A college education does not come cheap, so freshman Chloe Chien counts herself blessed that she has a full-tuition scholarship from Duke. Chien is a Taiwanese who lives in Myanmar, where about 25 students head to the United States each year for higher education.
"It is very sad because a lot of people [from Myanmar] want to go overseas, but they lack the financial support. The lucky ones end up going to colleges in Thailand or India," Chien said.
Though international students are eligible for merit awards like the Angier B. Duke scholarships and the Robertson scholarships, the university also provides need-based financial aid to a select group of internationals admitted with each incoming class.
James Belvin, director of financial aid, said that when the financial aid program for international students is fully implemented, approximately $1.6 million would be available to support those freshmen, sophomore, juniors and seniors who qualified for aid as part of the admissions process.
Scholarships and financial aid may be contributing to the increasing number of matriculants from foreign countries. However the general consensus among administrators is that this increase is largely due to the efforts of alumni groups in drawing prospective students from abroad.
Robert Booth, assistant to the president for international development, said the university's international Duke Clubs and alumni networks have been key to its success in attracting more of the best and brightest students from around the world.
Duke Club members, he said, not only interview potential students and help host college fairs and information sessions, but also serve as a wonderful university resource in far away places.
"They are helping us raise the Duke flag around the world," Booth said. "Many of the Duke Clubs were established as a direct result of President Keohane's travels. We now have active alumni organizations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Mainland China, as well as in Singapore and Thailand."
Phyllis Supple, associate director of undergraduate admissions, said Duke's international alumni often make personal connections with the applicants.
"They converse with them, discover their gifts or talents and ultimately share their individual experiences at Duke," Supple said.
The work of alumni groups seems to be bearing fruit in places like Singapore, which has had a dramatic rise in student applications to Duke.
Sophomore Grace Tan, vice president of the Singapore Students Association, however, cautioned against solely attributing the rise in numbers to the efforts of alumni groups, and mentioned the publicizing she and other students have done on Duke's behalf.
"Some of us have returned to our respective high schools during the summer to give talks about Duke, and when prospective students e-mail us with questions, they are promptly answered," she said.
Tan also said the university's linkup with Singapore in terms of providing educational infrastructure to support the nation's growing research arena has helped to raise the school's profile.
In an international effort to share educational strategies, research and health care know-how, the Duke Medical Center and the National University of Singapore signed a Memorandum of Understanding last year to establish Singapore's first graduate medical school.
Carlisle Harvard, director of the international house, said the surge in the last five or six years has made the potential for interaction between American and international students an everyday occurrence.
"Hopefully, the increasing number of internationals will make classroom discussions more interesting and invigorating because of the different perspectives they bring to discussions," she said.
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