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Institute of International Education
809 United Nations Plaza
7th Floor
New York, NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1 (212) 984 5367
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The Impact of Community Colleges on International Education
By Hey-Kyung Koh
International Students and Community Colleges
U.S. higher education has been the preferred destination for increasing numbers of international students each year since the Institute of International Education began publishing the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. In 2002/2003, there were 586,323 international students in U.S. colleges and universities. The U.S. higher education system is large and characterized by a diversity of institutional types and programs. It is also a flexible system, allowing students the opportunity to study at various types of institutions and programs, including degree as well as non-degree programs. This flexibility makes U.S. higher education an open system, whereby an institution or program exists for anyone, including international students, who wishes to pursue higher education.
In recent years, Associate's Institutions have been attracting growing numbers of international students. And in particular, these institutions have seen the largest percentage increase of all the Carnegie Institutional Types (57.9%). This is not surprising, given the nature of community colleges. Community colleges fill a certain niche in U.S. higher education. International students are attracted to community colleges for the same reasons as American students are: a low-cost, quality education, which offers flexible and innovative programs of study not found at the traditional four-year colleges and universities. Community colleges also present different educational opportunities to international students, since they are also a unique feature of the U.S. higher education system, not found in most other countries.
These international students impact the community colleges they attend by adding to the educational experiences of the American students with whom they come in contact in classes and in campus activities. This is especially true for those American students who may not have the opportunity or the interest to study abroad and experience a different culture and get to know a different country's people.
Facts on International Students at Community Colleges
96,785 international students were studying at community colleges in 2002/2003, a decline of 2.1% from previous year and the first decline since 1995/1996.
Associate's Institutions were the third largest host institutional type, following Research I Institutions and Master's I Institutions.
Since 1993/1994, international student enrollment at community colleges has increased 57.9%, the largest increase of all the institutional types and higher than the 30.4% increase overall in the same time period.
Community colleges in California, Florida, New York, and Texas host the largest numbers of international students and have the largest numbers of institutions hosting international students among the leading 40 Associate Institutions. One community college, Houston Community College System, is represented among the leading 25 institutions hosting 1,000 or more international students in Open Doors.
Four of the leading places of origin of international students at community colleges are places in Asia, with Mexico as number four. There were five Latin American places of origin among the leading 20 places of origin.
International students in the U.S. studying at the associate degree academic level were 72,494 or 12.4% of total international student population in 2002/2003, up 7.1% from previous year.
The leading field of study of these students is "Other," enrolling 23.5% of international students at community colleges, reflecting the types of programs that attract international students to community colleges. Business & Management is the next leading field of study (19.2%), which is the leading field of study for international students in general at all institutions, followed by Undeclared (14.6%), Mathematics & Computer Sciences (13.6%), and the Health Professions (6.1%).
Personal & family funding makes up the largest proportion of international students' funding (81.4%) for their studies at community colleges. For this reason, community colleges are an attractive option for international students and provide an opportunity for those who can't afford to study at more expensive U.S. higher education institutions.
U.S. Study Abroad and Community Colleges
Since the mid-1990s, U.S. students' interest and participation in study abroad has been increasing and study abroad has become a more commonplace part of U.S. students' higher education experience. U.S. study abroad has increased dramatically, by 126%, since 1991/1992. 160,920 U.S. students studied abroad for academic credit in 2001/2002. This is a 4.4% increase from the previous year, following four years of double-digit growth in the late 1990s.
Compared to other institutional types, community colleges face more challenges with regard to U.S. study abroad. Study abroad programs are not as entrenched or as popular at community colleges. It is more difficult for community college students to study abroad because of family responsibilities, jobs, financial and other obstacles faced by non-traditional students. The infrastructure for study abroad is often not as established at community colleges as at other institutional types - for example, lack of faculty involvement in study abroad and lack of a well-funded and therefore well-staffed study abroad office. For various reasons, it has also been more difficult for many community colleges to report accurate and complete data for Open Doors.
Despite these challenges, however, community colleges have done much to promote study abroad among their U.S. students. Through the efforts of professionals in the field, data collection on study abroad activity at community colleges has improved. Study abroad professionals have been able to create short-term programs to fit their students' needs, thus allowing more community college students to study abroad. They have created innovative programs, often very different from programs at other types of institutions. They have also been able to stretch their marketing budgets by fully taking advantage of returned study abroad students in a very effective "word of mouth" advertising strategy.
Facts on U.S. Study Abroad at Community Colleges
4,085 community college students studied abroad for credit during the 2001/2002 year (academic year and the following summer), a 4.4% increase from the previous year.
The majority of the leading community college study abroad institutions are in California, followed by Florida and New York. The leading community college study abroad institution is Rockland Community College of the State University of New York system, with 300 U.S. students abroad in 2001/2002.
The leading host region for U.S. community college students abroad is Europe, with 64.2% of community college students abroad, followed by Latin America (16.9%) and Asia (7.9%). The other regions host less than 4% of community college students abroad. The percentage of students going abroad to Europe from community colleges is higher than that of all U.S. study abroad students, as is study abroad to Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America, and is lower for study abroad to Oceania and Multiple Regions.
The leading four destinations are in Western Europe. The United Kingdom is the leading destination of U.S. students abroad from community colleges, followed by Italy, France, and Spain. The leading destinations for community colleges are more varied than for leading destinations for all study abroad enrollments.
Duration of Study Abroad: Nearly two-thirds of community college students who study abroad do so on short-term programs (65%). 34.7% go abroad on quarter-length or semester-length programs, and a mere 0.3% on programs of academic or calendar year in length. The preference of U.S. community college students for short-term programs is higher than for other institutional types. These shorter programs allow non-traditional students, who can't spend a longer period of time overseas, the opportunity to study abroad.
The field of study of the majority of community college study abroad students is Undeclared (22.9%), Humanities (11.2%), Fine or Applied Arts (10.9%), Foreign Languages 10.7%), and Business & Management (10.0%). Other fields enroll less than 10% of community college study abroad students. In contrast, the most popular field of study for U.S. students abroad overall from all institutions is the Social Sciences (21.9%).
67.8% of community college students who study abroad are female, slightly higher than the figure for all institutions (64.9%).
The overwhelming majority of community college study abroad students are Caucasian (70.6%), followed by Hispanic-American (10.5%), Asian-American (7.6%), Multiracial (6.9%), African-American (3.3%), and Native American (1.1%). Compared to all institutional types in general, community colleges have a larger proportion of students of color studying abroad, with the slight exception of African-Americans (3.3% for community colleges versus 3.5% overall).
The Future of Community Colleges and International Education
Community colleges have made their mark on "traditional" international education, and that impact has been deep in recent years. Community colleges represent a growth area in international education, and there is a huge potential for growth in the future. The role which community colleges will play in shaping international education and trends in U.S. higher education will be an exciting one.
For more information, visit the data tables on the Community College Data Resource or the general Open Doors Data Tables on the Open Doors section of IIENetwork, the membership website of the Institute of International Education: https://opendoors.iienetwork.org.
Hey-Kyung Koh is a Program Officer at the Institute of International Education. She is Editor of the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange.
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