The University of Houston has a lot to offer its students. A multi-cultural environment is one of the more prominent. It’s good to see that won’t be changing any time soon.
On Friday, Nov. 21, The Chronicle of Higher Education released data from the Institute of International Education stating UH ranks 25th in the country in highest number of international student, with 3,420 international students during the 2007-08 school year, an 8 percent increase from 2006-07 (see story, Page 1).
But that wasn’t the only good news. The article also states that there was a 7 percent increase in international students nationwide – the largest one-year increase in decades. The students are estimated to have contributed $15 billion to the U.S. economy.
Among the top 25 schools with the most international students, only two of them had a smaller international enrollment than the previous school year, and only eight of them had a total enrollment where less than 10 percent of it was international. UH’s total international enrollment was 10 percent.
So why is this important? Because this is higher education, and what better way to learn about the world than to see it? Students who have lived in Houston their whole lives may not understand, but a student from the other side of the globe is taking in a whole lot more than English and math when studying at UH.
As the fourth-largest city in the country, Houston has a lot to offer culturally, and maintaining an international population is not only important to those who visit, but for the locals as well.
UH President Renu Khator, born in Uttar Pradesh, India, said in the article she is proud of the University’s diversity. However, she also said that she would like to double the number of international students in the next few years. Doing so would place UH second on the list.
While Khator’s goal cannot be deemed a bad thing, it is important to realize that an ethnic population works best when it does not strive to gain a larger population of an outside culture, but remains equally open to all.
UH should not focus its goals on recruiting a particular demographic, but on offering the best possible education. Doing so will inspire foreign students to choose UH’s schools over other programs. Among the top 10 international schools are New York University, Columbia University, the University of Texas and Harvard University – tough competition to say the least.
UH has been nicely balanced with local and international students for some time now – something it should be proud of. Maintaining top educational goals will determine how much longer it can do so.
