Published: July 19, 2007 10:43 pm      

Campus diversity

Local colleges grab interest internationally

Students look forward to college, where they get to make their own decisions, find themselves and meet types of people from places they have only heard about.

As they enter Madison County, whether they attend Eastern Kentucky University or Berea College, they quickly learn that at these local institutions, students come from everywhere.

“Richmond is 26 miles southeast of Lexington, Kentucky,” according to the University’s Web site. “Interstate Highways I-75 (north south) and I-64 (east west) make the metropolitan areas of Cincinnati, 112 miles to the north, and Louisville, 110 miles to the west, within convenient distance by automobile.”

With this accessible location, Eastern is in a position to attract students from various surrounding states.

There were 15,753 students enrolled at Eastern for the fall 2006 semester. Of those, 11,438 students were full time and 4,325 were part-time. Also, 1,035, or 90 percent, were undergraduates and 1,131 were graduate students. Eastern also had a list of 2,410 transfer applications, where 1,441 were accepted and 952 enrolled.

Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana have led with the highest state enrollments for five years.

Kentucky has 13,835 students, of which 2,058 are first-time freshmen. Ohio follows with 1,057 and 272, while Indiana adds 101 and 25.

Madison, Fayette and Whitley counties are the top three leaders for total student enrollment and for first-time freshmen.

Twenty-two percent of Eastern’s students come from Madison County, while 10.5 percent arrive from Fayette and 4.8 are contributed by Whitley.

However, Trigg and Edmonson counties are the only two in the state that do not have any students at Eastern.

Although it is nice for a university or college to have a high enrollment of people from the state where the school was established, it is another to have students interested in the institution from all around the world.

“As we continue our efforts to reach more and more Kentuckians with quality higher education in order to meet the goals of House Bill 1, it is also critical that we prepare all our students to succeed in an increasingly global society and workplace,” said Eastern’s president, Joanne Glasser. “Because they bring such diverse perspectives, EKU’s international students enrich the teaching-learning process tremendously and help build bridges of understanding and goodwill.”

At Eastern, the enrollment level is pretty consistent, said Beth Blanchard, coordinator of international services.

“With 9-11, it dipped down just a little bit, but it stays right about 200,” Blanchard said. “International students bring such a diversity to our campus; different cultures, different foods, different outlooks and in every class that they sit in they bring a different perspective to American students, so it really kind of broadens everyone to have the presence of a international student here.”

Of the 145 international students enrolled in fall 2006, Eastern had 37 students from India, 19 from Nepal and 10 from China, along with at least one from 33 other countries and six unknown.

“We’re just real happy to welcome international students.” Blanchard said. “We have admitted about 90 new ones for the fall. We’re just delighted when they come. They come from 56 different countries, which is just pretty amazing.”

Founded as the “first interracial and coeducational college in the south,” Berea College continues to open its door of education and experience to the people of “Appalachia and beyond.”

Last year, Berea had 1,520 undergraduates representing 40 of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., and 71 foreign countries.

Berea also enrolled 21 transfer students out of the 154 that originally applied and 388 first-time, first-year freshmen, according to school statistics for 2006 to 2007.

Kentucky and the Appalachian region make up 73 percent of the enrollment list, while 7 percent, or 110 students, contribute to the international pool.

Havanna Hagans can be reached at news@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669.