After the first 10 days of the semester, SIU spring enrollment is at 18,442 students.

While the enrollment number is 322 less than spring 2011 enrollment, Chancellor Rita Cheng said the figure was still higher than expected.

“We expected to get about 360 less than last spring based on our smaller class in the fall, and we have turned the number into a positive with 38 more students than we expected to have,” she said.

According to a university press release, there are 99 new on-campus undergraduates, while a year ago there were 85. International enrollment is up by 77 students, which is a 6.4 percent increase, and the amount of international undergraduates is at 354 this semester from 273 a year ago — a surge of 29.7 percent.

Off-campus enrollment is up by seven students with a total of 2,072, the press release stated, and the total number of off-campus enrollment in distance education is at 349 compared to 313 a year ago,  an 11.5 percent increase.

Master’s degree students dropped by 32, and the School of Law dropped by 16, but the amount of doctoral students has increased by 13 students.

According to the press release, there was an 83-student increase in the College of Science. Cheng said it’s because there’s a strong demand in many of the majors in the College of Science.

The radio-television department in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts brought in an increase of 54 students. Cheng said she is really excited for the program.

“There was a concerted effort to recruit students, use scholarship dollars, and the faculty, staff and dean all worked together over a number of years to turn those numbers around,” she said.

Other colleges with increases in enrollment include Engineering, Agricultural Sciences and Applied Sciences and Arts, according to the press release.

“We are encouraged that we are seeing the offset being more students coming in, a sharp uptake in international students coming in, and particularly those in the Colleges of Mass Communication and Sciences,” Cheng said.