During his first days on campus, Oral Roberts University President Billy Wilson announced the formation of a Presidential Task Force on the globalization of ORU. The task force will seek ways to fulfill the global mandate of ORU by expanding access to a whole-person education to students worldwide.
“Oral Roberts University is a globally recognized brand. Since 1965, students from over 115 countries have sacrificed greatly to travel to Tulsa to earn an ORU education,” said Wilson. “The vision for the next era of this institution is to take that same excellent, Spirit-empowered education to the doorstep of every inhabited continent. With the seismic technological and socio-economic shift throughout the world, ORU is poised to become a world leader in Christian higher education.”
The global need for education continues to grow. According to the U.S. Department of State, there were over 4.1 million international students worldwide in 2010, a 10.8 percent increase over the previous year. Total international student enrollment in the U.S. increased 6 percent in 2011/12 to a record high of 764,495 international students. The government agency also reported new international student enrollment increased 6.5 percent to 228,467 students.
There are a number of concepts key to the globalization of ORU. Partnerships with major ministries and churches around the world will be critical to the success of this initiative. In the next 10 years, ORU has a goal to increase the university’s presence to include every inhabited continent. Online learning will be a crucial piece of this new effort. There will also be a greater focus on recruiting students from outside of the United States to get their degree in Tulsa.
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