On Nov. 18, the federal 2024 Open Doors Report of baccalaureate colleges announced that Augustana is tied for No. 6 in their enrollment of international students. This is the highest that Augustana College has ranked in the report, previously listed as 24th in 2020.
According to the college’s website, international students make up 20% of the student body. Enrollment for the 2024-25 school year includes 165 international first-year students. This is an increase from last year’s cohort of 149 international students.
Executive Director of International Enrollment Liz Nino travels to different countries to speak with students and families about the opportunities at Augustana, as well as guiding them through the admissions process.
“The Office of International Admissions has been committed to being the face of Augustana, so we travel the globe. Many international families, different from American students, can’t come visit campus so we essentially bring the campus to them,” Nino said.
Augustana builds relationships with international schools, international partners, US embassies and through word of mouth to generate interest, and that interest has grown tremendously, Nino said.
“Augustana College has broken records every year with the exception of COVID and this last fall was our largest international cohort. There are projections that next year we will continue to break records at Augustana,” Nino said.
Augustana strives to be one of the leading universities in diversity, equity and inclusion, Nino said, and is looked up to by many other institutions.
In order to help international students acclimate to their new environment, Augustana created an orientation program that includes shopping, bank account setup, social security setup and help with obtaining a cell phone, Nino said.
“In the OISSS office (Office of International Student and Scholar Services), they’ve developed incredible programming such as different workshops to better understand how to maintain their student visa and get an on-campus job,” Nino said.
Augustana’s website said that OISSS and the Office of Student Inclusion and Diversity (OSID) do programming such as International Education Week, International Student Orientation, cultural market trips, cooking classes, the PACE Multicultural Mentorship Program and the Culture Houses Block Party.
Junior Tin Dang is an international student from Vietnam and is currently a content creator and social media manager for OSID. Dang said that the main mission of OSID is to promote diversity and inclusion.
“We don’t care who you are, regardless of your sex, your gender, your race or any kind of demographic that you have, Dang said. “We try to include everyone.”
Dang is also involved with OISSS and said that the organization makes Augustana feel like home for him. He helps others by doing tasks such as picking up students from the airport and providing all of the resources that the office has to offer.
“Even though I’m far from my family, I feel like there is always someone out there on campus that’s always ready to listen to me and to help me out with some of my problems,” Dang said. “It’s not only about mental health but also academics.”
