Study Abroad and the Center for International Education

By Tabitha L. Fish, Karahn K. Alston, and Rose Gause

Fuller House, home of the Center for International Education
Photo courtesy of FSU Facilities

One of the programs at Frostburg State University that many international students go through to become enrolled is the Center for International Education (CIE) Program. The goal of the program is developed global leaders and to provide opportunities for students to develop mentally and internationally. The office is located on Braddock Road on campus grounds, inside of the Fuller House. The Fuller House (right) was the former home of a local family, but when they passed away, they donated their house to the university. The house is now CIE and the honors program.

The CIE was founded in 1996 while Catherine R. Gira was the president of FSU. It was through her and a proposal from faculty on campus that the first exchange partnership began with Mary Immaculate College, Ireland. FSU has recently celebrated their 26th year as exchange partners with them.  It wasn’t until 2005 that the university started to focus more on recruiting international students to attend Frostburg.

Larissa Allen is the coordinator of international student services. As coordinator, she recruits international students, assists with problems student have, and helps students with their application and immigration documents. As a wife of a non-US citizen, Mrs. Allen is very sympathetic to the difficulties and frustration students have regarding their documentation. She is a graduate of Iowa State University and has studied abroad many times.

“I think Frostburg offers a great opportunity for the student because of the area and location. Some of these students are coming from massive cities where they are just one in a classroom of 250 students. To be able to come here are get individual attention and can have relationships with their professors that’s not something they may be used to. It allows them to experience a different educational system and you have our wonderful community and students can get involved in different activities and be part of something that’s different from their home.”

- Larissa Allen, Coordinator for the Center for International Education

At the beginning of each semester, there is a week-long orientation for the international students so they can go over the rules and expectations required of them. The exchange students are either here for one semester or one academic year, while degree-seeking students are in the United States for 4+ years. The most popular major for international undergraduates is business administration, computer science, and engineering. The most popular for graduates is the computer science program.

Exchange students are on J-1 visas and degree seeking students are on F-1 visas. The students are roughly 55% undergraduates and 45% international graduate students. The number fluctuates every year and every semester. There are other visa types on campus, but they don’t come through the CIE program. The approximate enrollment at FSU 5,500 and of those students only 129 are F-1 and J-1 international students. In the past, the CIE program has had students from the 7 countries. During the time of the executive banned there was one student on campus from the seven countries, but not through the CIE.

“When the executive order first came out, we invited all international students on campus regardless of visa type to attend a meeting so we can hear what they had to say. We had legal counsel there in case they had any questions about how it affected them. When we reached out to the student from one of the seven countries they said they were fine. When issues come up we do address them, but everyone seems okay, and it was a good discussion.”

- Larissa Allen

Table 1: Statistics by Semester of International Students at Frostburg State University through CIE 

FALL 2015		SPRING 2016		FALL 2016		SPRING 2017
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN	#	COUNTRY OF ORIGIN	#	COUNTRY OF ORIGIN	#	COUNTRY OF ORIGIN	#
Bahamas	1	Argentina	2	Canada	1	Bahamas	1
Bangladesh	1	Bahamas	1	China	34	Canada	1
China	28	China	31	Colombia	1	China	34
Colombia	1	Colombia	1	Czech Republic	1	Czech Republic	1
Denmark	1	Denmark	2	Denmark	1	Ethiopia	1
France	1	Ethiopia	1	France	2	France	3
Ghana	1	France	2	Ghana	2	Germany	1
India	39	Ghana	2	India	66	Ghana	2
Ireland	2	India	69	Ireland	3	India	47
Ivory Coast	2	Ireland	2	Ivory Coast	2	Ireland	3
Morocco	1	Ivory Coast	2	Japan	1	Ivory Coast	1
Peru	1	Peru	1	Nigeria	1	Japan	3
Saudi Arabia	20	Saudi Arabia	24	Peru	1	Korea	2
Taiwan	3	South Africa	1	Saudi Arabia	15	Malaysia	1
Tanzania	1	Taiwan	3	South Africa	1	Nigeria	1
UAE	1	Tanzania	1	Spain	1	Saudi Arabia	14
UK	10	UK	9	Taiwan	5	South Africa	1
Uzbekistan	1	Uzbekistan	1	Tanzania	1	Spain	1
Zimbabwe	1	Zimbabwe	1	UK	5	Taiwan	5
				Uruguay	1	Tanzania	1
				Uzbekistan	1	UK	5
TOTAL	116	TOTAL	166	TOTAL	147	TOTAL	129

US REFUSES ENTRY TO VISA STUDENTS

For international travel, students must have a passport, a DS-2019 or an I-20 which is an immigration document issued by Frostburg to get their visa and it must be signed for travel. CIE staff also encourages students to take proof that they are enrolled even if it’s an unofficial transcript. A student may be detained at the airport for leaving their I-20 or DS-2019 or packing it in their suitcase. When that happens, Frostburg usually gets a phone call from the immigration officer asking someone to verify that student is a one of FSU’s student and are issued another document to complete.

All international students have access to their home embassies. If they needed to contact an embassy, they can freely do so and if they need any other information, they can find those answers in the CIE office. Mrs. Allen stated that “in my experience, I have not had any students that have had issues or problems that needed to be addressed by their embassy.”

