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Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Office of International Education has been successful in helping a fifteenth international student secure an Emergency Student Fund Award from the Institute of International Education Emergency Fund.

Students are selected for IIE funds from a pool of national applicants. The competitive scholarship requires nomination from the host institution.

Sylvia Mukasa, from Nairobi, Kenya, a student in Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s doctoral Counselor Education and Supervision program, was selected for the scholarship.

Mukasa is the daughter of Mary and Joseph Mukasa. At Â鶹ÊÓƵ, she has received a Co-op Store book scholarship, funding to attend professional conferences, and the Department of Counseling and Human Development-American Trauma Society Pennsylvania Conference Scholarship.

She is active in many Â鶹ÊÓƵ organizations and programs, including serving as director of public relations for the Graduate Student Assembly, as the Graduate Student Assembly representative for the Academic Senate Committee, as a graduate student disability advisor and exam proctor volunteer for the Department for Disability Access and Advising, and as a volunteer research assistant for the University Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Research committee commissioned by the Â鶹ÊÓƵ president. She was selected for the Pennsylvania Counseling Association Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) membership scholarship through the Department of Counseling and Human Development.

Mukasa has contributed and collaborated with faculty to curate the Department of Counseling and Human Development diversity statement currently used in course syllabuses, participated in the first department Social Justice Conference as a presenter, is a presenter for the Center for Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement’s “Experiences at Â鶹ÊÓƵ” event, and volunteers with the Â鶹ÊÓƵ Libraries to collect data and organize library information packets for new students.

She also works closely with the Office of International Education as an international student liaison, participated in International Unity Day, and was a speaker for new student orientation.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to pursue my higher education at Â鶹ÊÓƵ and for the never-ending support I have received and continue to experience from the faculty, staff, and student community,” Mukasa said. “As I continue with this journey of academia, I’m encouraged by the words of Winston Churchill that ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it’s the courage to continue that counts.’”

The first IIE scholarship for an Â鶹ÊÓƵ student was received in March 2020. Scholarships have gone to students from Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, and Ukraine.

“The merit of Â鶹ÊÓƵ international students is undeniable as proven by the number of Â鶹ÊÓƵ award recipients for the nationally competitive IIE Emergency Funding Scholarship,” Â鶹ÊÓƵ Associate Vice President for International Education and Global Engagement Michele Petrucci said.

“The academic and personal persistence and fortitude shown by these students is a testament to their personal tenacity which has been enriched and further focused by their engagement with the Â鶹ÊÓƵ community.”

A total of 403 students from 64 countries—up from 52 countries represented in fall 2021—are studying at Â鶹ÊÓƵ this fall. The percentage of international students enrolled in graduate programs is at its highest point since fall 2019, and enrollment in the American Language Institute is up by 126 percent, with a total of 43 students.

In November, Â鶹ÊÓƵ earned the Open Doors 75 Seal of Excellence for its 75 years of collaboration with the international Open Doors program.

The Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange (IIE) is the only long-standing, comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars in the United States and on US students studying abroad for academic credit.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ has provided data to the Open Doors program on its work with international education since 1949, when it began hosting international students.

Over the past 75 years, Â鶹ÊÓƵ has hosted tens of thousands of international students from almost every country in the world. The Â鶹ÊÓƵ Office of International Education, part of the Division of Academic Affairs, offers educational programs throughout the year for the Â鶹ÊÓƵ and the area community in addition to its hands-on work supporting international students and helping to coordinate scores of study-abroad experiences for current Â鶹ÊÓƵ students who wish to study abroad.

In fall 2023, Â鶹ÊÓƵ saw international student enrollment increase by 23 percent, for a total of 494 international students from 60 countries. This follows a 2 percent increase in international enrollment from fall 2021 to fall 2022 and is at its highest point since 2019.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Â鶹ÊÓƵ had the greatest number of international students in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, welcoming more than 1,000 international students annually for study at Â鶹ÊÓƵ.