More students go to study abroad

wa's public universities have been sending more and more students to study abroad amid a decline in such studies nationally.Also, the number of international students enrolling at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa is increasing at a greater rate than the national average.I think students these days are really opened up to the idea of travel and getting perspectives they can only get overseas, said John Rogers, a U of I assistant director for study abroad.

Nationally, the number of Americans studying abroad decreased 1 percent from 2007-08 to 2008-09, to 260,327, according to a report released this month titled Open Doors.International student enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities increased 3 percent to 690,923 in 2009-10, according to the report, which is compiled annually by the Institute of International Education.
The U of I appears to be driving Iowa's increases in students studying abroad. ISU had a slight decline, and UNI did not have appropriate figures available to compare.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Global Production Engineering,Biomedical Engineering,and onstruction and Real Estate Management.For the years compared in the report, the U of I had growth of 5 percent in students going abroad, to 1,283 in 2008-09.Phil Carls, an assistant director in the study abroad office, said that the 2009-10 report is not complete but that it appears the number will increase slightly.ISU recorded a 3 percent decline, from 1,200 students studying abroad in 2007-08 to 1,161 in 2008-09, according to online reports. Participation dropped again in 2009-10, by 16 percent, to 974 students.In part, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy,said Trevor Nelson, director of the ISU Study Abroad Center.Some of the programming directors felt we would have difficulty recruiting students, so maybe they didn't recruit as hard as they could have, and some programs were dropped.

UNI's figures for 2008-09 were not available, but participation increased from 447 in 2007-08 to 482 in 2009-10, according to the UNI Study Abroad Center.International student enrollment has been increasing at all three state universities.The number of international students increased by 739 students, or 14 percent, from 5,152 in fall 2008 to 5,891 in fall 2009. The national average for that period was a 3 percent increase.International enrollment has increased again this year by 13 percent, officials said. The majority of international students at Iowa's public universities - 86 percent - come from Asia, according to a Board of Regents enrollment report.ISU has had the greatest growth in this area. International enrollment at ISU grew 21 percent, from 2,497 in fall 2008 to 3,017 in fall 2009. Enrollment grew again this year by 10 percent, to 3,327.UNI saw a slight dip in enrollment of 2 percent, from 464 students in fall 2008 to 453 in fall 2010, but it jumped back up 6 percent, to 480, in fall 2010.The U of I's international student enrollment increased by almost 9 percent in fall 2009, to 2,589. In fall 2010, there are 2,825 international students enrolled - another 9 percent increase.This is the fourth year I've been to the Middle East,said Scott King, assistant dean of U of I International Programs, and it's gone from, 'Iowa who?' to people who actually seek us out at these meetings these days.We've started to make a name for ourselves, and that is going to help in enrollment."