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CELCIS international student enrollment rebounding

Feb. 6, 2007

KALAMAZOO--Proactive recruitment initiatives are paying off for Western Michigan University's Career English Center for International Students, the only Michigan-based English as a second language program accredited by the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation.

This semester, CELCIS hit the 100-student enrollment mark, a threshold last met in spring 1997. The center, which was established at WMU in 1975, is an intensive English program designed to prepare second-language learners to study in universities in the United States. The program also can be useful for people who wish to improve their English skills for their jobs.

CELCIS' boost in enrollment was supported by 35 new students entering the program earlier this month at the start of the spring semester. The breakdown by world region for the new students is: the Middle East, 20; East Asia, 9; Europe, 3; South America, 2; and South Asia, 1.

"Our renewed marketing efforts at CELCIS include advertising in online and printed media, visiting agencies and schools in foreign countries, and personally contacting prospective students," says Robert Dlouhy, CELCIS director. "These efforts have led to the highest spring semester enrollments we've experienced in the past 10 years."

The CELCIS program also has earned a 90-percent retention rate for students enrolled in fall 2006. Sixty-five of the 72 enrolled students who were not yet eligible to graduate re-enrolled for spring 2007. Of the 33 students who graduated from the program in December 2006, 25 entered WMU to pursue academic degrees--a 75-percent matriculation rate.

CELCIS operates under the auspices of WMU's Diether H. Haenicke Institute for Global Education. It is a member of the American Association of Intensive English Programs and of University and College Intensive English Programs.

For more information, visit the Haenicke Institute at international.wmich.edu or contact Robert Dlouhy at robert.dlouhy@wmich.edu or (269) 387-4810.

Media contact: Jeanne Baron, (269) 387-8400, jeanne.baron@wmich.edu

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