Student enrollment up
at East-West Center

Student enrollment at the East-West Center is at its highest level in more than 30 years, with 435 students from 50 countries, the center announced in a news release.

About 160 students arrived this week, including degree students who will attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa and nondegree fellows enrolled in the Center's Asia Pacific Leadership Program.

Among the 113 new degree participants are two students from Myanmar and a student from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, who survived the devastating tsunami of Dec. 26.

The incoming leadership program class of 2005-06 consists of 47 student fellows from 22 countries. Among them are 15 from the United States, 30 from the Asia-Pacific region and one each from Slovakia and Sweden. The class includes a Cambodian monk who works in HIV/AIDS prevention, an Indonesian environmental NGO leader who was active in post-tsunami relief efforts, and a Tibetan language school headmaster who founded the first private school in Lhasa.

"The size and diversity of our student community reflects a growing awareness of the opportunities the center affords for personal and professional development," said Terry Bigalke, director of the center's Education Program. "The East-West Center student experience is one of grass-roots relationship building, cultural exchange and communal preparation for future leadership throughout the Asia-Pacific region."

Since it was established 45 years ago, the center has supported more than 5,000 students throughout the United States and Asia-Pacific region, with many alumni now in leadership positions in universities, governments and businesses.

The East-West Center is an internationally recognized education and research organization established by Congress in 1960 to promote better relations and understanding between the governments and peoples of the Asia-Pacific region, including the United States, through cooperative study, training and research.