News and Information
International Graduate Student Enrollment Sets Record Growth
March 30, 2017
For the fall semester of 2012, GVSU international grad student enrollment was at 96 students. Enrollment increased to 162 students for the fall semester of 2016.
“I think it provides us with a very rich and vibrant environment, these students come from all over the world,” said Jeffrey Potteiger, GVSU Dean of The Graduate School.
For example, a number of the current international grad students attending GVSU are from Central Asia, Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.
“What has happened is those students have had a great experience and they’ve reached back out to their friends, to their relatives, to tell them how wonderful it’s been at GVSU,” said Potteiger.
One of those students is Oye Oyebanji from Nigeria. He chose GVSU because of word-of-mouth from his cousin, who also attends the university.
“He saw something on Grand Valley University and that really got me interested, and then told me about it,” said Oyebanji. “I read so much about it and thought I think I’m impressed and I also applied and it all came true.”
Oyebanji is in the applied linguistics program.
“It’s been really awesome and interesting to be here, not just at school, the community, the environment has been lovely,” said Oyebanji.
Besides having to adapt to West Michigan winters, Oyebanji mentioned he had to adapt to the education system a little bit.
“Academically it’s also been great, it has been rigorous,” said Oyebanji.
He made the decision to leave his home, about 6,000 miles away, and head out to a new country for the very first time. Although this created some challenges, Oyebanji thinks being a Laker is worth it.
“This has been lovely environment for me, I feel really happy and blessed,” said Oyebanji.
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