A record number of countries are being represented on campus this semester. Four hundred and fifty three students make up the university’s international student population, approximately 7.8 percent of the total population, according to International Immigration Specialist Elizabeth Rodriguez.

“We’ve really been trying to get our recruitment out,” Rodriguez said. “Actually this year we got our first students from Malawi and Congo.”

An increasing number of international students have come to the university since the Office of International Services officials started broadening their recruitment efforts.

With students from all over the world coming to the university, the OIS staff attend to each student’s needs being in a foreign country, including the English Immersion program.

“I love my English program,” Sarah Muschiol, senior in English and native German, said. “Everyone is very supporting and push me to do better. That’s the good thing about MSU. It’s a small school so if someone stands out and need assistance with something they’ll get the attention they deserve.”

The differences between the U.S. and their home countries can vary drastically.

“I really like it here, but the weather is completely different,” Yani Muskwe, sophomore in computer science from Zimbabwe, said. “Back home it’s nowhere near this hot or dry.”

In addition to the change in climate, the culture can be radically different as well.

“I really like the people here,” Muschiol said. “The culture is really upbeat here. I can walk down campus and just wave and say hi to people like everything’s all right!”

One thing the university has tried to do is provide a comfortable and familiar environment for international students. Smaller class sizes also help students feel more a part of their university while living far away from their native countries.

“It feels very home-like,” Aldo Curiel, a junior in exercise physiology from Mexico, said. “The student-to-teacher ratio is small so it’s really easy to talk to professors one-on-one whenever you need it, especially when it comes to helping us understand things that may be different from where we’re from.”

The top five foreign countries represented at Midwestern include Antigua and Barbuda with 64 students, Grenada with 63, Nigeria with 54, Dominica with 47, and Saint Kitts and Nevis with 46.