UF hasn’t recovered from a dip in international students that happened about two years ago.
The number of international students plummeted to 1,043 in the 2017-2018 school year, compared to the previous year’s 1,453. UF saw little improvement this year with 1,049 incoming international students, said Leonardo Villalón, the dean of the International Center.
“We did not recover from last year’s point,” Villalón said. “We haven’t seen it go back up.”
The drop in international enrollment is a national phenomenon, said UF Provost Joseph Glover.
“This is happening all across the country,” Glover said. “It is a reflection of multiple factors, including the federal government’s stance towards immigrants and the rhetoric that accompanies this.”
This decline could also be a result of improvements in China’s higher education system, causing many students to pursue postsecondary degrees in their home country, he said.
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Villalón thinks the drop in international enrollment is caused by a combination of factors, including the current political climate in the U.S. He believes international students might not feel as though the U.S. is a welcoming place because of President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose travel bans and other political division caused by immigration.
There was a significant decline in students enrolling from India, Villalón said. In the 2016-2017 school year, UF had 618 students from India. The number sank to 266 last year and 253 this year.
“As we try to become a top-five university, we want to attract the best talent and most gifted students around the world, and this means we are attracting fewer people here,” Villalón said.
Amrita Bandopadhyay, 30, an English doctoral student, came to UF in 2015 from India. She said when she came, the political climate was drastically different than it is now.
“When I was applying, I did not feel uncomfortable,” she said. “But now, if I have to think of remaining here in the United States for a long time, that concerns me a little bit.”
Contact McKenna Beery at mbeery@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @mckennabeery
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