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 johnb@acg.edu Kathleen Cross, Ph.D., Dean of Studies Abroad • Chief Technology Offcer kcross@acg.edu