COSTA MESA : College Seeks More Foreign Students

Orange Coast College is considering a plan to recruit more foreign students to help create a global outlook on campus.

“The world has already become more interrelated environmentally, technologically, politically and economically,” said Sharon K. Donoff, dean of students. “And if our student body includes a mix of people from throughout the world, it will better prepare everyone for the future.”

This year, only 150 foreign students are enrolled at Orange Coast College. Donoff hopes to increase that to at least 1,000 by 1994.

The proposal was unanimously accepted by the college President’s Cabinet but is still under review by the Academic Senate and other administrative committees.

The added enrollment would also benefit the school financially because foreign students pay $96 per unit, compared to $5 per unit for students living in the district. Also, foreign students are required to take at least 12 units; there are no minimum-unit requirements for U.S. residents.

But Donoff said most of the additional money would be used to hire English tutors and a coordinator for the international student program.

The plan also calls for the college to add international aspects to the existing curriculum. “For example, we would make sure that an accounting class includes discussion of international accounting methods, whereas this is something that was never a priority before,” Donoff said.