Trend Shows Increase in International Students On Campus

By Michael Kelly

Since 2003, Stony Brook University has seen a trend of increasing international undergraduate students, who now constitute 7 percent of the undergraduate student body. Four years ago they made up 4 percent of it

One of the reasons given for the surge in international students by school officials is a school goal to have 30 percent of the student body made up of international and out-of-state students by 2011

“We’re one of the top universities in the world,” said William Arens, dean of international academic programs. “We’re an international university.”

Arens credited the school’s strong showing in academic rankings as a reason why more international students are coming to the university. One ranking done by Shanghai Jiao Tong University listed Stony Brook in the top 200 schools in the world. When Arens goes overseas to promote Stony Brook, the school is already widely known because of such recognitions, he said.

U.S. students are generally unaware of such academic rankings, which are based on things such as quality of faculty and research capabilities, Arens said, and that such qualities are what matter to international students. U.S. students are drawn to schools they see on TV, even if not for academic reasons, he added.

“They’re more interested in the basketball team than the faculty,” Arens said, referring to U.S. students. “Overseas what counts is the research and the faculty.”

A recent international graduate, Jihye Kim, listed the faculty and research opportunities as her favorite part of Stony Brook. Kim, who graduated with a degree in biology, came to the school from Daegu, South Korea. She heard about Stony Brook from a high school friend who was attending the university.

“Many professors and faculty are open, very helpful and really care about students,” Kim wrote in an e-mail. She also listed the “tons of opportunities” available in research as one of her favorite things about the university.

Judith Berhannan, dean of admissions, agreed with Arens that Stony Brook’s academic rankings have contributed to the increased international presence, but added that a well-known graduate program has also helped the recruitment of international students. Nineteen percent of graduate students are foreign-born, and where they hail from serves as a logical place for undergraduate recruiting, she said.

“Our graduate programs have a very fine reputation,” Berhannan said. Places that have sent students to graduate school at Stony Brook are “logical places for us to try to build our undergraduate population.”

The school sent a group of recruiters to Southeast Asia this past September, visiting schools in a college fair-like atmosphere, Berhannan said. Also, many international students contact Stony Brook through e-mails, she said. Such students can get questions answered this way or through chats set up by the admissions department, focusing on a certain topic.

This past week a chat was held about the engineering program, allowing prospective students to talk to professors, admissions counselors and current university students in the program.

“We can’t always get to them, but we can make ourselves available online,” Berhannan said.