Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
In 2022–23, the United States hosted 467,027 international graduate students, a year-over-year growth rate of 21.3 percent, with graduate learners making up 44 percent of all international students, according to 2023 data from Open Doors.
Across higher education, international students face unique challenges compared to their American peers and need additional supports to feel included and valued at their institutions.
Wright State University in Ohio hired six advanced-degree students to serve as ambassadors, assisting their international peers in getting comfortable at the institution and with graduate education in the U.S. at large.
What’s the need: While Wright State has offered resources for incoming undergraduate students from other nations in the past, the university has not provided the same kind of guidance to graduate students.
Nationally, graduate enrollment among domestic students has declined in recent years, requiring institutions to look toward international student enrollment to boost numbers. International students make up around half of Wright State’s 2,377 graduate students, explains Shu Schiller, interim dean of the college of graduate programs and honors studies.
The university conducted two graduate student surveys in fall 2023 to understand pain points in the student experience, one surveying currently enrolled students and another addressing students who stopped out. Students said financial needs, outside challenges and mental health struggles were among their top concerns.
