State wants more foreign students to attend UH

State officials plan to fund a new marketing campaign aimed at attracting more international students to the University of Hawaii and other colleges to enrich campus life, and also to give a boost to state tax collections.

Making Hawaii an international "education destination" has long been a goal of Hawaii’s political and community leaders, and the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism told lawmakers this year that those students also generate revenue.

DBEDT estimates a 10 percent boost in the number of international students studying in Hawaii would result in an increase in state tax collections of $16 million per year.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa currently has 1,275 foreign students, while the UH-Hilo has 133. The state’s seven community colleges altogether have an additional 837 foreign students, said UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl.

State lawmakers approved a measure this year to provide $250,000 in marketing money to DBEDT for the effort, and Gov. David Ige signed the measure into law as Act 157 on June 26.

Joanne Taira, senior executive for international and strategic initiatives for the university, said UH officials are looking forward to working with DBEDT on the marketing program, and said international students help to diversify the state’s college campuses.

"We just think that’s a really good idea because we just welcome having more international students, not just at UH but in Hawaii," she said. Those students bring "ideas and opportunities and networks, not only for UH and our students, but also for all of Hawaii."