Expanded recruiting efforts will include more visits to international countries in order to better reach prospective students and increase diversity, said Dean of Admissions Doug Christiansen.

Christiansen recently returned from a recruiting trip to India - the university's first recruiting effort there.

The trip was part of a larger recruitment plan that includes trips to China, Latin America and Southeast Asia, among other countries and regions.

In order to reach more international students, Christiansen and teams of Vanderbilt representatives spend time in various countries attending college fairs similar to ones held domestically.

Christiansen pointed out international students are not unlike domestic students in their college search, comparing schools' rankings and other statistics, but "some of the questions are vastly different."

"We have to have the right information for international students," he said. "They need to know about health care, banking issues, visas ... I get questions right down to ‘what is the temperature?'"

Christiansen said the university population should reflect the growing diversity of a multinational workforce, Christiansen said.

"Currently our international population for undergraduate students is about 3 percent, and our goal is to try to move that to about 8 percent (within five years)," he said.

"Vanderbilt is new to this level" of international recruitment, Christiansen said, so its international undergraduate population is low compared to that of other top-20 schools, which average 6 to 8 percent.

He also said international students are especially concerned with diversity, racial tolerance and the international population of not just Vanderbilt, but Nashville and the South as well.

"They want to know what our international population is, but they also ask about our ethnic diversity," Christiansen said. "When we're able to say 25 percent of the incoming class is (minorities), that really surprises them."

Vanderbilt engaged in "minimal international recruitment" prior to Christiansen's arrival about a year ago, he said.

Vanderbilt staff members only spent a total of three to four weeks of the year recruiting internationally, but Christiansen said he plans to increase the amount of time spent abroad to about 20 to 25 weeks of the year over the next three to four years.

"We needed to develop an international recruiting plan that is systemic and long-range and does not just look at certain regions," he said. "There are certain countries where there is a much higher likelihood of students coming to the United States ... so we spent the better part of last year building on that."

Click here for an interactive map of the September trips.