The spring semester has brought in a higher percentage of international students for Eastern.

Last semester, Eastern had 292 international students who chose to study in America. Currently 375 students from various nations are attending the university.

The number is up 23 percent from the fall semester. Only 141 international students attended Eastern 10 years ago.

A large portion of the new students come from India, with 133 students representing said nation at Eastern. 11 come from South Korea, six come from Saudi Arabia and four hail from Nepal.

Nigeria, China, the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka each have two students representing their respective countries.

With 167 new students in the International Students and Scholars program, director Kevin Vicker said the program’s goal is to maintain this rising trend in student enrollment.

277 international students were enrolled at Eastern last spring semester, Vicker said. This is an increase from spring 2014, when there were 223 students, and spring 2013, when there were 151.

According to Vicker, one reason Eastern is seeing a heightened number of students is because of the friendly atmosphere on campus. Students often go back to their home countries and reference Eastern, and the word-of-mouth exposure helps encourage students to study abroad, Vicker said.

Another reason he thinks this increase has occurred is because of the technology department.

The department is one of the biggest graduate programs for international students. Adding more faculty members also helped to appeal to aspiring students, Vicker said.

“This was a strategic initiative between the president, to the technology department, to our office, to increase the numbers, as we realized that there’s such a huge demand (for international students), and we were only admitting a small portion of the students,” Vicker said.

Vicker said many of the students from India go for a degree in technology because the students see that the field is in high demand.

David Melton, the graduate coordinator for the School of Technology, said his job is to help the international students understand the Eastern and Charleston communities.

He said it is important to provide both domestic and international students with a chance to learn about each other.

“There’s a world outside of this (school),” Melton said. “We’re getting a global aspect of what’s going on and I think that has significant importance because we come to understand each other.”

Melton said out of the 250 students enrolled in the graduate program, around 75 percent of them are international students. After graduation in the fall, the program was left with 105 students. With the increase of international students, Melton said the program more than doubled in size.

Melton said that international students bring a chance to learn more about different cultures to the Eastern campus.

“I look at it as an opportunity, because I learn from them and they learn from me,” Melton said.

Kaushik Attota, a graduate student in the School of Technology, comes from India. He said he chose to pursue a career in technology because he knew it would be a challenge. He said he chose Eastern because of the small class setting.

“I met my first friend in a class and he helped to (introduce) me to other people,” Attota said. “The small campus helps me meet a lot of people.”

T’Nerra Butler can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]