College of the Atlantic recognized for its high rate of foreign students

BAR HARBOR – For Salahaldin Hussein of Palestine, getting accepted to the College of the Atlantic was the easy part.

He had graduated from a college preparatory high school for international students in Wales and was ready to come to Maine when he hit a roadblock.

“I had visa troubles,” the senior, 21, said Tuesday. “It took me seven months to get in [the United States].”

The wait was worth it, he said.

“I applied to College of the Atlantic knowing this was exactly what I wanted to do,” the computer science student said. “I pushed hard to get that visa. I didn’t want to give up until the door was completely closed.”

Despite the growing difficulty some foreign students have had obtaining visas, the tiny college has had a global impact recently because of its high percentage of foreign students.

Of the 270 students enrolled for the upcoming school year, 61, or 22.5 percent, hail from foreign shores. This has earned the school accolades from the U.S. News & World Report’s 2006 Survey of Best Colleges, where it ranked first among liberal arts colleges for having the highest percentage of international students.

The high percentage is due to COA’s participation as a pilot school in the Davis United World College Scholars Program, a philanthropic program that has provided scholarships to qualified international students since 2001. The program’s long-term goal is to foster greater international understanding by bringing together students from diverse cultures.

About 540 students were sponsored nationwide in 2005 with either partial or full scholarships, and that’s not cheap. Costs for tuition, room and board at College of the Atlantic total about $35,000 for the upcoming school year, college officials said.

The Davis scholarship, Hussein said, has made graduating from an American college possible, something that he didn’t think could happen growing up in the Middle East.

“It would have been simply an unattainable dream,” he said.

The college saw its foreign student body skyrocket from fewer than 5 in 2000 to more than 60 this year, and has benefited from the diverse viewpoints the students provide, according to President Steve Katona.

“Students from international backgrounds make really important contributions for knowledge and … the intellectual richness of our lives here,” Katona said. “It’s particularly important on a small campus in a rural location, where people haven’t historically had the chance to live with people of different cultures.”

For Diana Kombe, 23, the college’s relaxed, seaside setting is a home a long way from her own in Tanzania. The senior has focused on biomedical sciences and just completed a summer internship at the Jackson Laboratory. She dreams of working one day with Doctors Without Borders, and would like, at some point, to return to her East African home.

“Coming here was a really good thing for me,” she said. “Here, it’s like everybody is grounded. And somehow, the faculty and staff are expecting [the foreign students] and somehow they know how to take us on.”

Not all aspects of studying abroad are easy, Kombe said. Though she said she enjoyed the lively discussions she has had with American students, she sometimes wonders how much is remembered once the classes are done.

“It worries me how much people actually take in,” she said.

For Hussein, one challenge has been serving as one of the sole Middle Eastern voices on campus.

“People are curious,” he said. “Sometimes they overlook the fact that it’s hard to get a realistic perspective from one person for a whole nation. All you’re really getting is what the person thinks.”

Despite some difficulties, the students said they are lucky to have the opportunity to be immersed in American culture.

They have taken their unique perspectives into the community by putting together events like a Student Global AIDS conference and a fundraiser for 2004 tsunami relief. And they relish the chance to shatter stereotypes.

“I have learned that Americans are really diverse, that everyone is really diverse,” Kombe said.

Hussein agreed. “To co-exist with any nation in the world, you really have to be able to start a dialogue and really look someone in the eye, to meet them in person,” he said.