National Conference on Student Recruitment, Marketing, and Retention
Recruiting International StudentsJohn Baworowsky, Ph.D., and Kathleen Cross, Ph.D., The American College of Greece
Today’s Agenda
✤ Current state of international student recruitment
✤ Your international recruitment goals
✤ Models of international recruitment
✤ Marketing your programs
✤ Student decision-making
✤ Developing a strategic plan
✤ U.S. student visas
✤ How the American College of Greece recruits international students
✤ Study abroad programs
Studying in the United States
✤ The number of international students in the U.S. increased to an all-time high of 690,923 in 2009-10 academic year (2010 Open Doors)
✤ New international student enrollment in the U.S. increased 3.3% from the previous year
✤ Though numbers are increasing for international students, so is the competition
✤ Need to be prepared to effectively recruit this population of students
1 China +30.0% 127,628
2 India +2% 104,897
3 South Korea -4% 72,153
4 Canada -5% 28,145
5 Taiwan -5% 26,685
6 Japan -15% 24,842
7 Saudi Arabia +25% 15,810
8 Mexico -9% 13,450
9 Vietnam +2% 13,112
10 Turkey +2% 12,397
11 Nepal -3% 11,233
12 Germany -1% 9,548
13 UK +2% 8,861
14 Brazil +1% 8,786
15 Thailand -2% 8,531
16 Hong Kong -4% 8,034
17 France +4% 7,716
18 Indonesia -8% 6,943
19 Columbia -1% 6,920
20 Nigeria +5% 6,568
Top twenty countries sending students to the U.S.
Top fields of study for international students
1 Business & Management 145,514 21.1%
2 Engineering 127,441 18.4%
3 Physical & Life Sciences 61,285 8.9%
4 Mathematics & Computer Science 60,780 8.8%
5 Social Sciences 59,865 8.7%
6 Health Professions 32,111 4.6%
7 Fine & Applied Arts 35,802 5.2%
8 Intensive English Language 26,075 3.8%
9 Education 18,299 2.6%
10 Humanities 17,985 2.6%
Top fields of study for international students
1 Business & Management 145,514 21.1%
2 Engineering 127,441 18.4%
3 Physical & Life Sciences 61,285 8.9%
4 Mathematics & Computer Science 60,780 8.8%
5 Social Sciences 59,865 8.7%
6 Health Professions 32,111 4.6%
7 Fine & Applied Arts 35,802 5.2%
8 Intensive English Language 26,075 3.8%
9 Education 18,299 2.6%
10 Humanities 17,985 2.6%
✤ Business and hard sciences dominate the list
✤ May want to highlight these felds in recruitment materials along with other strong programs
Your recruitment goals: Ask basic questions...
✤ What do you want to accomplish by recruiting students from outside the United States?
✤ Diversify the campus
✤ Bring revenue to the institution
✤ How much can you invest in international recruitment?
✤ How many students can you support on campus?
✤ Visa services, ESL, counseling/advising, housing, etc.
Determining where and when to recruit
✤ Do you currently enroll international students through a particular source or country?
✤ Where is your public education held in higher esteem than their own country’s universities?
✤ Do you offer certain programs that could be appealing in certain countries?
✤ Are you looking for full-pay students or those who will need fnancial aid?
✤ Timing - when are key fairs and when do students typically investigate overseas study?
✤ Costs - how many students do you need to enroll to break even?
✤ Focus on key markets that make sense
Recruiting models
✤ Recruitment totally based on the use of the internet and mail (most economical)
✤ Institutional recruiter(s) travel outside the U.S.
✤ Use of agents to represent the institution
✤ Combine all of the above
Using agents versus your own staff
✤ Agents
✤ Positives:
✤ National in scale
✤ Broad relationships within their home markets
✤ Typically provide application support to students
✤ Paid by commission
✤ Negatives:
✤ Represents many institutions
✤ Low quality control of the message and the process
Using agents versus your own staff
✤ Staffing
✤ Positives:
✤ Very knowledgeable representation
✤ Represents only your one institution
✤ High quality control of the message and process
✤ Negatives:
✤ International coverage based on their time/ability to travel
✤ Narrow relationships - only at those schools where they contact counselors
✤ Paid a salary regardless of results
✤ Face to Face
✤ School visits - international schools, private schools, English language schools
✤ City or regional fairs in foreign markets
Types of recruitment activities
✤ Advertising - magazines
✤ Can the magazine give you references of satisfed customers?
✤ How are they distributed?
✤ Can you measure results?
