Introduction
American institutions of High Education offer a high level of attractiveness to potential college and universities’ students worldwide. The benefits tied to an American high education diploma are able to highlight a candidate among hundreds of others and provide life-changing upgrades in their lives. Indeed, this may be the reason for the constantly increasing number of students coming to the U.S. seeking for high standards of education during the decades since WWII. This rising number of international students contribute to the American economy as well as to its cultural enrichment.
However, colleges and universities’ lack of understanding of the international students’ adaptation issues in addition to the gap between international students and domestic students (and faculty members), make the institutions fail considerably in stimulating diverse social interactions between the international and American student body and enhancing their experience. By seeing internationals as a mere source of revenue, many colleges and universities are missing the opportunity of investing in their students who later become ambassadors of their institutions.
However, colleges and universities’ lack of understanding of the international students’ adaptation issues in addition to the gap between international students and domestic students (and faculty members), make the institutions fail considerably in stimulating diverse social interactions between the international and American student body and enhancing their experience. By seeing internationals as a mere source of revenue, many colleges and universities are missing the opportunity of investing in their students who later become ambassadors of their institutions.
Increasing Numbers
Data from the 2014-15 school year show that American colleges and universities overcame 950,000 international students in that period. This number represents a 67% increase in comparison with the period between 2001/02 and added more than $30 billion to the U.S. economy.