Minnesota's campuses are going global

For years, some of Minnesota's biggest universities didn't try to recruit international students. Often those students didn't have the money and visas needed to come anyway.

But aggressive recruiting, combined with healthy economies in some key countries, is fueling a big spike in the number of foreign students at Minnesota colleges and universities. The number jumped 9 percent during the 2007-2008 academic year. At the same time, U.S. institutions as a whole saw a record high, according to a report the Institute of International Education released Monday.

"Any school that wants to internationalize at all -- and that's most schools these days -- is out there recruiting," said Kay Thomas, director of international student and scholar services at the University of Minnesota.

Meanwhile, student visas became more easily available after being hard to get just after Sept. 11, 2001, when schools saw international enrollment drop. Growth in the economies of China and India, the two countries that sent the largest numbers of students to Minnesota in 2007-2008, gave more families the means to send their students to the United States.

"It used to be very difficult to get a bachelor's degree student from China," said Amy VanSurksum, St. Cloud State University's director of international student admission.

Now, "you could easily fill all your classes with Chinese," Thomas said.

On Monday afternoon, University of Minnesota sophomore Eric Kim was studying and dining with four friends also from South Korea. Kim said applying to study abroad was simple -- far different from what Chinese Ph.D. student Kai Xu said he endured eight years ago.

Although he could not say what the U.S. government is doing to ease admission, Xu said the Chinese government has been allowing more students to study abroad.

The increased foreign student population will drive up competition among all students, he said.

Minnesota ranked 18th nationally with 9,890 foreign students enrolled at public and private schools. California had the most with 84,800. Nationwide, enrollment of foreign students totaled 623,805, up 7 percent from 582,984 in the 2006-07 academic year, according to the institute's Open Doors report.

Among Minnesota schools, the U's Twin Cities campus had the greatest number of international students: 3,756 taking classes. St. Cloud State had the second-highest with 1,183 followed by Minnesota State University, Mankato with 574, the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul with 353 and Winona State University with 339.

In early 2006, a task force at the U recommended that the university actively recruit international students. "To become one of the top three public research universities in the world, the University of Minnesota must become a global university," the report stated.

The university -- like most others in Minnesota -- ranked better nationally at sending students abroad than it did at bringing them here, according to the Institute of International Education's report.

"We were late to the recruiting game," Thomas said. "We had a policy of not recruiting -- a feeling that we didn't need to recruit -- for several years."

Like other schools, the U now sends representatives on recruiting trips abroad, sometimes targeting particular high schools known for their "high-quality" graduates. It partners with universities around the globe and enlists alumni to promote the U's assets.

"Rather than hoping they're finding our website, we're out there, talking to people," said Meredith McQuaid, associate vice president and dean of the U's Office of International Programs.

Among schools awarding doctorate degrees, the U ranked 23rd in the number of international students. Among schools awarding master's and undergraduate degrees, St. Cloud State ranked 12th. Macalester College ranked 11th among schools awarding baccalaureate degrees with 265. The College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph and St. John's University in Collegeville placed 16th in the same category, and Carleton College in Northfield came in at No. 40.

Mass communications graduate student Alvaro Marmolejo, 25, found St. Cloud State online from Chile. He had been considering East Coast schools and state schools around the United States but was convinced by Minnesota's "good reputation in education" and a scholarship. The school offers in-state tuition to international students who meet certain requirements and commit to participating in "cultural hours" each semester.

"You cannot get all of what's going on someplace through a website, but I'm pretty pleased with my choice," he said.

Some international students at the University of Minnesota said the increase has been visible on campus in the past year or two.

Stella Shi and her friends, three students from China who have been at the U for about two years, see that as a positive for the local community in terms of diversity, and for foreign students in terms of building community in the United States. However, there are some practical pitfalls, too.

"It's going to be more competitive" to earn a student visa, said Shi's friend Xiaomeng Qu, a freshman studying economics.

And with more foreign students competing for the same number of work visas, some might have a tougher time financially in the United States, Shi said as the quartet ate dinner and studied at Coffman Memorial Union. All four said the current worldwide economic crisis will make it more difficult to study in the United States, but said they plan to stay for the educational and cultural benefits that drew them here in the first place.

jross@startribune.com • 612-673-7168