USF international students celebrate

Posted Nov 15, 2011 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Nov 15, 2011 at 06:45 PM

Students from around the world converged on USF’s Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza today for its second annual International Fest, part of the International Education week.

Dozens of groups were there representing students from around the world, whose numbers are growing at USF.

Yuan-Ru Wei, front center, poses with Taiwanese students

Lujani Ghamri, from Saudi Arabia, makes up Monica Jimenez

The percentage of international students is still low, but it’s better, rising from 3 percent (1,465 students) last year to 4 percent (1,745 students) this year.

USF attributes part of the increase to its “INTO USF” program, which offers English language and other prep course to ease the foreign students into their degree work.

Nearly 600 foreign students came to USF this year through INTO, an international marketing network.

USF is doing better than Florida as a whole, which fell from 6th to 7th in a recent ranking of the number of international students at its universities. But it’s lagging other U.S. universities.

The Open Doors report from the Institution of International Education showed a 5 percent jump in the number of international students nationwide, up to 723,277.