HED: OU could see increase in international students
HED: Board of Regents to talk with legislators about marketing Ohio to international students
Ohio University has a strong and diverse international community, and with Ohio’s Postsecondary Globalization Initiative, it may get even larger, proponents of the initiative say.
According to House Bill 484, the chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents will present recommendations on how to market Ohio universities to students in other countries to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate by the end of this year.
Lauren McGarity, the Board of Regents’ director of special projects legal, policy and legislative policy, was assigned by Chancellor John Carey to work on the initiative.
“Promoting Ohio as a postsecondary destination internationally and enhancing Ohio students’ educational benefits and exposure to global opportunities is a policy priority for the state. This initiative includes Ohio’s public and private postsecondary institutions,” McGarity said in an email.
McGarity explained that a possible method in marketing to prospective international students is “a centralized web-based tool” which would provide access to information about Ohio universities’ educational programs, resources, culture, environment, and possible workforce opportunities.
OU’s Vice Provost for Global Affairs Lorna Jean Edmonds described the initiative as a win-win situation.
“It is good for all involved and has many other benefits for enriching the diversity of our campus and building a global network of friendships and colleagues of OU alums that has all kinds of value for extending our global reach and interconnectedness,” Edmonds said.
Currently, OU uses traditional and modern recruitment strategies to get students from other countries interested in attending.
According to Candace Boeninger, the assistant vice provost for enrollment management and OU’s director of admissions, OU recruits international students in the same ways that domestic students are recruited, such as travelling to high schools and college fairs, through email correspondence, and through online chats and advertising on popular websites.
“We develop partnerships with educational and governmental agencies that allow us to reach students through their programming,” Boeninger said. “Sometimes, our faculty help create pipelines through their international academic connections.”
Not only is the initiative attempting to bring in more international students, it is also concerned with increasing the number of students who stay in Ohio after graduating. According to McGarity, this could result in “making our state more competitive in the global economy and all of our students better job candidates for Ohio companies.”
According to Immigration Policy Center’s 2013 statistics, the 26,427 foreign students in Ohio contributed more than $700 million to the state’s economy, yet only 4 percent of Ohioans are foreign born.
“One of the best ways to bring in new immigrants and talent is to recruit students from abroad.” Edmonds said.
Although she is supportive of the initiative, Edmonds said that the strategy should have also concerned global leadership development for domestic students.
If the plan is successful, and more international students begin to attend OU and other Ohio schools, McGarity believes that students and communities will benefit with “exposure to cultural diversity in college classrooms and among social experiences, (and) building global comforts and relationships.”
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