Global learning
Fairfax-based Virginia Int'l Univ. shares future vision
By Frank Mustac

Times Staff Photo/Frank Mustac

From left, VIU president Isa Sarac, Va. Sec. of Education Belle Wheelan and VIU dean and marketing director Tarek Celik attending the VIU scholarship fund raiser at the Sheraton Reston, May 6.

Established in 1998, Virginia International University may be small with a total enrollment of only 175, but the fledgling nonprofit educational institution in Fairfax is attracting students from around the world and substantial attention here in the Northern Virginia region.

With 80 percent of its student body made up of foreign nationals hailing from more than 30 countries, including such nations as Russia, Japan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Mongolia, VIU founder and president Isa Sarac said one of his goals is to grow the university by tenfold within the decade to 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

To help support that growth, VIU held its third annual fund-raising dinner for scholarships Thursday evening, May 6, at the Sheraton Reston Hotel on Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston.

About 250 people attended the event, including former Northern Virginia College president Richard Ernst, Va. Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites (R-34th), Virginia Secretary of Education Belle Whelan and former Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Kate Hanley.

Scholarship fund-raising is important, Hanley said, because all higher education in Virginia needs more funding.

Asked what she thinks VIU's international character and flavor offers students as well as the community, she said, “I think you have to have a range of offerings in the community and this one certainly fills a different niche.”

Habib Khan, a professor in VIU's MBA program who is also a City of Fairfax resident, said the fund-raiser is a kind of flagship event for the university.

“The main thing is that supporters and friends are here,” Khan said. “The important thing is that we not only raise money, but awareness that we're here.”

In a previous interview with VIU's president Isa Sarac, he talked about the academic offerings at VIU and future plans for the university.

Currently, students attending VIU, Sarac said, can earn undergraduate degrees in two program areas—business management and computer science.

The university, he said, also offers a master's program in management information systems (MMIS) and another master's in business administration (MBA).

Sarac described some of the certificate programs also available at VIU, among them are certificates in computer programming, Web design, small business management and international business.

In February, VIU announced tuition scholarships for individuals interested in earning an advanced degree in a new curriculum for the university—media or communications, which will be launched starting in fall of 2004.

"We are ready to give 10 scholarships for 10 students," Sarac said about the brand new master's degree program which will begin in the fall 2004 semester.

In all, VIU annually distributes about $25,000 in scholarships, which are awarded on the basis of academic achievement and financial need and available to Americans as well as international students. Tuition and fees for full-time undergraduate students at VIU range between $6,000 and $7,000 per year.

Sarac, who is originally from Konya, Turkey, said that in addition to VIU, he helped found similar educational institutions in Istanbul and London.

Prior to 1998, after looking to New York, Houston and California as possible sites to base VIU, Sarac said the Washington, D.C., area was finally selected.

“I think the right place is Fairfax,” said Sarac about the university's current address on Pender Drive.

As far as his plans to grow the university, Sarac said, "We're just a baby, [but] we are expanding."

Through its Web site, http://www.viu.edu, and with the assistance of more than 60 agencies around the world, Sarac said VIU is receiving what he termed "very good inquiries and scholarship inquiries” from Asia, Africa and Europe.

“In a few years, we hope to have students from 100 countries,” Sarac said.

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