This Mo. University Is Tops Among International Students

Every year the U.S. Department of State ranks higher education institutions based on the total number of international students in attendance.

It's called the Open Doors report, and it ranks different types of colleges and universities based on the types of degrees they grant. One Missouri University scored in the top three when it comes to the total number of international students attending a master's degree-granting institution.

The University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg moved up three and ranks third among master's degree-granting institutions with the highest enrollment of students from outside the United States.

Director of International Student Services Phill Hull said in a UCM News Release, "Like U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review, these rankings are valuable in showing prospective students and outside stakeholders that UCM is a great study destination." He went on to mention, that the high ranking also informs the UCM community that "what we have here is special and it doesn't go unrecognized."

Hull went on to say in the release that a high Open Doors ranking gets noticed by international education peers and that it helps UCM attract international students when competing against institutions in more familiar states or geographic locations.

So why are international students coming to the University of Central Missouri? Hull says UCM's master's program in STEM areas including Information Technology, Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, Big Data Analytics, and Cybersecurity are popular with international students.

Last school year, UCM had an international student enrollment of 2,063. According to the latest data from Open Doors shows an increase of 1,714 students for this year.

While the Open Doors report doesn't address the economic impact international students have on the communities they attend school in, UCM cites the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors that the impact of UCM's international students in West Central Missouri is $97.4 million dollars, which supports 459 jobs.

UCM goes on to cite the NAFSA report, saying for every three international students, one job is created because of the impacts those students are making while living in the community.