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Enrollment Trends & Statistics

Each year, thousands of students at Michigan State University are transformed by their educational experiences outside of the United States and can be found in classrooms, research labs, field stations, and internship sites throughout the world.  In addition, we welcome a growing number of international students for a non-degree study experience at our East Lansing campus through the American Semester Program.


2021-22 Academic Year

1,554 students studied abroad.

  • 1,545 were MSU students (1,508 U.S. citizens and 37 international students)
  • 9 were students from other U.S. institutions

16 percent of students in 2021 graduated with an education abroad experience.

  • Lower than past years due to the limited programming during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Compared to the national averages, MSU exceeds participation in the following categories:

  • Seniors and graduate students
  • Science, technology, engineering & math (STEM) majors, Communications/journalism majors, Legal studies majors, and Social science majors
  • Black/African American students and multi-racial students
  • Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Middle East/N. Africa participation
  • Short-term programming

Eight MSU Colleges had a higher percentage of students abroad compared to their on-campus population.

For further details and statistics can be found in the 2021-22 Participation and Portfolio Overview report (.pdf)

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