By Britton Summers

Oklahoma City Community College is a very diverse and cultured place, with students who originate from various states, nations and cultures around the globe.

The International Student Services office has proven to be an invaluable service for foreign exchange students who wish to study at OCCC for many years now.

Spencer H. Ryan has spent the last 32 years working with foreign exchange students and has spent almost four of those years working with OCCC’s International Student Services.

Ryan said the International Student Services serves three functions, one is recruitment and admissions, as well as promoting the school to international students abroad or stateside.

“We take brand new students from overseas, or we receive transfer students from other schools, including high schools, colleges, and universities,” Ryan said.

The second function the International Student Services executes is immigration services, where students are invited to come to the US to attend college, with the permission of US embassies.

Additionally, the International Student Services helps students with their immigration documents when individuals show an interest in transferring to OCCC from other schools.

The third function of OCCC’s International Student Services is assisting international students with activities, such as obtaining grades to see if individuals are eligible to attend school in the U.S.

“We tie in the academic advising with the immigration requirement,” Ryan said.

The international student population has declined for the past two years since the COVID-19 outbreak, but the school has 153 foreign exchange students starting this semester.

Most foreign exchange students come to OCCC for its nursing program. Other degree programs that have been popular include business, computer science and science.

Many foreign exchange students come straight out of high school to attend OCCC for its Pre-Med program.

Ryan said OCCC has proven to be attractive to foreign exchange students due to its affordability when comparing the cost at other Oklahoma schools such as OU and UCO.

Secondly, OCCC’s classes help students move along in their education to a four-year college.

Ryan described some of the challenges of OCCC attracting foreign exchange students, including the fact that OCCC doesn’t have on campus dorms. Fortunately, many students already have places to live in the area before enrolling at OCCC.

Other issues that have plagued the International Students Services for the past two years are the Covid crisis, family financial situations, and political conflicts in their native countries.

“They have to constantly worry about their families’ safety,” Ryan said.

Ryan said the strengths of the International Student Services are that the staff are always there professionally and available, rather it be by phone, Zoom, or email.

Ryan says that his favorite part of his job is that every day is a new day, noting that he must be prepared for the unexpected.

“Every day you can learn something new, even if you’ve been doing this for so many years. But every student, every question, every scenario to me is a new learning experience.” Ryan said.

Ryan said he hopes that the International Students Services will continue to strive for what they’ve been put in charge of and that they’ll continue to provide their service to the international students.

He also hopes that OCCC will get more foreign exchange students to arrive on campus to attend college there.