    Photo courtesy of Pavan Kumar Jangam (front left) with (L-R, F-B)
        Clara Battioli Di Menza, Florent Dedeken Grain, Jinho Lee,
         Jen Lin, Jenny Zou, Üling Guo, Damien Berthinier, and Lukas Hammerich
       one a cold day out, exploring the scenic trail in Frostburg, MD.

“I am enjoying my time here. The United States offers a lot of opportunity and freedom. I am able to learn practical stuff while I am here.” 

- Pavan Kumar Jangam 

Twenty-eight countries are currently being affected by internal and global conflicts. Such as the Civil War in Libya, Civil War in Syria, and the tensions in the South China Sea. These conflicts make living situations difficult. Most countries do not have the types of freedom enjoyed by the United States. Here at Frostburg, we have students from almost every country being affected. But how are they reacting to the issues that are being taken place? Frostburg State University offers opportunities for students from other nations to learn at our university to get a chance to gain experience and learn from other cultures.

(R-L) Deborah Forde, Lukas Hammerich,
Damien Berthinier, and Caroline Gautier visiting
Washington, DC.
Photo courtesy of Caroline Gautier.

The students have a chance to leave their country and conflicts that may go on to find out more about the world so they can work to make a difference. International students get the chance to come to the states to improve on language, gain resume experience, and learning about new cultures.  They are able to tour the United States and enjoy many of the sights that American's tend to take for granted. When asking students about their experience is like attending Frostburg State, Pavan Kumar Jangam, a master student here at Frostburg stated, “I am enjoying my time here. The United States offers a lot of opportunity and freedom. I am able to learn practical stuff while I am here.” This goes to show students are getting the chance to go beyond conflicts that go on in their country.

(R-L) Caroline Gautier, Deborah Forde, Damien Berthinier,
Lukas Hammerich, and,Üling Guo out and about in Pittsburgh, PA
Photo courtesy of Caroline Gautier.

 Frostburg State offers a program for exchange students (CIE) to help them while they are here in the states. When asked about the feedback and support that the program offers Martina Hanusova, an exchange student from the Czech Republic, describes it as “very helpful and supportive.” The chance to study abroad it gives students a chance to gain more knowledge than other students. It gives students more opportunities because the U.S. school system can be educationally different as well as culturally different. It doesn’t matter what a student’s major is because the exchange program can help any student get to where they want to be.

Even though students know that there are differences between the U.S. policies, they know it’s best to adapt and be aware because their education and careers could be jeopardized. So far, Frostburg students and faculty have been supportive of the international students. They have shown the “value of respect” states Pavan Kumar Jangam. Frostburg has been doing a great job making students feel comfortable while they are away from their home countries.

There are differences between their countries and the United States of course, but “it’s all about adjusting” says Martina Hanusova. She also mentioned the different living conditions such as the dorm life. In her country, colleges don’t have campuses, so it was a big adjustment from that, also the food, and the cultural differences.

Overall students have a great time traveling the world to learn from new cultures. Politics and cultures are extremely different but are not very hard to adjust to. Students pretty much stay away from political disputes. Therefore, they aren’t affected as they may have been at home. It seems to be an excellent opportunity to travel and get the experience in another country and gain knowledge. Politics are huge in all countries, but some students use their education to get away from the issues that take place in their cultures.

Related: 

International Politics on Campus

The French Flag (Stock Photo)

On May 7, 2017, France elected a new President. Winning the majority vote was Emmanuel Macron. A win by his opponent, Opposition Leader Marine Le Pen, would have been the French equivalent to the 2016 US Presidential election results.

Two French students, Caroline Gautier and Damien Berthinier, are currently studying for a semester at Frostburg State University and were willing to answer a few questions.

1.       How important are the French elections to you in comparison to the US elections for Americans? 

CAROLINE: “I think French elections for [me] are as much important as the US elections for Americans because we are the same kind of issue that depends on the government: immigration, laws links to employment and employees’ rights [like] health insurance, unemployment insurance, etc.”

DAMIEN: “For me the elections are extremely important because my family have always been involved in politics. But I don't think that's more important in a country than in another it's just that people are more or less interested and I'd would say that Americans are less interested by politics than French people.”

2.       Are the reactions of French citizens the same to an election as American citizens?

CAROLINE: “I don’t think so because in France, we will comment the turnout. If few people have gone to vote and if the most extremist party is elected, we will say that the result reflects the bad turnout but, maybe this result doesn’t reflect the general opinion.”

DAMIEN: “They're more or less the same the winners are happy and get all together and the others are crying.”

3.       Were you consciously aware that you would not be in France during this most recent election? If so, did you plan to have your vote counted, either by absentee ballot or early voting?

CAROLINE: “Yes, I was. Yes, and I gave to my mother the right to vote for me.”

DAMIEN: “Yes totally but it doesn't matter if I'm in France or not I still voted. My father voted for me. In France you sign a paper that says "I allow this person to vote for me" and they do it.”

4.       What were your feelings about the election leading up to the day of the election?

CAROLINE: “I think I didn’t feel involved as much as I can be if I was France. I wanted to know who will govern my country for the next 5 years but I had not the passion that I can have if I knew that I will go to vote physically.”

DAMIEN: “I was disappointed, because as usual they don't talk about ideas and the plans that they have, but about problems and they attack each other it's pretty ridiculous.”

5.       How did you react to the results?

CAROLINE: “I was relieved that a candidate in favor to the European Union was elected.”

DAMIEN: “I knew that the result would be bad anyway so I was ready, but I generally really sad when I see who people vote for.”