Types of recruitment activities
✤ Direct Mail - student search
✤ Purchase overseas SAT and TOEFL test takers to build pool
✤ Obtain select mailing lists of schools and students
✤ Internet - your own and third party websites
✤ Electronic communications campaigns to reach those who contact your institution
✤ Listings on websites and refer traffc to your institution
✤ Consider zinch.com for Chinese students
Determining your messages✤ How do you determine your international
marketing messages?
✤ Focus on what international students value in higher education
✤ Adjust your writing style - be direct, avoid slang, be cautious with humor
✤ Be culturally sensitive
✤ What are your key selling points?
✤ Majors / Programs
✤ Location
✤ Rankings / Prestige
What do international students value most?
1 The content of the courses in my major are valuable
2 The instruction in my major field is excellent
3 Nearly all the faculty are knowledgeable in their fields
4 The campus is safe and secure for all students
5 My academic advisor is knowledgeable about my requirements in my major
6 The quality of instruction I receive in most of my classes is excellent
7 I am able to experience intellectual growth here
8 I am able to register for classes with few conflicts
9 There is a good variety of courses provided on this campus
10 My academic advisor is approachable
2008 Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory
How are students basing decisions?
✤ Academics
✤ U.S. News rankings / prestige
✤ Price / Scholarship
✤ ESL program
✤ Student ft
✤ Guidance counselors/teachers
✤ Students who have previously enrolled
✤ Use seals of approval - accreditation, USNews, etc.
Your international student recruitment strategic plan
✤ Develop a three year plan
✤ Determine targeted countries / markets
✤ Set enrollment goals per market
✤ Create your budget
✤ Use a mix of activities:
✤ Develop contracts with agents in targeted areas
✤ Explore ESL opportunities on your campus or in your area
✤ Increase your Web presence for international recruitment
✤ Develop your alumni ambassadors and support them with materials
✤ Sign Memoranda of Understanding (M.O.U.s) for exchange of students
✤ Provide recruitment materials in multiple languages for parents
Your international student recruitment strategic plan
Getting a U.S. visa
✤ A student typically gets 90 seconds to convince a US offcer to grant a visa
✤ Success at getting a visa depends on both the individual and the country he/she comes from
✤ Prep your international students for their interview. The student should:
✤ Speak English - tell them to practice before the interview
✤ Explain he/she has a reason to return to the home country after study
✤ Explain how your academic program fts their life/career goals
✤ Maintain a positive attitude
ACG’s international recruitment
✤ Studied potential markets
✤ Selected Balkans and Middle Eastern countries
✤ Hired two individuals to exclusively focus on international recruitment
✤ Developing relationships with guidance counselors at international English speaking high schools
✤ Reached out to US chambers of commerce and Fulbright Offces
✤ Developed print and electronic communications
ACG’s international recruitment
✤ We attended student fairs in our key recruitment countries
✤ We learned that a great deal of follow up is needed
✤ Signifcant telephone work
✤ Biggest hurdles are fnances and the visa
✤ Developing school relationships will be most cost effective in the long run
✤ In the short run, responding to student inquiries was the fastest way to recruit a class
Establishing study abroad exchange partnerships
✤ Exchange Partnerships: “one for one” exchange of students with foreign institutions over a period of years
✤ In this model, international students come for a semester or year of study
✤ Partnerships are:
✤ typically handled by an international or study abroad offce
✤ formed by signing a memorandum of understanding
Advantages of study abroad exchange programs
✤ Bringing study abroad exchange students to your campus is a great way to diversify your student body
✤ Partner institution does the recruiting for you; can get a steady stream of students from target countries
✤ Outbound study abroad is a great US prospective student recruitment tool
✤ Availability of study abroad typically attracts wealthier and smarter US students to your campus
U.S. study abroad trends
U.S. Student participation in study abroad has increased
four-fold over the past two decades.
1 United Kingdom
2 Italy
3 Spain
4 France
5 China
6 Australia
7 Germany
8 Mexico
9 Ireland
10 Costa Rica
11 Japan
12 Argentina
13 South Africa
14 Czech Republic
15 Greece
U.S. students studying abroad
✤ You can use this list of popular US study abroad destinations to establish your own exchange program partnerships
References / Resources
✤ IES National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98
✤ I.I.E. network www.opendoors.iienetwork.org
✤ Inside Higher Ed (2007) The Mobile International Student www.insidehighered.com
✤ Noel Levitz (2008) Reaching Beyond Borders: Key Issues in Recruiting and Retaining International Students
✤ Noel Levitz (2008) What Matters to International Students? An analysis of their satisfaction and priorities
✤ World Education Services resources - www.wes.org
✤ Zinch www.zinch.com
Recruiting International StudentsJohn Baworowsky, Ph.D., Vice President for Enrollment Management [email protected] Kathleen Cross, Ph.D., Dean of Studies Abroad • Chief Technology Offcer [email protected]