“I meet people from all ends of the world,” Maxyutova said. “It’s amazing.”

As more and more universities are increasing their international student population, institutions such as MSU also are focusing on bringing students from a diversity of countries and cultures.

Recruiters, as well as staff and faculty members conducting research abroad, work to recruit students from a wide range of countries, from Saudi Arabia to Maxyutova’s native Kazakhstan, Associate Director for International Admissions Patty Croom said.

The number of international students on campus increased by about 6 percent from 2009 to 2010, according to statistics from the Office for International Students and Scholars, or OISS.

But progress made in diversifying the international student population often is left in the shadow of the increasing number of Chinese students at MSU, OISS Director Peter Briggs said.

“We’ve got a very diverse international community,” Briggs said.

“Admissions (from everywhere) are growing, but numbers are so massive with China it kind of hides that.”

Almost 6,000 international students attend MSU, and more than 3,000 of them are Chinese, according to 2011 statistics.

Last fall, about 4,200 international students were Asian.

Colleges and universities across America also are experiencing an influx of Chinese students, Croom said.

With China’s growing population, their developing middle class and their lack of higher education institutions to meet demands for interested college applicants, Chinese students increasingly are studying abroad, she said.

MSU works with smaller countries’ governments, which sometimes encourage students to study abroad, and offer full scholarships to bring greater diversity to MSU, Croom said.

Exposure to a wide range of cultures ultimately will help students preparing to work in a global workforce, she said.

“With our value on internationalism and giving students exposure to different cultures and different parts of life, bringing that into the classroom is certainly something (valuable),” Croom said.

Maxyutova hopes by talking to other students, she can help educate people about the homeland she calls “beautiful.”

Although Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world based on territorial boundaries, students mostly recognize it from the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

“A lot of times, people have negative connotations because of that stupid movie,” Maxyutova said.

“I try to break those stereotypes and help people to know different perspectives.”