Tally of foreigners attending UH plummets

International students attending Hawaii colleges contributed about $107 million in direct spending to the state’s economy in the last academic year, according to a report released last week.

But despite Hawaii’s multicultural environment, reputation for safety and proximity to Asia, the number of students coming here has steadily declined over the past six years, while mainland colleges are seeing more foreign student enrollment, especially by students from China.

The number of international students here dropped 26 percent, to 4,446 in 2012 from 6,032 in 2007, and their spending on tuition and living expenses is down from $123.8 million six years ago.

The decline coincides with a tuition increase for nonresident students at UH campuses. At UH-Manoa, nonresident undergraduate tuition nearly doubled, to $23,232 annually in the 2011-2012 academic year from $12,192 in 2006-2007.

UH-Manoa, which has the largest population of international students among the state’s colleges, saw the largest drop in numbers, to 1,390 undergraduate and graduate students in 2012 from 1,984 in 2007. UH-Hilo had the biggest percentage decline, about 53 percent, to 194 in the last academic year from 411 in 2007.

Reed Dasenbrock, vice chancellor for academic affairs at UH-Manoa, said demo­graph­ics and more options available to Japa­nese and Korean students are also behind the numbers.

Japan is aging, and "the college-age population in Japan is declining," Dasenbrock said. "Japan and Korea are essentially a declining market, in sharp contrast to the rest of the world."

Japan and South Korea are the countries that send the most students to Hawaii, in contrast to the rest of the country, where there are more students from China and India.

Nationally, the annual Open Doors report showed international enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities grew nearly 6 percent last year, driven by a 23 percent increase from China.

Public universities hit hard by state funding cuts "really are starting to realize the tuition from international students makes it possible for them to continue offering scholarships and financial aid to domestic students," said Peggy Blumenthal, senior counselor at the Institute of International Education, the private nonprofit that published the study.

Nationally, 765,000 foreign students attended U.S. campuses last year, with China (158,000) the top source, followed by India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia (the fastest growing thanks to an ambitious scholarship program by the Saudi government). Altogether, the Department of Commerce calculates they contributed $22.7 billion to the economy last academic year, and many stay after graduation. For the first time in a dozen years, according to the IIE, there were more foreign undergraduates than graduate students.

Dasenbrock said UH-Manoa has been focused on attracting local students and getting them to graduate within six years.

"We have been very clearly and intentionally Hawaii-focused, and Hawaii will continue to be our major focus," Dasenbrock said. "But we would like to reverse that decline (in international students). … We’re paying more attention to it."

Dasenbrock said the university is expanding its international recruiting and marketing efforts. "We need a larger presence in China," he said. "Other colleges have made the move there that we have not."

Dasenbrock said UH-Manoa faculty and staff traveling to other countries are being encouraged to help in the recruiting effort, and the university is starting to reach out to international alumni.

UH-Manoa has a film program in Shanghai and international programs in business, public health and architecture. But faculty have been focused on setting up and maintaining those programs, not necessarily on using them as a way to attract students to the home campus in Manoa.

"We have all these rich programmatic connections," Dasenbrock said. "We haven’t always used them to be a vehicle for student recruitment, and somehow we have to do both."

UH-Manoa is also looking to recruit more students from developing countries like Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia, and has started to visit college fairs there.

But Dasenbrock said the focus can’t just be on getting more tuition dollars. Some students, especially those in developing countries, may need financial help.

Bringing in more international students, no matter how much they pay in tuition, will enhance the educational experience of UH students and help the state as it tries to expand its international business connections, he said.

"I don’t think it’s primarily about the bottom line of the university," he said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.