NIU caters to about 1,400 international students representing about 100 different countries.

India, in particular, is represented by 20 percent of the exchange student population attending NIU during the 2000-01 academic year, according to the Fall 2000 statistics compiled by Carrie Anderson, programs specialist for the International Student and Faculty Office.

“In the entire United States, India is the country sending the most students,” Anderson said. “For a while, China and Malaysia were high in the number of students they sent abroad.”

Anderson added that politics may contribute to the large number of Indian exchange students because money is abundant there.

Lynne Waldeland, NIU interim executive vice president and provost, believes NIU’s close proximity to Chicago and the excellent academic reputation NIU has acquired are attractive features of the university.

“International students are close to a couple of major airports,” she said. “Transportation is easier than other universities farther away from the major airlines. NIU has excellent science, mathematics and engineering departments which students from that part of the world seek out. They either take those skills back to contribute to their country, or in some cases, use them right here in our country.”

Information about NIU is readily available to prospective international students. They can learn about NIU through the Internet, word-of-mouth or the information packets NIU sends to international embassies, Anderson said.

Waldeland believes exchange students, as well as local students, gain more respect for cultures they’ve never experienced.

“In turn, this gives them a chance to broaden their understanding of other cultures that they normally took for granted,” Waldeland said. “American and exchange students see that what they’re doing isn’t so obvious after all. Suddenly, they discover other ways to do things. They become sensitive toward other cultures, and it enriches them in a good way.”

Kathy-Lyn Binkowski, marketing adviser for the NIU Study Abroad Office, agreed.

“Exchange students offer a sense of how a completely different society works,” she said. “The new friendships that they make here, they take back to their countries.”

Although it’s hard to predict, Anderson believes that other countries may help strengthen NIU’s international student numbers.

“For one, faculty from NIU are going to Malaysia to get exchange students,” Anderson said. “Recruitment is certainly going on as well in many European countries.”