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Bottom Eleven U.S. States Receiving International Students in 2010-11

I've been reading much of the international, national, local and new media coverage pertaining to the release of the 2011 Open Doors data on Monday and it is all very exciting.  The majority of the coverage has highlighted the increased numbers (for both international students and U.S. students abroad) or the "Top" schools sending U.S. students abroad, the "Top" schools receiving international students, the "Top" academic disciplines of U.S. students study abroad, the "Top" sending countries of international students to the U.S. and so on...

Some IHEC Blog readers and many of my friends and colleagues in the field know that I sometimes like to take a different look at the Open Doors data (and sometimes a much more in depth look at the data) and post what I find.  Sometimes I hope my posts lead to further dialogue and debate in our field and sometimes my intent is simply to provide data that, most likely, is not presented in other places.  This post today probably falls under the later but I could be wrong.

Following are the bottom eleven U.S. states* receiving international students during the 2010-11 academic year:

#40  Nevada
#41 New Mexico
#42 New Hanpshire
#43 Mississippi
#44 West Virginia
#45 Idaho
#46 Montana
#47 South Dakota
#48 Maine
#49 Wyoming
#50 Vermont (article "Vermont's modest global draw" in the Burlington Free Press)
#51 Alaska

This list really doesn't say much but it would be interesting to go through the Open Doors data from the past several years and compare the lists to see ifwe can gain any insight into why these states comprise the bottom fifth of U.S. states receiving international students in 2010-11 and if they have historically fallen in the bottom fifth.  While a historical and comparative review might provide some insight I think more analysis of additional variables is necessary to fully understand why this is the case.  Know the total number of higer education institutions in each state would certainly be helpful but I think looking back to see if these states have issued state proclamations in support of international education, which may lead to resource allocation in an effort to market the state as a study abroad destination for international students.  Four states from this group of eleven issued a proclamation in support of International Education Week 2010. Another indication of state level support for international education and valuing international students is to see if these states have established (and hopefully active) consortium working to highlight the state as a study destination for international students.  To my knowledge, of these eleven states only West Virginia has established such a consortium called Study West Virginia at http://studywv.org/.  Update Nov. 17th:  The State of Mississippi also has an established consortium focused on bringing international students to the State.  Study Mississippi has a website http://studymississippi.us AND they are on Twitter at @studyMS.  Another colleague on Twitter reports that she is working to establish Study New Hampshire and that Study Vermont USA has recently been established.

I posted this list of bottom receiving states last night to IHEC Blog's Facebook page and a colleague, Lori Sjokolade, left a very interesting comment/observation about one reason these states may be the bottom receiving schools.  Lori makes the point that:

 "one thing these states have in common is that they are all EPSCoR states.  No surprise that these states rank the lowest since science and engineering are amongst the top fields that international students choose to study in the United States and these states are amongst those that have been identified as needing help in boosting their science and engineering competitiveness."

I hadn't even though about this aspect but I think this is a very valid point. 

What are your thoughts about any of this?

*51 total includes all 50 U.S. States and Washington D.C.
Source for state spedific data and ranking available on the 2011 Open Doors site

Additional Open Doors 2009 Data Tables Recently Released

The Institute of International Education (IIE) has recently released new Open Doors data on international student enrollments and study abroad participation at U.S. community colleges, international scholars in the U.S. and intensive English language program enrollments in the U.S. Click on the links below to access these new data tables:


Community College Data Resource

International Scholars in the United States

Intensive English Language Program Enrollments in the United States

If you are interested in adding the print edition of Open Doors 2009 to your office or personal library you can order it by clicking on this link Open Doors 2009: Report on International Educational Exchange (Open Doors//Institute of International Education) (affiliate link)

Photo credit:  srqpix

No doubt about it…studying abroad is fun!

I came across an interesting article today in The Independent entitled “Broaden your horizons with international study” with a sub-title of “Venturing overseas to get a degree makes you attractive to employers – and it’s fun”. Before reading the article I decided that this article would serve as the basis of today’s IHEC Blog post.

The article discusses the mobility of UK students and provides some very interesting data points recently released by the British Council. I won’t summarize the data or other themes of the article for you here as you should read it for yourself as I think it is a very good article.

What surprised me was that the “and it's fun!” part of the sub-title was never mentioned in the article at all. I was fully expecting to read that one should go and study abroad because it is a fun thing to do and you can put the experience on your resume and market it as an advantage over other applicants who have not studied abroad. Why then did the author feel the need to include this in the sub-title of the article?

