In Massachusetts, higher education is a big economic contributor with a rich history and some of the biggest global brands such as Harvard and MIT.
So maybe its not a surprise that international enrollment contributes an estimated $1.4B of economic contribution in 2012 (1) and Massachusetts ranks number 4 in the number of international students in the U.S. This blog entry is part of are series of our regional analysis focused on the medium-term enrollment trends for different states and their academic institutions.
Graph 1 shows the fastest growing universities in terms of incremental growth ininternational student enrollment during the past four years and the percentage growth. Northeastern University has built an impressive track record during the last 4 years. Northeastern is now the university with the largest number of international students in Massachusetts surpassing Boston University, Harvard and MIT.
Interestingly, the Massachusetts international enrollment picture differs significantly from other states (see our blog entries on Ohio and California) where large public universities dominate the enrollment numbers. In MA we have a much more balanced situation with the private non-profits leading and public universities following with respectable enrollment numbers and growth rates.
Graph 1 shows the institutions with the largest number of incremental international students enrolled during the past four years (left scale) as well as the percentage increase of those enrolled international students (right scale). For example, Northeastern University in Boston grew their international student body by 100% from 2009 to 2012 by adding 3,244 international students while Suffulk University added 335 students and grew by 32%.
Yes, location matters but Northeastern University has shown that a well-planned and executed international growth strategy will work (2). The University had a well-researched and professionally planned process, invested in travel team, digital media support and partnerships. They launched with pathway programs and recruiting partners and have consistently built their brand strength.
If you are interested in a few more details on how Northeastern University launched their program, listen to our podcast with David Hautanen, Former Director International Recruitment and Strategic Enrollment Initiatives.
Graph 1
Graph 2 shows the universities and their absolute number of international students. The blue bar represents the total number of enrolled international students and the red bar indicates the incremental enrollment growth from 2009 through 2012 based on the IIE open door survey.
We should also point out that this analysis does not do justice to the successes and efforts of many small and medium-sized colleges and universities with successful international enrollment activities. Because of the size of these schools, they would not be represented as well in the analysis. We have looked elsewhere to analyze more segmented approaches that account for the size of institutions (see blog Exporting Education boosts Ohio Economy).
Footnotes
(1) Economic analysis produced by NAFSA: Association of International Educators based on enrollment data from Open Doors 2012. www.nafsa.org/eis
(2) Full disclosure, our staff was involved in the early phases of the international enrollment development process.
