Submission: UCLA must represent growing international student population
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 10, 2016 6:21 p.m.
It’s no secret that the international student community at UCLA has grown vastly over the past few years. However, the extent of this growth remains unknown to many.
The first step toward proper representation of these 3,700 international undergraduate students is simply acknowledging both the presence and the size of this vibrant community. With an international student representing one in every eight UCLA undergraduates, it is vital that we advocate for increased visibility and integration both within the community and within UCLA as a whole.
This mission, as well as the international student community itself, must become a priority of our student government and administration. International students come from different backgrounds than domestic students and thus face different issues, so it is necessary that we develop programs that both provide resources for these unique situations and facilitate the removal of these barriers to truly incorporate them into the UCLA community.
It is undoubtedly important that international students be able to come together within their respective communities, but also important that these subdivisions do not cost students opportunities to interact with students from other cultures. Such a coalition of international students would enable broader outreach and in turn a broader audience, both inside and outside of the international student population.
The recently established Committee of International Relations within the USAC Office of the President hopes to accomplish these goals of developing targeted resources and a stronger coalition. Last week’s International Student Leaders Forum marks the beginning of this year’s effort to draw increased attention to the particular concerns faced by the international community and develop solutions to alleviate these concerns. Working with the Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars, the Dean of Students, international alumni and international student organizations themselves, the committee hopes to better assess and promote the vitality of the international community.
A major early initiative involves partnering directly with the Dashew Center to better distribute a student wellness survey in hopes of increasing responsiveness compared to the low rates recorded in past years. The committee plans to then publish the findings to educate both administrators and students as well as effectively utilize resources to target the most prominent issues faced.
Furthermore, the committee hopes to strengthen its own initiatives, including the Peer Helpers program, which enables incoming students, including those from international backgrounds, to communicate with a liaison speaking their language that can offer support in their transition to UCLA. It will also continue outreach in the hopes of facilitating co-programming among international student organizations and the integration of the community.
Additionally, the committee plans to continue advocating for targeted programs at the administrative level to better serve the needs of international students, which are currently lacking in many areas. Some areas of focus include establishing services at the Undergraduate Writing Center that focus on English linguistic and grammar development, access to Counseling and Psychological Services counselors who speak students’ first languages and more specialized new student orientations. It is vital that international students are equally poised for academic success; therefore, they must have access to unique and well-developed means of support.
Establishing the Committee on International Relations is a productive first step in promoting proper representation of the international community, but it is nowhere near the only action that must be taken if UCLA’s student government is to truly reflect its constituents.
The international community offers incredible diversity, capacity for global connections and a global alumni network, and an invaluable opportunity for UCLA students to learn from different cultures, and it must be treated as such. USAC must begin to further reflect the needs of the international student community if it is to adapt to the changing UCLA demographic.
Jack Guo is a fourth-year computational and system biology student and director of the Committee on International Relations.
