Decline In International Applications To Miami For Next Year

By Imani Harris

Miami University journalism student

International student application rates are falling at Miami University for the 2017-2018 academic school year. Why?

Applications to American Culture and English Program (ACE) were down by 60 percent for this spring semester, university officials say, while international applications to Miami overall were down 6 percent.

Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management Susan Schaurer attributes this decrease in international student applications to the “uncertainty of the political landscape.”

Carol Olausen, the director of the ACE program, isn’t so sure. She says, far from being discouraged by the election of Donald Trump as president, many Asian students in the ACE program are pro-Trump.

Of international students arriving each year, 20 to 30 percent are business majors in the Farmer School, she says.

“In these student’s eyes, President Trump is first and foremost a successful business man so they kind of aspire to be like him in that respect,” says Olausen.

What the parents of these students are more worried about is the personal safety of their kids at Miami, Olausen says, and a lot of what international students learn about America comes from what they see on television. Miami’s remote, rural location makes it seem safe.

Inquiries from students considering applying to ACE next year has not declined, she says.

Associate Director of the Global Programs Nicole Collins says she's not too worried at this time about politics affecting the program, “but that may have to be something we take into consideration in the future.”

Photo: The "About" section of Miami University's website contains information about the university's history and student body. A little more than 19-thousand undergraduate and graduate students attend classes on Miami University's Oxford campus. In Fall 2016, 2,145 first year students came from overseas.