The University of Memphis sent a press release Jan. 8 citing data from the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors claiming the U of M’s international students contribute the most money and jobs to the local economy out of all the higher education institutions in the area.
The release reported NAFSA’s annual findings on international students’ economic value. NAFSA found the 911 international students in Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District contributed $30.2 million and supported 387 jobs.
The U of M has 616 international students from 55 countries, according to the press release. There are 1,078,822 international students studying at United States colleges with $36.9 billion contributed and more than 450,000 jobs supported, according to NAFSA.
The U of M was the top international students institution with $23.7 million contributed and 343 jobs supported, followed by Rhodes College, Christian Brothers University, University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Harding School of Theology.
Rhodes College contributed $2.7 million and supported 18 jobs. Christian Brothers University contributed $1.9 million and supported 13 jobs. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center contributed $1.7 million and supported 11 jobs. Harding School of Theology contributed $121,439 and supported one job.
“We can hire faculty to teach them, they can pay rent — those are some of the jobs, like someone cooks for them,” Jasbir Dhaliwal, the vice provost of graduate programs at the U of M, said. “They need an education, so the university creates jobs. We have close to 700 international students here. Well, we need to hire faculty, that’s what the NAFSA study points out.”
Dhaliwal said the information from the NAFSA study provides insight for the advancement of the city of Memphis.
“The past decade has seen a dramatic shift in how universities approach the recruitment and graduation of international students,” Dhaliwal said in the press release. ”The new paradigm emphasizes two new aspects — education as a service export and creating economic value by growing a global diaspora for our region. This new understanding informs all our initiatives with regard to international students. This is helping us contribute directly to the success of our city as it modernizes and globalizes for a competitive world.”
NAFSA’s 10-year projection anaylsis of the economic benefits of international student enrollment to the U.S. shows the trend of economic benefit and supported jobs increasing as the number of international students increases.
“The impact of international students goes beyond economic benefits,” Rebecca Laumann, interim executive director of the U of M Center for International Education Services, said in the press release. “International students enrich our campus and the Memphis community with cultural diversity and help us to provide a global learning environment for U.S. students. International students foster networking and research collaboration, and they are our best ambassadors overseas.”
