International Relations
"We can expect to see continued growth in our international student numbers for years to come."
MTSU is determined to remain a top destination for international students in the U.S. We have a welcoming, friendly international student atmosphere where all students are respected, valued, and appreciated. Given these factors, we can expect to see continued growth in our international student numbers for years to come.
International students are returning to the United States after a significant drop during the pandemic. Open Doors 2022 data reveals that international students studying across the U.S. during the 2021–22 academic year supported more than 335,000 jobs and contributed $33.8 billion to the U.S. economy—a $5.5 billion increase in economic activity compared to the prior academic year. At the Tennessee District 4 state level, 855 international students contributed more than $28.6 million, which supported 282 jobs.
For the Fall 2022 semester alone, MTSU enrolled 167 new international students. This represented an increase of 9.15% from the previous fall intake. Saudi Arabia has consistently been a top sender of students to MTSU and currently contributes 115 international students. Displacing China, Nigeria represents the second-largest international student population with 52. This figure represents a 25% increase from the previous fall.
To compete for international students in a very competitive market, MTSU International Affairs has instituted a new comprehensive international student recruitment plan with a worldwide approach to recruiting. Through virtual fairs, on-site college fairs, international school visits, a network of international agents, webinars, institutional partnerships, and
social media, MTSU has reached nearly 100,000 prospective students. The Blue Raider image is present throughout the world on nearly every continent. Our product is popular and attractive.
In addition, in 2022, five professors representing four MTSU colleges joined the MTSU vice provost for international affairs, Robert Summers, in traveling to South America with a goal of boosting student and faculty educational partnerships online. With specialties ranging from Fermentation Science to Information Technology to Interior Design to Journalism to Social Work, faculty members spent two weeks in Argentina and Peru visiting with university peers abroad.
One of the most valuable, yet most difficult to quantify, contributions for international enrollments are the long-term bonds developed between U.S. students and students from around the globe, along with invaluable campus diversity enrichment. The greatest benefit, however, of our higher education system is the American value system that it inculcates, embracing the open exchange of ideas, critical inquiry, and freedom of expression. International students who come here for their educations take these values back to their countries, and the world is a better place for it.
Study abroad also has made a big comeback. During the last academic year, MTSU sent 265 of its students overseas. Thirty MTSU faculty-led programs took 221 students to 22 countries. And we offered a record level of scholarships and funding: more than $400,000 in 2021–22 alone! On average, each student received a $2,000 MTSU scholarship to support education abroad.
SEPTEMBER
Constitution Day
The MTSU community again spoke the words that ordained and established America during the annual Constitution Week observance September 13–15. September 17 marked Constitution Day, the 235th anniversary of the signing of the document in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.
Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the public gathered daily beginning September 13, at sites across campus for 75-minute-long readings of the Constitution.
The University’s traditional outdoor public readings of the historic American document were coordinated by the MTSU chapter of the American Democracy Project. Volunteers walked up, joined the line of readers, and took their turn reading a brief section of the Constitution aloud.
University of Opportunities
MTSU again made the U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 national list for Top Performers in Social Mobility for its efforts to help disadvantaged students reach their educational goals.
U.S. News announced its 2022–23 evaluations of 1,500 colleges and universities, ranking MTSU at No. 82 for social mobility, No. 156 for Top Public Schools, No. 130 for Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (at schools where doctorates are not offered), No. 206 in Nursing, and No. 247 in Business. The University also was ranked No. 299 among the top National Universities.
MTSU, which first made U.S. News’ Top 100 in Social Mobility in 2020, devotes considerable efforts to serve first-generation and underrepresented college students. We recently launched a new push, called MT Tuition Free, to help qualified students determine pathways that could eliminate or greatly reduce their tuition costs.
9/11 Remembrance
Greg Mays, director of Homeland Security at the Tennessee Department of Safety, helped MTSU commemorate the 21st anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack by the extremist group al-Qaida, as MTSU hosted the eighth annual 9/11 Remembrance on campus.
The event was held September 11, in the Tom H. Jackson Building’s Cantrell Hall. It was hosted by the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center, which assists more than 1,100 student veterans and family members seeking degrees, pursuing careers, or needing help with Veteran Affairs benefits.
A retired U.S. Secret Service agent and a U.S. Navy veteran, Mays was the guest speaker for the ceremony. He shared memories as part of then-Vice President Dick Cheney’s Secret Service detail in the aftermath.
