FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Purdue University Fort Wayne on Tuesday reported the school is seeing an increased number of international students bolstered by the largest group of first-year international students ever; 182 from 22 countries. Overall, the school has 499 international students hailing from 62 countries.

“I think a lot of that has to do with our increased collaboration with West Lafayette, aligning ourselves as a Purdue campus,” said Ryan Wooley, associate vice chancellor of enrollment management. “That has increased our brand reputation abroad and ultimately it’s what has triggered this increase.”
 
There’s also been increased attention given to recruiting international students, largely from PFW’s Office of International Education, which supports the students year-round.
 
The total number of international students on campus has grown significantly over the last six years, with the only dip coming at the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
 
2023: 499
2022: 375
2021: 283
2020: 245
2019: 287
2018: 263
2017: 227
 
The top five countries represented are India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, the Republic of Korea, and Ghana. The top three undergrad majors for international students at PFW are computer science, biology, and business. Top graduate fields of study are computer science, biology, and engineering.