NC State home to largest number of international students in NC

NC State has the largest population of international students in the state, partly due to being the largest university in North Carolina, but also because of the high rankings for some of the school’s majors.

According to Elizabeth James, director of the Office of International Services at NC State, one of the largest attractions to NC State is the engineering department. With the department overall ranking in the top 10 globally and the computer science program moving up to No. 4, according to U.S. News & World Report, students are drawn from all over the world to the globally recognized program.

“The real reason we have the largest number of international students is because we have a school, or a college of engineering and that college being very well-ranking attracts a lot of international students,” James said.

James also said that because of the rankings, recruitment has not been necessary at the graduate level. There is also not a maximum number of international graduate students that the university can accept.

“At the graduate level is where we really have our largest number of international students,” James said. “So undergrads, just like out-of-state students are capped at that 18 percent of international students, compete with out-of-state students for admission but at the graduate level there is no such cap.”

There have been some recruitment efforts put forth at the undergraduate level. Universities from all over the world will go to high schools to attend college fairs so that students who may not have heard of them before will be able to learn more about what options they have to continue their education.

“There are very few departments that actually have a budget for international recruiting; it’s solely the reputation of the college,” James said. “At the undergraduate level we do some recruiting. We do not use agents we actually have our admission officers go on recruiting trips and in different countries they organize these tours, kind of like the study abroad fair here where they will have all different colleges and students can walk up and talk to the different universities they are interested in.”

According to James, word of mouth from international alumni to friends and family back home has also helped to better NC State’s reputation.

Kaavya Rajiv, a third-year studying economics and business administration, is originally from India and chose to come to NC State due to having heard good things about the school from her cousin who is an alumna.

“Besides the fact that they have a really good program for business here, my cousin went to NC State and graduated in 2000,” Rajiv said. “She loved it and got a good job out of it. It has also grown so much since then. I like the fact that it is very diverse.”

Rajiv said that she thinks NC State does a good job not only catering academically to international students, but also supporting them.

“I get emails from them about support groups and tea times for international students,” Rajiv said. “Just recently there was flooding in India, specifically the city I am from and I got an email from they letting me know that they are here for us and if I needed to talk they are here for us. It’s the small things I really appreciate.”

While Rajiv is not part of the College of Engineering and is studying business, the Poole College of Management is in the top three colleges with the largest enrollment of international students, according to James.

Hugo Grindler, a second-year transfer studying business administration, is originally from France and started off at the SKEMA Business School on Centennial Campus and later transferred into the Poole College of Management to complete his four-year degree.

“I did two years of SKEMA in France then they offered me to transfer to some places,” Grindler said. “The campus in the U.S. that fit the best money-wise was NC State. I also chose here because my brother went here two years before me and he told me about how it is a great campus.”

More information about the NC State international student programs can be found on the NC State Office of International Services website.