While the closing ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing is just days away, Saint Louis University recently performed an opening ceremony of its own-the arrival of approximately 200 freshmen from China. The number of Chinese freshmen has doubled from last year, and they make up about 80 percent of the international students in the class of 2012.
“Ninety to 95 percent of [international] applications are from China. And we had almost 1,000 applications for this upcoming semester,” said Ismael Betancourt, director of the Office of International Services. “This is up from 450 applications for the previous fall semester.”
This increase is not specific to SLU, but a general trend across the world, as the United States begins to compete with countries such as Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom for this large and growing market of students.
“More and more Chinese students are looking forward to studying abroad. As a result, Western countries have found more talents among Chinese students,” said Shulei Zhu in an e-mail interview. Zhu studied communication at SLU from August 2006 to May 2008.
According to an e-mail interview, Lisa Shi, director of the Application Department of Great China International Culture & Educational Development, China is a “huge market with a lot of intelligent students.” This company helps students in China find schools, as well as helping schools abroad recruit qualified students. They have worked with SLU for about two years and have helped almost 200 students apply here.
“These agents are crucial,” said Betancourt, “as they can be there 24/7.”
SLU works with 15 to 20 agents at a time.
For 12 years, Shi had done everything from advising students, to preparing application materials, to making flight and housing reservations.
Shi said the recruiting process usually takes from two to four months, beginning with a consultation in which she gathers information about the student’s background and anything he or she is specifically looking for, such as the location or size of the university. Next, choices are narrowed down and application materials are provided, prepared and sent. The process ends with a visa interview.
“The best thing: Help[ing] a student find a school which [fits] him/her perfectly,” Shi said. “Due to the economic booming [in China], more famil[ies] can afford the tuition and living expenses [of the United States].”
Even so, one of the reasons why Chinese students choose to attend SLU is because of the scholarships that SLU makes available to international students.”
“Some schools don’t offer any,” said Betancourt.
International students, if they qualify, can compete for scholarships such as the Presidential Scholarship and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship with the American students.
One of the reasons why Zhu chose to attend SLU was “because of the financial aid.”
“I didn’t want to spend a lot of my parents’ money for studying abroad,” said Zhu. In applying for and choosing schools, Zhu did not go through an agent but did all of her own research.
“I went through the national top 100 college list from [U.S. News & World Report],” Zhu said. “Most Chinese students use that list when they are applying for schools in America. That’s how I heard of SLU.”
