Source: Kristine Young, 785-532-5990, kkristin@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-2535, bbohn@k-state.edu

Monday, Sept. 27, 2010

K-STATE'S INTERNATIONAL ENROLLMENT SETS NEW RECORD

MANHATTAN -- International student enrollment at Kansas State University has climbed to a new high.

This fall's enrollment of 1,812 international students tops last year's record of 1,717, according to Kristine Young, assistant provost, K-State office of international programs.

"What is most exciting about our international enrollment is that it has now more than doubled since 1997 -- the first year K-State began its international student recruitment initiative. We're thrilled our efforts have been meeting with success in such a short time, and we plan to continue recruiting students from all across the globe," Young said.

In 1997 K-State had fewer than 900 international students.

This year's international enrollment includes 372 students new to K-State and 1,440 continuing students from last year.

Students from 107 countries are attending K-State this fall. The largest percentage of the university's international students are from China, with 829 this year, up from 718 in 2009. K-State also has 221 students from India, 111 from Saudi Arabia, 75 from Korea, 31 from Kuwait and 31 from Nepal.

"We really do have students from all around the world attending K-State," Young said. "Along with enriching the diversity of our campus and community, these students show K-State has the high-caliber programs to attract people from all across the globe.

"Many are studying in our College of Business Administration. Other popular programs include mathematics, computer sciences, and physical and life sciences," Young said. "Our international graduate students also are finding K-State a place to excel in teaching and research."

To help with the increased international enrollment, Young said the office of international programs has added two international student support coordinators in the past few years, one for international student and scholar services, and one in the English language program who speaks Chinese.

"We also work closely with K-State housing to find on-campus housing for our students," Young said. "They've done fabulous work to make sure our new international students have housing, even with the housing crunch."