As director of the Duggett International Center at Springfield College which is part of Study Western Massachusetts, Deborah speaks with the PIE about working with other schools in the region to attract foreign students and the benefits of having a small international student population.
The PIE: Tell me about Study Western Massachusetts.
DA: It’s a consortium of private and public institutions and also one English language institute, the International Language Institute (ILI), and we’ve been working together for a few years cooperatively to try to attract students to a destination outside of Boston. A lot of students feel that Boston is the main destination in Massachusetts but we have an area that’s full of students and really great opportunities for international students to have a more authentic American experience in many ways. It’s less expensive and we’re really happy to support one another.
The PIE: Do you find some of the students who come to you want to study and then move on to Boston afterwards?
DA: Not particularly. I think the retention of international students in the valley is pretty high. We have a lot of offerings, there is a big public university if that’s what you’re looking for, there are small private schools that have the American campus feel that people see in the movies, with the activities and the residential life.
“A lot of students feel that Boston is the main destination in Massachusetts but we have an area that’s full of really great opportunities for international students”
The PIE: What do you find students appreciate the most about the region?
DA: The academics are really strong there and they have access to Boston, it’s only 90 minutes from the Springfield area. And also to New York City. You can get where you need to go because we’re serviced by a regional airport. We’re not really as isolated as they might think.
The PIE: How many members are involved?
DA: We now have 10 members. We’ve just expanded to include a school that’s a bridge between a prep school and college that offers an associate’s degree. It’s added an extra dimension to who we are.
The PIE: How have you all found working together?
DA: It means that if one of us travels we’re representing all of us. We have such different programmes and specialties that we’re able to not really be in competition for the same students. And to have the English programme as a feeder we have a cooperative agreement where we can give conditional acceptances as part of the condition they enrol in the language classes at the ILI and then we stay connected with our students who are there. They know who we are and they can come in without the TOEFL, study there and move back to our campuses. The ILI knows what we need in terms of academic preparation for those students. They know what kind of support services are on the ground in different campuses so they know when a student is ready. It’s really valuable for us to have that kind of relationship with them.
“We have such different programmes and specialties that we’re able to not really be in competition for the same students”
The PIE: Marketing wise, do you ever go represent as a group or is it only as individuals?
DA: Right now we’ve been individuals representing everyone else. My school for example doesn’t have a big recruiting budget for international recruitment so we’re really helped out by schools who do
The PIE: What about your domestic student population, how do they feel about the international student element on their campus? [More>>]
DA: Speaking from my institution our faculty are very receptive to international students and very accommodating for students who have second language issues for example. They give them extra time for exams, they work with them, they spend a lot of time with them. The students I think are welcoming although I won’t lie to you, all international students will tell you they wish they could make friends more easily with domestic students. And that’s something we work on at the student affairs level as well.
The PIE: Could the consortia as a whole work on that?
“We try to make sure students are connected in some way so they know that there’s an international student presence within the valley
DA: From time to time we’re able to bring international students from other colleges onto our campus or take them to meet up with others. Spiritual life offices are recognising that we have students who might have different religious practices so they’re bringing students together to talk about how that’s working on other campuses. Muslim students met with Muslim students on another campus for example to discuss mutual challenges and how they could make it better. We try to make sure they’re connected in some way so they know that there’s an international student presence within the valley.
The PIE: How big is the valley geographically?
DA: It’s probably 30 miles between the northern most and the southern most school.
The PIE: So it’s a fairly small area really.
DA: It is a small area and there are schools in the area that aren’t in our consortium because they are elite schools. Student wise there are probably 2,500 international graduate and undergraduate students. The biggest in the consortium is the University of Massechusetts who has1,000. Among the smaller schools, Springfield College probably has the most international students, about 88-90.
The PIE: Is it a marketing benefit that you don’t have so many internationals?
DA: Yes. We have enough so they don’t feel totally isolated but we’re not saturated by any one nationality or geographic area.
The PIE: Tangibly do you think you’ve seen an increase in enrolment in the region since you launched the consortium?
“The population of 18 year-olds is dropping…those of us who work in the field are eager to fill those beds with international students because we know it makes it a better campus for everybody”
DA: We’re all growing our international students very intentionally and all the schools in the consortium have seen growth. A year ago we had 55 international students at my university. But I don’t want to be presumptuous about that because we’re just starting out. We’ve been a presence for two years although we’ve been meeting for longer than that trying to get it off the ground. In the big scheme of things we’re small and we’re young but we’ve had representation out at various fairs and agent fairs and as people have travelled internationally we continue to promote the region.
The PIE: Why are you growing?
DA: Access to intensive English language programmes and people getting out additional funding for international students on several of the campuses. We’re hoping that the consortium is able to let people know that there is financial support from the institutions for international students. The population of 18 year-olds is dropping so they’re eager to fill some of those beds and those of us who work in the field are eager to fill those beds with international students because we know it makes it a better campus for everybody.
The PIE: So if someone was reading this interview and they’d never been to western Massachusetts how would you sell it to them?
DA: I would say it’s an area historically rich in education; some of the finest institutions in America are located in the valley. And it’s a place with easy access to both metropolitan areas and outdoor adventure, skiing, hiking, backpacking. So it offers a little bit for everybody.
