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International Student Recruitment and Study Abroad Participation

In 2018-19, DePaul welcomed 1526 international (F/J visa) students from 121 different countries.  While our total population of F/J students declined by 8% year over year, we did see enrollment increases in some areas, such as:  4% increase in graduate students in the College of Business, to 593 students; 24% increase in graduate students in the College of Education to 66 students, and 13% increase in graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (LAS).  Some notable declines included 45% decrease in Law to 28 students; 28% undergraduate LAS to 76 students, and 35% decrease in undergraduate students in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

Overall F/J and INTL (internationally credentialed but non-visa holding students), decreased by 10% at the undergraduate level and increased by 2% at the graduate level. 

Regional representation has remained fairly consistent.  The biggest sending countries included: China (32.5%); India (13.2%); Saudi Arabia (6.1%); Taiwan (3.5%) and Korea (2.7%).

Participation in Study Abroad remained strong, with 1200 students in 2018-19 versus 1174 last year.  Consistent with prior years, about 76% of our students participated in short-term faculty led study abroad programs, and 24% in term long programs.  And DePaul continues to outperform national statistics in supporting underrepresented students in study abroad participation. In 2016-17, DePaul’s study abroad participants included 20.4% underrepresented students versus the national average of 16.7%.  *Numbers are reported from 2016-17 to compare with IIE’s Open Doors Published national statistics.

The colleges with the strongest participation in Study Abroad include College of Business (26.1%); College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (22.6%); and College of Communication (15.7%).  And the regions most visited remained consistent with 60.5% of our students traveling to Europe, 17.3% to Latin America and 13% traveling to Asia.