Hospitality a top choice among international students

By: W. Earle Simpson/Staff Writer

More than 25 percent of the international students studying at the University are majoring in hospitality management, the largest number of international students in any one major.

Many of these students are from China, where there is a joint hospitality management program between the University and the Chinese government, according to the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management’s website.

The 2009-2010 Institute of International Education’s “Open Doors Report” states there is a record-high three percent increase in the number of international students in the United States of America, and the “growth was primarily driven by a 30 percent growth in Chinese student enrollment in the United States…making China the leading sending country.”

The “Open Doors Report” is an annual census of international students in the United States. However, according to the University’s 2009-2010 “Open Doors Report,” more countries than just China are strongly represented at the University.

“The top five countries of origin are India, Venezuela, China, Trinidad and Tobago and Colombia,” said Nancy Hernandez, director of International Student and Scholar Services at the Biscayne Bay Campus.

The University’s international students come from 125 countries and represent approximately seven percent of the student population.

Data from the University’s Office of Planning and Institutional Research shows that international students are enrolled in 189 degree programs, with the top five sought after majors being hospitality management, business administration, international business, electrical engineering and computer and information science.

But the degree most sought after by international students is hospitality management.

“I chose hospitality management because from when I was in primary school, I discovered hospitality is a part of me,” graduate student Montle Siya said. “FIU is ranked among the top hospitality management schools in the US and its curricula matched closely with what I am looking for, so, that is why I came to FIU.”

Siya is from Botswana, where she worked as a trainee lecturer at the University of Botswana.  The university sponsors her education. Like her, many hospitality management students, such as the Chinese, are on state-funded sponsorships.

“The Chinese students are here on a collaboration between FIU and the Chinese government,” said Diann Newman, director of Academic Support Services at HTM. “The ones doing their bachelor’s come over here for one semester, while others are here doing their master’s degree.”

“The hospitality industry is just developing in China and because of that we do not have the professional classes to offer students who are interested in the hospitality major,” said Zhou Zhang, a Chinese graduate student. “The FIU hospitality programs are very famous in China, so we chose here because we hope one day to have a competitive advantage.”

In addition to driving the hospitality management numbers, many Chinese students are also taking business degrees. Business degrees are the second most sought after degrees by international students.

One of these students is international business major Zhi Hao Yu.

“I decided to study international business because China is opening,” Zhi Hao Yu said. “So I want to learn and take back the advance business knowledge to China so we can catch up with the technologies of America.”

Business majors from other countries agree with the Chinese that studying in the United States gives them a competitive advantage.

“I decided to take this course because I believe there are a lot of opportunities out there within the globalized economy,” international business major Jamy Morales said. “So that is why I am taking advantage of the opportunity to study business at FIU.”

Although the Chinese represent a driving force in the international graduate student population numbers, they are not the only students topping the list. Hernandez said the top five sending countries for graduate students are India, China, Columbia, Venezuela and Jamaica.

OPIR data shows the computer and engineering sciences – the other two popular majors among international students – are most sought after by students of Indian decent.

“I am a computer science graduate student,” Indian graduate student Gowthami Thota said. “I did my undergraduate degree in computer science in India, but to expand my studies, I came here to do a master’s degree.”

50 percent of the international students are enrolled in the top five most sought-after majors with the remaining number of student spread around the other 184 majors; many of these, such as music, have only one student.

“I chose music because it was my hobby but I discovered I had a lot of potential in it,” music education senior Darren Shillingford said. “I did biology before, but I had to work too hard whereas music is a natural for me.”