Rochester Institute of Technology addresses U.S. visa challenges through campuses abroad

Since last year, due to visa challenges in the U.S., Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is focusing on its foreign campuses to attract students from India, vice president for enrollment management at RIT, Kathleen B.

Davis, told The Hindu. According to Elizabeth Sullivan, associate vice president of enrollment marketing, RIT has been getting a record number of applications from Indian students for its undergraduate programmes. It has introduced Global Pathway as an option for such students who are unable to come to the U.S.

due to visa and other challenges, to do their first year at its Dubai or Croatia campus and then join the programme from the U.S. “RIT is a global university— it is connected to the Dubai campus, Croatia, and Kosovo campuses.

We also have other opportunities for them to perhaps do a study-abroad experience from Dubai to Rochester. That pathway for students to study at other campuses can happen from Rochester to Dubai or from Rochester to Croatia,” she said.

In Dubai, the campus is residential and has several programmes across disciplines such as STEM, business, media, and engineering among others. However, Ms. Davis noted that there has been a reduction in Master’s students’ applications due to the change in visa rules.

“It [visa rules] especially impacted the U.S. — not just RIT, but institutions that have graduate programmes, particularly Master’s degrees. Less so on the Ph.D. side, because those are so specialised,” she said. As part of a new strategic framework targeting goals, RIT is prioritising experiential learning and expanding its global reach, relying on a strong base of around 30,000 Indian alumni, Ms.

Davis said. To broaden its engagement in India, it has started the Global Scholar Quest (GSQ), which is a problem-solving and innovation competition where the winning team gets $50,000 from its scholarship pool. Ms. Davis added that RIT has on-ground recruitment teams recruiting for both undergraduate and graduate programmes in India.

Keeping up with changing demands, RIT has added a Bachelor’s in Artificial Intelligence alongside a Master’s programme, that has been running for several years now. They have also established an AI institute to infuse AI in all its programmes.