ECU Report: Foreign Students Program
This article describes the foreign students at ECU, and where they are from. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.
Citation for this article is: Jenkins, Leo. "ECU Report: Foreign Students Program," April 23, 1971, part of CH1050, Series 8 Publication File.
Foreign students at East Carolina University are a very welcome addition to our campus. They are usually among our best academically, and they bring to us the rich heritage of their native cultures and a certain measure of the international, cosmopolitan atmosphere which is vital to a university.
This year at ECU we have students from twenty froeign countries, including Germany, Great Britian, the Netherlands, East Africa, Yugoslavia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Iceland, Puerto Rico, the British Caribbean Federation, the French West Indies, Panama, the Philippines, India, China, Korea, Japan, Iran and Jordan.
Foreign students coming to ECU are at least one thousand miles from home, and most of them have come from halfway around the world. The majority of them are now in a society with language, manners and customs very far removed from those of their native lands.
In nearly all cases, the educational standing of these students is in the top three percent of their respective nations, and most are members of wealthy and influential families at home. There is no doubt that every ECU foreign student has been exposed to an immense amount of propaganda about America, both pro and con. In most cases, a foreign students term of study at ECU is his first actual experience with the American people and the American way of life.
The East Carolina University League of University Scholars has proposed an excellent plan which, when effected, will provide guidance, help and friendship to our foreign students during their initially trying first weeks and months.
There are three main elements in their proposed Foreign Students Program: a Big Brother or sister for the foreign student selected from the League students, a Host family in the Greenville area, and a Secondary Student.
The Big Brother or Big Sister will be of the same sex as the foreign student, and the secondary Student, a student of the opposite sex.
Therefore, the Big sister or Borther would probably share a good understnading and easy communication with the foreign student, and the Secondary Student would serve in a social capacity and help to ease the initial shyness of the foreign student. Through the Secondary Student, the foreign student can meet other young people on campus and attend social functions.
The Host Family's role in the Foregin Students Program is an important one. By frequently inviting the foreign student into their home, the Host family will give him first-hand acquaintance with Amercian family life and attempt to replace some degree the home which is so distant from Greenville.
During vacations and on holidays, when most ECU students return to their homes, Host Families would have their foreign sudents as houseguests. In many ways, the Host Family would provide a "home away from home" for the foreign student.
At present, the League is eager to hear from families in the Greenville area who would be willing to serve as Host Families for the program. Interested families should visit or telephone Dr. JOhn D. Ebbs, professor of English, for further information about the Foreign Students Program.
We look foward to the implementation of this program prposed by the league of University Scholars, and we are certain that it will do a great deal toward making East Carolina University's foreign students feel comfortable on our campus.
