MARSHALL — Southwest Minnesota State University was trying to work its enrollment up from a low point in the fall of 2019. But no one had anticipated how well the efforts would work, SMSU President Kumara Jayasuriya said. The university had a 20% increase in first-year students this fall, and was the only four-year institution in the Minnesota State system to show enrollment growth this year.

“People are really asking what’s happening here,” Jayasuriya said Wednesday.

SMSU has a total of 421 new first-year students on campus this fall, an increase of 20% over the previous year, the university announced this month. Overall, enrollment grew to 2,491 students, according to 10-day enrollment statistics.

The university is also seeing its international student enrollment rise again after a sharp drop during the COVID-19 pandemic. SMSU said it has added more than 66 first-year international students this fall, and a cohort of 17 MBA students from Taiwan are also attending the university. Counting additional transfer students, there are more than 90 new international students on campus, SMSU said.

Jayasuriya said it’s still difficult to pin down the exact reason enrollment has grown at SMSU. The university has been using a variety of strategies to encourage new students to enroll, including focusing on marketing and building partnerships with schools in a 19-county region.

“It’s hard to tell which one (strategy) worked,” Jayasuriya said. “One thing that’s very clear is people are working well together.” Having a coordinated team of university employees focused on improving enrollment has made a big difference, he said.

“I want to thank all of our employees for the excellent work they have done to make SMSU the school of choice for this large and diverse group of students. I also want to thank our community partners for the opportunities and support they provide our students,” Jayasuriya said.

Jayasuriya said there are still challenges ahead for SMSU. While new student enrollment has grown over the past two years, he said student retention rates have gone down, partly due to the effects of the pandemic. SMSU will be working on strategies to help students complete their education.

SMSU has been awarded a $580,000 grant from the Minnesota State colleges and universities system and nonprofit MDRC, which it will use to implement student support programs. Jayasuriya said the university has hired success coaches to work with students.