Working with International Students > UNLV's International Students

Working With International Students
Faculty Information

WHO ARE UNLV’s INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS?

The international student population at UNLV is of two distinct types: the traditional one and the emerging one. The traditional group, of which there are currently some 1,400 students representing approximately 80 different countries of origin, is composed of approximately 400 graduate and 1000 undergraduate students who come to UNLV’s Las Vegas campus in order to pursue their studies. All but a handful are enrolled in degree programs; all are here for a number of years. Many international students come from countries such as Japan, India, and South Korea. However, there are also many students from China, Taiwan, Brazil, the UK, Israel, Indonesia, and Bulgaria, to name a few.

The emerging group --- students residing in other countries who either take UNLV credit courses via Distance Education or are enrolled in off-site UNLV courses (such as the Hotel College’s planned program in Singapore), is much harder to describe. There is no central data collection function to describe this group in terms of characteristics, retention, professional success, etc. In the case of Distance Education, for instance, all out-of-state students, including international students are grouped into a single rubric. This group may also be the most difficult to integrate for academic success due to the intervening factors inherent in online teaching and learning.