When COVID-19 forced Minnesota State University, Mankato, to effectively close its campus and move to an entirely online course delivery format, it was hard for all of the more than 14,000 students enrolled. But the changes were particularly hard on our 1,266 international students from 92 countries, most of whom stayed in Mankato to finish the spring semester and many even the summer to weather the pandemic. As an institution that has had success recruiting and graduating international students (top 10 among Midwest regional institutions, top 15 nationally among master’s institutions for international student population), we take their concerns and needs seriously. Our response to them has demonstrated the kind of commitment we believe it will take for higher educational institutions to continue to successfully recruit and graduate students from outside the United States.
Connections Are Everything: Putting Relationships at the Heart of Higher Ed
As academic leaders, we are under so much pressure to deliver—enrollment targets, strategic plans, graduation rates, AI policies, and on and on—that we can lose sight of what our students
Isis Artze-Vega, Leo M. Lambert, and Peter Felten
March 4, 2024
