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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KUAAP PAGE 1A
of field trips for international students involved in the University's new Academic Accelerator Program (KUAAP), which started this semester.
The program is a 12-month course for international students looking to earn a degree at the University and become proficient in speaking English. Of 57 international students who arrived for the program, 30 tested into the KUAAP and the rest into a pre-academic accelerator program. For three semesters, the 30 students will study English with the University's Applied English Center, learn the geography and history of Lawrence and Kansas and take general courses. After the first year, these students will join mainstream classes at the University with their fellow undergraduates. The one semester pre-AAP consists of the other 27 students and focuses on more intensive English studies.
Now halfway through the semester, Ye said he can understand English better and hopes to keep improving quickly. KUAAP officials hope the students are on their way to proficiency to join regular classes.
best to make more friends, make more American friends"
Ye, who wants to study geography at the University, said he struggled most with vocabulary and grammar at the beginning of the program, but tries to work on it every day.
"I usually make many mistakes of my grammar, but I still improve it," Ye said. "I am improving it by myself and my professors' help. They are really nice to me."
Binh Tieu Bui, a student in the program from Ho Chi Minh City (formerly named Saigon) in south Vietnam, is also trying to improve her English through immersion at the University.
"I think the small things we need to change is in my class there are many Chinese but we seldom use English to communicate with each other so it will be the negative for us to improve our English ability," Ye said. "So usually I try my
"I want to find a state that does not have many Vietnamese students because I want to improve my English," Bui said. "So if the state is a place that has too many, I can't improve my English. You come here to study English, not study your language."
Bui hopes to study architecture engineering. She said she expects to spend a lot of time studying here to get a good job.
"If you study in Vietnam and after that you get the certificate (degree), the salary when you go to a company is lower than if you have a certificate from another country," Bui said. "If you know more than one language, you have more opportunity to get a job. You can work for an international company."
Antha Cotten-Spreckelmeyer is the interim director of the program, and also teaches a course about Kansas history that the students in the program take.
"After that first week and after students really got adjusted to their classes, I started to see a huge amount of progress, just in their spoken English and reading aloud in class," Spreckelmeyer said. "I would say about 2 to 3 weeks in I was just really kind of amazed with the progress the students had made in their ability to communicate and to speak more clearly."
Sara Rosen, vice provost of academic affairs, expects to grow the academic accelerator program by recruiting more international students. Currently, about 8 percent of the student body is comprised of students from other
"We think for a major AAU (Association of American Universities) research university, we would probably like to be around 15-16 percent international," Rosen said. We've been looking at how we can do a better job of recruiting international students, but also how we can bring international students in and set them up for success."
countries.
Rosen said the University met its goal of recruiting between 50 and 60 students for the KUAAP despite entering the recruitment season late. With a full year of recruiting ahead for the University's new partner, Shorelight Education, the target number for the program next year is 225. The program expects to easily meet this goal, Rosen said.
Earlier this year, the University partnered with
Shorelight has about 125 recruiting staff in 40-50 countries around the world, said Dominic Berardi. director of marketing and enrollment services and regional director of south and southeast Asia for Shorelight.
Shorelight to jump start the new program and start recruiting students across the world. The private Cambridge, Mass., based company was founded two years ago.
Berardi said Shorelight has two types of recruiters including 25 regional staff to answer questions about KU and admissions for prospective students. They are paid by a salary. About 100 others are contract employees paid to locate students interested in studying abroad.
"They are locally living in a community and they typically generate leads," Berardi said.
Contracted recruiters earn their commission only when a student successfully enrolls at KU and stays in the program for the first 6-8 weeks.The commission is a flat rate of 15 percent of the tuition and fees paid by the students for their first year at KU.
"That recruiter is primarily compensated by a commission."
International recruitment is similar to domestic recruitment, Berardi said. Recruiters will still go to high schools, college fairs and be active on social media to find interested students.
John Ye, however, was not recruited by Shorelight. He is the only student to join the AAP who was not recruited.
"At the beginning, they tell me you are a special one because I am the only person that changed decision when I got the offer," Ye said. "I was
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
a normal student before I become the AAP student but my Chinese advisor they gave me some information about AAP and they told me it will help me improve English more."
"The first time I watched the basketball game, an NCAA game, was in 2008 when we won the champion of the NCAA," Ye said. He said he learned about Jayhawk basketball from Chinese basketball magazines that covered the team.
Ye said he learned about KU primarily through the success of the basketball team.
While the students in this year's first academic accelerator program are studying to improve their English and earn a degree from the university, slowly but surely they are becoming Jayhawks, too.
Edited by Logan Schlossberg
The University Of Kansas, School Of The Arts, Department Of Dance Presents
THE UNIVERSITY DANCE COMPANY FALL CONCERT
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 & Friday, Nov. 21, 2014 7:30 PM Lied Center of Kansas
FEATURING Lane Gifford's The Garden Adam Eve Tree Snake Apple Exit and alumni guest artist Donna Jo Harkrider
Tickets on sale at the Lied Center and Murphy Hall box offices: $14 public, $10 students, seniors (62 and older) and KU faculty. $8.50 children.
Buy before 6 pm on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 and save $10 public,
$8.50 students and seniors (62 and older) or KU faculty, $ 5 children. There is an added $1 per ticket customer service fee and $5 per order mailing and processing on internet and mail orders.
Call 785-864-2787 for more information.
Department of Dance
STUDENT SENATE
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HIGHLAND CAMPUS
606 W. Main
Highland, Kansas
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PERRY CENTER
203 West Bridge St.
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(785) 597-0127
HCC ONLINE
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