Miami University will have its highest enrollment of international students on record this fall, and they are expected to contribute more than $31 million to the local economy.

More than 1,000 students or 1 out of every 16 students are expected to enroll at the Oxford university, which is the largest employer in Butler County.

While the main purpose of the university’s International Program, according to Director David Keitges, is to provide a broader world view for Miami students as they prepare for careers in the world economy, the local economy also sees a boost.

“We believe that an international dimension exists in today’s economy and culture more than it did 10 years ago,” he said. “The changes in information technology and business make it essential that students be aware of what’s going on in the world.”

While Miami sends 2,000 students a year to study abroad, it also responds to this challenge by bringing an increasing number of students to the United States.

“Miami, like all of the region’s universities, has been seeing an increase in international students over the past five years,” Keitges said. “Overall, there are more than 725,000 international college students, including graduate students, in the United States. Five years ago the comparable figure was 582,000 students. That’s a 25 percent increase nationally over those five years nationally.”

According to a study by the Association of International Educators, foreign students and their dependents contributed approximately $20.23 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2010-2011 academic year.

By any measure, international education makes a significant contribution to the U.S. economy, said the association’s report, which described the figure as “conservative,” based on a joint survey of 750 institutions conducted by eight higher education associations.

“Almost all of the international students are funded by their families,” Keitges said. “International students pay out-of-state tuition and there is very little scholarship money going into this.

He said that while most of Miami students going abroad do so for a limited period of time, a year at most, the vast majority of international students coming to Butler County come for four years, receive a degree, then go home. In this regard, education is regarded as an export.

The report breaks down the numbers by university, and shows that 848 international students in Oxford contributed nearly $31 million to the local economy after deducting local support, including $23 million in tuition and fees and over $17 million in living expenses.

Twenty international students at Miami’s regional campuses contributed another $672,400 to the local economy.

“At Miami, in Fall 2011, we enrolled 980 international students, most of whom were undergraduates,” Keitges said. “Five years ago, that figure was 345. That’s an increase at Miami Oxford of nearly 300 percent.

“And our Fall 2012 enrollment will be higher resulting in an overall enrollment of more than 1,000 international students — a major success mark for Miami.”

That represents about 5 percent of the undergraduate enrollment, he said.

The regional campuses have enrolled 102 international students for the 2012-13 school year, according to spokesman Perry Richardson, over five times higher the number of students in the 2010-11 study, and about 2 percent of the regional campuses enrollment.

“Students coming to American to study come from many countries, but the ‘top ten’ sending-countries are China, India, South Korea, Canada, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Vietnam, Mexico and Turkey,” Keitges said.

Miami has responded to these increases of international students by providing more assistance as the students arrive on campus and integrate into the community.

“We offer a special two-week international orientation program — the longest and most intensive of any Ohio university, public or private — that begins with offered airport pickup, banking services, special temporary on-campus housing, welcome events, presentations on campus services, visits to the Student Health Center, ID Office plus cultural excursions throughout Oxford and the region,” Keitges said.

“Special coursework to assist new international students to understand the American academic system compared to home-country educational systems, support help on the Miami Oxford campus and continuing cultural integration help from the Office of International Education and its partner units on campus,” he said.