This leads me to the real point of this post…I was an exchange student in Rosenheim, Germany during the summers between my sophomore (2nd) and junior (3rd) years of high school and again during my senior (4th) year of high school and my freshman (1st) year of college. I then studied abroad in Valladolid, Spain during the spring semester my junior year in college followed by a month of backpacking around Europe. Did I have fun during my two high school exchange experiences and while I studied abroad…Oh Yes I Certainly Did (details are only known by the participants in the programs!). Did I take my academics seriously while I studied abroad in Spain (Rosenheim was more of a cultural exchange than an academic exchange)? I took my academics as seriously in Spain as I took them while back at my home institution!! I also know that many of my colleagues in the field of international education had fun while studying abroad but it is important to recognize that everyone defines “fun” differently. Have I witnessed international students here in the United States have fun? The answer to that question is…Yes!

I fully support and believe in rigorous education abroad programs (broadly defined) but I also believe that participation in these programs is indeed a fun experience. So how do we as a field go about educating senior administrators, faculty, colleagues, parents and others that the education abroad programs we develop are rich in academic content and value and that it is absolutely okay to have fun while participating? We are not creating longer and glorified spring break trips (at least a significant majority in the field aren’t) and, for the record, I don’t consider my exchange experiences in Rosenheim and my academic experience in Valladolid to be long glorified spring break trips! I must admit, however, that it was an interesting experience to be on a flight from Chicago to Germany when I was 15 and to be able to order a bier with no questions asked (that was in 1986 and it was free back then so I may have had a couple).

What do you think? Did you have fun on an education abroad program?

Photo Credit: Ethan Prater

U.S. Department of State press releases on Open Doors Data

I receive many, many Google Alerts for a variety of search terms related to international educational exchange and it is really great to read all of the news articles (in the international, national & local press) and press releases related to International Education Week, the Open Doors 2009 report and NAFSA’s Economic Impact Statements. I enjoy reading college and university student papers and institutional press releases that highlight the number of international students on their respective campuses and the number of their students that study abroad as well as how they rank in the Open Doors report. Additionally, I liked seeing that the U.S. Department of State issued press releases on the release of Open Doors 2009 (although I was hoping for more of a statement from them). Here are is the link to the two U.S. Department of State press releases on Open Doors data:

-11/16/09 International Students Come to United States in Record Numbers, 16% Increase in New Foreign Student Enrollments is Largest Since 1980; Office of the Spokesman; Washington, DC

-11/16/09 Numbers of Americans Studying Abroad Up 8.5%, China, India, Japan, South Africa, and Argentina See Strong Gains as Destinations; Office of the Spokesman; Washington, DC

Also, does anyone know if (and where) there is a transcript of Judith A. McHale’s, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, briefing on the launch and observance of International Week yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington, DC?

Is Your International Education Data Ready for a Change in Institutional/Organizational Leadership?

During a meeting at work this morning I was reminded of how a change in institutional/organizational (and perhaps divisional) leadership can change the way you are requested to collect and report data about your international education programming efforts. For example, a few years ago the institution I work for, The University of Chicago, saw a change in University President from a Musicologist to a Mathematician and then a change in University Provost from an Historian to a Physicist. This change in leadership from backgrounds in the Humanities and non-quantitative Social Sciences to backgrounds in the very quantitative Physical Sciences no doubt brought about changes in how the University was to collect, analyze and report data. To be sure, the Musicologist and the Historian valued, wanted and needed the quantitative data to make informed decisions just as the Mathematician and the Physicist no doubt value, want and need qualitative data to make informed decisions. These disciplines, however, vary greatly in their methodological and data analysis approaches and it is these differences we should be aware of when collecting, analyzing and reporting our international education data.

My question is this: Are you and your data collection efforts ready for an institutional/organizational shift in leadership? Thoughts?

Three Recent Reports with Data on Student Mobility

IHEC Blog readers who are interested in international student mobility trends in higher education will find the following three recently published/released reports to be of interest. Please note that much of the data in the reports does not focus on higher education or student mobility across borders.

Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution (Executive Summary)
A Report Prepared for the UNESCO 2009 World Conference on Higher Education
by Philip G. Altbach, Liz Reisberg and Laura E. Rumbley
Download the report here

Global Education Digest 2009
Comparing Education Statistics Across the World
By UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Download the report here

Wissenschaft weltoffen 2009
Facts and Figures on the International nature of Studies and Research in Germany
by German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Access data and other information here