Enrollment gains spurred by new freshmen, grad students

Western Michigan University experienced an overall growth of 1.6 percent in enrollment this fall, primarily the result of a large 8.8 percent boost in the number of new freshmen and healthy increases in graduate student numbers. International student enrollment grew by 15.2 percent, raising the total to 1,114 international students on campus.

Two government scholarship programs have been pivotal in overall growth in international enrollment. A recent scholarship program signed by President John M. Dunn with the government of the Dominican Republic has brought more than 100 of their students to Western’s campus. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has 139 students studying in Kalamazoo this fall.

"Our scholarship agreement with the government of the Dominican Republic reflects Western Michigan University’s commitment to meet the educational aspirations of students from other countries," said Dr. Donald McCloud, dean of the Haenicke Institute for Global Education. "The trust that the Saudi Arabian mission in Washington, DC continues to place in the high quality of education that their students can obtain here in Kalamazoo also reflects the commitment of our community to welcome students from around the world."

The official fall 2008 enrollment count for WMU is 24,818, an increase of 385 students over last year's total student count. Beginning freshmen hit 3,870, an increase of 314 over last year's beginning freshman class. The numbers reflect the University's official fall census conducted Sept. 9.

The number of master's level students increased by 195 or 5.8 percent, and the number of doctoral students is up by 43 or 5.2 percent. Strong graduate enrollment at WMU’s branch campuses drove those increases, with the greatest gains at the Battle Creek, Grand Rapids Beltline and Southwest campuses.

"We've been watching the numbers and listening to families all summer and we knew our growth would be strong," said WMU President Dunn, in a university press release. "It wasn't until we saw the final census count, however, that we began to uncover the wealth of good news this year's enrollment data reflects.In addition to strong freshman and graduate student numbers, we have major increases of 10.5 percent in our minority student population and a 15.2 percent in our international student body. This is important news for us because it reflects the ethnic and cultural qualities so important to a great multifaceted research university like ours."

Minority enrollment increased by 288 students to 3,030, with more than half of that increase among African American students. International student enrollment is 1,114, showing its first significant increase since 2001. For more information about international students and programs at WMU, visit the Haenicke Institute Web site: http://international.wmich.edu