ALFRED BOLL: Good morning and good evening to our viewers from around the world. My name is Alfred Boll, and I represent Education USA
and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.
Today’s interactive webinar is especially tailored for international students who are curious about what it is like to study in the United States.
Our goal at Education USA is to provide international students like you with the information you need to find
the right U.S. institution for your study in the United States. There are 550 Education USA advisors at 435 centers,
in 180 countries and territories,
around the world, offering free advising services to help you. If you have questions on U.S. campus culture, please post them at any time during the program
in the comments section below. I’m excited to introduce our speakers who collectively
have a lot to share about U.S. campus culture. Joining us virtually are Elizabeth Shaffer
and Ahoud Al Muqarshi. Elizabeth is an international admissions counselor at the Haenicke Institute for Global Education
at Western Michigan University. Ahoud is an international student from Oman. She is currently studying Telecommunication and
Information Management at Western Michigan University. Ladies, thank you for joining us.
Joining us in our studio are Nasheba Alexander and Russel Karim. Nasheba is an international student from Grenada
who recently graduated from Howard University, here in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor’s degree in
nutritional sciences and a minor in biology. Russel is a former international student from
Lakshmipur, Bangladesh. He studied at the University of Northern Iowa and he
currently works there as a programmer analyst. Thank you both for joining us. NASHEBA AND RUSSEL: Thank you.
Value of International Students
ALFRED BOLL: Elizabeth, I wanted to start our discussion with you. Can you please share your perspective on the value
that international students bring to U.S. universities and college campuses?
ELIZABETH SHAFFER: Absolutely. I’m happy to elaborate on that. First, starting with the element of cultural exchange
and learning: Having an international student presence at a U.S. university or campus and college creates the opportunity for cultural
exchange and learning among its faculty, its staff, its student body, and even further that extends into the local
community as well. This can be identified through friendships that are made, discussions in the classroom,
things like conversation circles and other events that bring individuals together to share their perspective and experience.
And through those experiences, we develop mutual understanding and often become more globally- engaged individuals.
For many universities, in fact, global engagement has become an institutional value.
By this, I’m not only referring to the value of sending students and receiving students from around the world.
It also focuses, again, on that shared experience right on campus. Offices like ours at Western Michigan University set our
objectives to support this from the moment the student arrives at orientation all the way through their
graduation day. We provide activities like major events or initiatives.
What you’re seeing now is a video from our international festival. We also host and celebrate International Education Week
each year. At WMU, our international festival, in particular, is a major event that is held and nearly 20 different
cultural registered student organizations prepare booths, they prepare food, and they have presentations
and performances that teach the campus and community about their countries. This is a great example, because the entire
university and local community joins to make it a success from university kitchen staff and catering
that dedicate their time to cook these recipes, to the volunteers and event coordinators that get the
logistics handled, and then also all of the community members that attend. Everyone is engaged and in all of the diversity that we
find in such a small town of Kalamazoo, Michigan. And lastly, and most importantly, I would like to emphasize that every student that
arrives is part of that community, and they’re welcome. ALFRED BOLL: That’s fantastic.
Thank you so much, Elizabeth. And also for sharing that video. That’s amazing to see.
Russel, after reading your biography, it is apparent that you were very active on campus during
your time at the University of Northern Iowa. Can you tell us about what motivated you to become
involved in student government and other campus organizations? RUSSEL KARIM: Thanks, Alfred,
Student Government
for inviting me to be here today. So student government they represent the entire
student body on campus. And we work with – we work for the students – just talk
to the students and figure out their issues, advocate for them, and also work with the university
leadership to resolve them. So what really motivated me to get involved,
when I first came here, I knew by just getting
involved with those student org and activities on campus, it would give us a lot of soft skills that I
wouldn’t learn otherwise, just leadership in general. And UNI – the University of Northern Iowa has done a
really good job in terms of explaining us at the first week that you have to join in one student org which is
related to your degree, and also one that is related to your interests – [INAUDIBLE] student org you can join.
And also how our career counselor explained through that how it would be very meaningful and helpful for
finding internship in the future and future careers. So I think those really helped me to really to make
the decision that I really wanted to get involved on campus. ALFRED BOLL: Did you feel that – you know, were you accepted as an international student
representing student body? RUSSEL KARIM: Yeah, so – I think, yes, student body, because we represent – UNI I think they foster a culture
of very inclusive and diverse environment for us.
When I came in, I think I was a little shocked – they were very welcoming on campus and how many opportunities are out there just for international
students available on campus. And I think it was very welcoming, just not only by the students,
but also the leadership, they welcomed us and really if we needed something extra, they would kind of provide those as well.
That was really amazing. ALFRED BOLL: That’s incredible. Was your nature as an international student actually something that helped,
because you brought a different perspective to, you know, student government and to deliberations about
how the university should manage itself? RUSSEL KARIM: Yes, definitely. I think one example would be when I was a student on our
dining center, a lot of international students, they are like students who didn’t go home during the
academic break, like Christmas or Thanksgiving, they wouldn’t get food, so as international student I kind of felt that we
brought in the university leadership from provost to president, and actually I was able to implement
meal plan during the break. So just seeing from that perspective, I think that kind of helped and even representing the
students – that was really amazing experience. ALFRED BOLL: That’s amazing. Congratulations and thank you. RUSSEL KARIM: Yeah, thank you.
Howard University
ALFRED BOLL: Nasheba, you came from St. Patrick’s, Grenada, and recently graduated from Howard University. Can you tell us about your time at Howard?
I know that you were very involved with extracurricular activities. NASHEBA ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me,
and nice to meet you, Russel. Yes, I’m from St. Patrick’s, Grenada, and it’s a beautiful island that has a lot of young
professionals like myself. And at Howard, I loved my experienced there.