Two days after the Institute of International Education ranked MSU in the nation’s top 10 for study abroad participation and international student enrollment, statistics released by the Office for International Students and Scholars — or OISS — show international students continue to flock to East Lansing.
For the fifth year in a row, the number of international students enrolled at MSU has risen, according to a report released last week. About 5,898 international students are enrolled at the university this fall, an increase of 10.2 percent from the 5,351 international students enrolled in fall 2010.
Nationwide, the number of foreign students in the U.S. grew by about 5 percent, according to a report from The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Some countries were better represented this fall at MSU than others.
China and the Republic of Korea sent the most students to MSU out of any two countries in 2011.
About 3,012 Chinese students are enrolled at MSU this fall, an increase of about 600 students from 2010. About 729 students are attending from Korea.
In 2008, 2009 and 2010, China also sent the most international students of any country to MSU.
Apart from China and Korea, four countries — Canada, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and India — had triple-digit numbers of students at the university this fall, according to the report.
Peter Briggs, the director of OISS, said attracting students from across the globe is an important aspect of MSU’s undergraduate enrollment plan.
“It’s just a great chance to have the world at MSU,” he said.
Other higher education institutions are dealing with a similar surge of Chinese undergraduates in the U.S., a figure which has tripled in the past three years, according to a recent report by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
But supply chain management senior Ke Ning, who came to MSU from China, said the university is not prepared for an influx of international students.
Ning said the language courses some of his friends from China have taken through the English Language Center have left them ill-prepared to cope with language changes.
“The program is not useful,” he said in an email. “They feel like if they just follow the course content, they barely learn anything.”
On the other hand, environmental engineering doctoral student Gregoire Seyrig, who is from France, said MSU has been a great fit for him so far.
Seyrig studied in Canada and France before coming to MSU.
“You do a lot of research (here),” he said. “MSU is a great atmosphere. They have a lot of machines and services you can use.”
Staff writer Kelsie Thompson contributed to this report.
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