2008 Woodie Awards
More international students enroll after 9/11 decline
Valerie Valle, Online Editor
Issue date: 9/12/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Six years after Sept. 11, the number of international students at ACU is slowly recovering from a decline.
Steven Gist, director of international recruiting, said ACU's international students come from about 60 different countries, and the majority of them are from countries in Southeast
Asia and Africa.
Gist said after Sept. 11, national security was tightened, and only a limited number of visas were allowed for students to come here. The difficulties in coming to the U.S. resulted in fewer numbers of international students at ACU.
However, in the past few years, the numbers are slowly rising.
Right now, there are 225 international students that make up the ACU student body, which is 10 more than had attended last fall.
Yuri Sudo, senior broadcast journalism major from Ibaraki, Japan, attended a high school that is a sister school of ACU in Japan.
"I remember when the terrorist attacks in America happened. Students who were supposed to study abroad in America that year didn't get to because a lot of parents were concerned that it was too dangerous," Sudo said.
But when Sudo graduated three years after the Sept. 11 incident, she said she had no fear in coming to the U.S.
"I was just so interested in America and, of course, I wanted to learn English."
ACU works with alumni and organizations to try to recruit international students. Faculty and staff also travel to different
countries to visit students and attend education fairs to recruit them to the university.
"Sometimes, being a Christian school is an advantage, and sometimes it's a road block," said Gist. "But for some families, there is no other place they can get a higher education. They know their children will be in an environment here that is safe and nurturing."
Gist believes recruiting international students is important for the ACU community as well as achieving the university's
mission statement.
E-mail Valle at: vmv04a@acu.edu
Steven Gist, director of international recruiting, said ACU's international students come from about 60 different countries, and the majority of them are from countries in Southeast
Asia and Africa.
Gist said after Sept. 11, national security was tightened, and only a limited number of visas were allowed for students to come here. The difficulties in coming to the U.S. resulted in fewer numbers of international students at ACU.
However, in the past few years, the numbers are slowly rising.
Right now, there are 225 international students that make up the ACU student body, which is 10 more than had attended last fall.
Yuri Sudo, senior broadcast journalism major from Ibaraki, Japan, attended a high school that is a sister school of ACU in Japan.
"I remember when the terrorist attacks in America happened. Students who were supposed to study abroad in America that year didn't get to because a lot of parents were concerned that it was too dangerous," Sudo said.
But when Sudo graduated three years after the Sept. 11 incident, she said she had no fear in coming to the U.S.
"I was just so interested in America and, of course, I wanted to learn English."
ACU works with alumni and organizations to try to recruit international students. Faculty and staff also travel to different
countries to visit students and attend education fairs to recruit them to the university.
"Sometimes, being a Christian school is an advantage, and sometimes it's a road block," said Gist. "But for some families, there is no other place they can get a higher education. They know their children will be in an environment here that is safe and nurturing."
Gist believes recruiting international students is important for the ACU community as well as achieving the university's
mission statement.
E-mail Valle at: vmv04a@acu.edu
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