A decline in local high school graduates enrolling at Dalhousie University has prompted the school to focus on recruiting more international students.

The number of Nova Scotian high school graduates entering the Halifax university has been steadily declining in recent years, according to Statistics Canada. That number is expected to decrease by another 20 per cent over the next 10 years.

Dalhousie has about 17,000 students, but only half of those are Nova Scotians.

Meri Kim Oliver, Dalhousie's assistant vice-president of Student Services, said international students make up 12 per cent of Dalhousie's campus.

University officials would like to bump that up to 20 per cent in order to maintain Dalhousie's current enrolment figures, Oliver added.

"One of the ways that we attract students, both to undergraduate and graduate programs, is by reaching out and creating partnerships with specific universities in other countries or with specific agencies or schools in other countries and agreeing that so many students will come to Dalhousie as part of that agreement," said Oliver.

Having a multicultural population doesn't just help the university's bottom line, Oliver said, it also enhances the quality of education for all students who attend.

"When any student graduates from university an employer benefits — if that student has experience meeting and working with and collaborating with people from different cultures," said Oliver.

International students currently attending Dalhousie come from about 140 different countries, mainly eastern Asia, the Middle East — particularly Saudi Arabia — and the United States, she said.