765) 494-2604, contreni@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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