Before coming to the United States to attend Northwestern, Weinberg sophomore Maryam Majekodunmi didn’t care if there were other international students representing a wide variety of cultures; she simply wanted to get out of the U.K.
“But it matters more now, actually, because I just feel so isolated,” Majekodunmi said. “I need the companionship. There are only two other (students) that I know of from the U.K., and that’s tragic.”
The total number of international college students enrolled in the United States has increased for the first time this year since 2001. But NU has not followed this trend and instead, international student enrollment has stayed about the same, according to Wednesday’s 2007 Open Doors study, an annual review of international education exchange.
Out of 156 universities with 1,000 or more international students, NU ranked 44th in total number of international students. Out of 18,506 undergraduate and graduate students, 2,318 are international.
Aaron Zdawczyk, assistant director of admission and financial aid, said it is hard to compare NU with other institutions because schools may focus on different criteria for acceptance.
“I don’t think Northwestern can compare with other schools that actively seek international students in terms of volume,” he said. “We believe strongly in having an international population on campus, but we just want to get the best students around the world.”
While NU has not shifted much in the number of international students, their backgrounds are more diverse, and current students are from places such as Peru, Kenya and Bulgaria, Zdawczyk said.
Irina Shtereva, who is from Bulgaria, said she specifically looked at international demographics before she decided to come to NU. The Communication sophomore said she liked the low percentage of international students.
“I’m coming to the States to get an American education,” Shtereva said. “If I wanted to go to school with Italians, I would have gone to Italy, but the American education system is admittedly the best in the world.”
Elizabeth Matthews, associate director of the International Office, said she was “disappointed” with NU’s rank on the list. She said increasing the number of international students from various backgrounds is “always something to shoot for.”
“We of course would like to see a variety of students, but you’re always going to have South Korea, China and India as the big imports across the nation, so that’s not going to change,” Matthews said, adding that NU follows this trend.
More Asian students choose to study in the U.S. because their higher education system lacks “a little bit of depth,” while European students can take advantage of a great education in their own countries with no price tag, Zdawczyk said.
Some students such as Majekodunmi said they feel NU does not represent a wide variety of international cultures and religions.
“My definition of international is having students from Tonga all the way to Iceland, and that is not evident,” she said.
Kenan Azam Ali, a student from Pakistan, said money is a huge factor for international students who want to study abroad. If NU offered more financial aid to foreign students, the numbers would probably increase, the Weinberg sophomore said.
“I guess the way it works is the good schools are what my parents will pay for, and if I didn’t get into a good school they would rather have me study back in Pakistan,” Ali said.
Zdawczyk said NU has offered international financial aid to three classes of students.
“Northwestern has begun to diversify the student body by opening admission to more than just the ones that can pay full price,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll get more students with different backgrounds from different countries.”
Reach Corinne Lestch at [email protected].
