Institutions' Issues
Even accounting for only 4% of all high education students in the US (Perry 713), international students should be seen as a great opportunity of investments by the American government, colleges, and universities. Data from the 2014-15 school year show that American colleges and universities overcame 950,000 international students in this period. This number represents a 67% increase in comparison with the period between 2001/02 (Fig. 1) and added more than $30 billion to the U.S. economy in the 2014-2015 academic year.
Although the numbers show a huge growth in the international students’ population and, consequently their contribution to the local economy, with improvements in policies and strategies to better integrate these students, the outcome could be ever better. A recent survey with more than 65,000 students revealed a slightly higher level of dissatisfaction of internationals with their entire experience at their educational institute in comparison to American students. According with the survey, 2.3% internationals evaluated their educational experience as poor; 11.0% as fair; 50.2% as good; and 36.6% as excellent. In contrast, 2.0% American students rated their as poor; 10.6% as fair; 48.0% as good; and 39.3% as excellent (Korobova 78). Although the average evaluation of the students was positive, educational institutes must understand the reasons of the disparity of approval between both groups and work to enhance their level of satisfaction of the internationals.
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Figure 1. Number of International Students in U.S. Colleges and Universities and their Share (%) of Total U.S. Enrollment, School Year (SY) 1949-50 to SY 2014-15
Source: Institute of International Education (IIE), “International Student Enrollment Trends, 1948/49-2014/15,” Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange (Washington, DC: IIE, 2015), available online.
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Table 2. Top 10 International Student Countries of Origin, SY 1949-50, SY 1979-80, and SY 2014-15
Source: Data for SY 1949-50 and 1979-80 are from Institute of International Education (IIE), "All Places of Origin of International Students, Selected Years: 1949/50-1999/00," Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange (Washington, DC: IIE, 2009). Data for SY 2014-15 are from Institute of International Education (IIE), “International Student Totals by Place of Origin, 2013/14- 2014/15,” Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange (Washington, DC: IIE, 2015), available online.
Missing Opportinities
International students, by paying (in most cases) high out-of-state tuitions, housing, food, transportation, and so on, are excellent economic contributors. However, besides source of additional foreign revenue, international students offer several intangible benefits to American institutes as well as to the country. By being responsible for building a more diverse environment, international students indirectly improve Americans education by offering cultural awareness and external point of view of daily issues and classroom discussions. International students, even struggling with their transition, present overall better grades than domestic students (which enhances American students’ self-evaluation of skills and abilities). Indeed, International freshmen usually hit higher grades than American freshmen, while the grades of international and American seniors are similar (Korobova 83).
However, despite all the economic and cultural contribution, international students keep suffering from the lack of academic, social, and psychological support. The low awareness of their real difficulties seems not to be a concern to most of the educational institutions since even without much effort, the international enrollment rates keep increasing. Moreover, the increasing tuition and fees seem to be proportionally contrary to the investments and resources to enhance international students’ success and satisfaction. The loss caused by this negligence is incalculable, because we will never know how many students decided to seek their high education elsewhere after having bad recommendations about the study abroad experience in America. According to Lee, “The perception of receiving fair and equal treatment was the most important influence leading a student to recommend the host university to others, followed by satisfaction with institutional services and the university’s reputation” (Lee 76).
However, despite all the economic and cultural contribution, international students keep suffering from the lack of academic, social, and psychological support. The low awareness of their real difficulties seems not to be a concern to most of the educational institutions since even without much effort, the international enrollment rates keep increasing. Moreover, the increasing tuition and fees seem to be proportionally contrary to the investments and resources to enhance international students’ success and satisfaction. The loss caused by this negligence is incalculable, because we will never know how many students decided to seek their high education elsewhere after having bad recommendations about the study abroad experience in America. According to Lee, “The perception of receiving fair and equal treatment was the most important influence leading a student to recommend the host university to others, followed by satisfaction with institutional services and the university’s reputation” (Lee 76).
Satisfaction Matters
“The perception of receiving fair and equal treatment was the most important influence leading a student to recommend the host university to others, followed by satisfaction with institutional services and the university’s reputation” (Lee 76).