Members of an Indian classical dance group join the Laotian Fellowship of the University Presbyterian Church at a 2006 Fourth of July picnic at Fresno State University in Fresno, California. The celebration attracted students from a variety of ethnic and national origins.

Growing efforts on university campuses to bridge cultural gaps and embrace diversity are fostering students’ acceptance of each other regardless of religious beliefs, according to Danielle Josephs, who founded the Middle East Coexistence House at Rutgers University in New Jersey in 2005, where 14 Muslim, Christian and Jewish women live together.

According to Open Doors 2006, a study by the Institute of International Education, more than 500,000 students came from around the world to study at schools of higher education in the United States in 2006. The leading country of origin was India, which sent 76,503 students, followed by China and the Republic of Korea, which sent 62,582 and 58,847 students, respectively. (© AP Images)