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Recruiting Intelligence

Ben Waxman & Carrie Bishop

English Language Programs as Enrollment Barometers

 

English language programs (ELP) are a barometer for future enrollment trends. Canaries in the coal mine if you will. When participation is strong, your upcoming application season will likely also be strong. On the other hand, a drop in participation can foreshadow a similar fate for near-term enrollment. (source: see pandemic) 

Understanding the health of this academic niche makes a lot of sense, especially for those tasked with program development or international student recruitment, which is why we so appreciate the efforts of EnglishUSA and their partners BONARD and Pearson Test of English, for their work on the recently published Annual Report on English Language Programs in the USA 2023. The report offers insights helpful to edu institutions across the board. And in this, their second annual report, they offer good news: ELP enrollment is up.

A special thanks to Cheryl Delk-Le Good for bringing this report to our community.

The analysis of the canaries gives us the signposts we all want. The countries where ELP numbers are up give us perspective on where it might make sense to focus our international student recruitment investments.


Our next opportunity to meet! 
NAFSA Region XI, Hartford, CT, Oct 27-29. The Intead team will be there presenting on Admission Process Analysis, Marketing Data Analytics, and Marketing Study Abroad Programs with university partners from our New England region friends from Quinnipiac, Johnson and Wales, Clark, and Emerson. Practical strategies and creative tactics to hit your enrollment targets.  Hope to see you there! 

PIE Live North America, Boston, MA, Nov 19-20. We will be talking about our analysis of career success data and how institutions can use that data to improve recruitment initiatives around the world. Our powerhouse co-presenters: Kerry Salerno, Chief Marketing Officer, Babson College and Andrew Chen, CEO, F1 Hire.

Bookmark this: Intead’s Resource Center 
Take your challenge of the day and plop it into our search bar. With 800+ publications and our 15 years of weekly blogging, you will find relevant content on any topic important to enrollment management and student recruiting. Check it out.


According to the EnglishUSA report, the global English language teaching sector continues to recover and is now 77% of its 2019 student numbers, signaling a positive trend in overall postsecondary enrollment. In the US, the recovery rate was 69% – lower, but still positive.   

Compare this to US institutions as a whole. While all enrollment (domestic + international) is still down 800,000 students from 2019 numbers per the National Student Clearinghouse, solid gains have been made to rebuild enrollment. The latest IIE data on international students in the US (2022/23) indicates that numbers have reached 98% of the 2019/20 levels.  

On a global scale, the EnglishUSA report shows 1.1 million students in 2023 took an English language course in one of eight major destinations – Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, and US.  Among these, the US was the third most popular country, hosting 13% of the students, falling in line behind the UK and Australia. And that 13% added up to over $1.7 billion in direct economic impact to the US economy. Education is a solid export for the US. 

These numbers just scratch the surface of the nuanced report, which offers perspective on preferred course types, recruitment channels, visa challenges, more on the economic impact of ELP students, and other valuable insights.  

With students back on campus, we know you’re busy. So, today a quick overview of the stats we found particularly interesting as global marketers. Read on… 

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Why We Travel: Making the Most of Student Recruitment Trips

 

Danger zone of travel: the misperception among your colleagues that your global trip is just another boondoggle.  

It’s a common experience for international student recruitment teams. Jet-setting itineraries make it hard for some travel-hungry colleagues to see your grueling business trip as anything other than a junket. But a junket it is not.  Below we share an 8-point guide to the "why of international travel".

We know images of far-off places seem “luxurious” to those not on your team, which is why so many of you no longer post those photos from your trips on social media. Never mind the 3am (local time) touchdown in Dehli that led to your 7am scramble to the student fair starting in 2 hours where you spent the next 8 hours repeating the same conversation with 122 different students until it was time to cap off the day with a working dinner with your in-country agent. A day lounging at the beach, right?


Our next opportunity to meet! 
NAFSA Region XI, Hartford, CT, Oct 27-29. The Intead team will be there presenting on Admission Process Analysis, Marketing Data Analytics, and Marketing Study Abroad Programs with university partners from our New England region friends from Quinnipiac, Johnson and Wales, Clark, and Emerson. Practical strategies and creative tactics to hit your enrollment targets.  Hope to see you there! 

The Resource Center for Industry Insiders 
Take your challenge of the day and plop it into our search bar. With 800+ publications and our 15 years of weekly blogging, you will find relevant content on any topic important to enrollment management and student recruiting. Check it out.


Here’s the truth. We talk a lot about armchair recruiting and the undeniable advantages of digital marketing around the world. And we stand by that. But for institutions that can afford to, purposeful travel absolutely builds your recruitment strategy in robust ways. We know you agree. But does your provost? 

This week, from-the-field insights on recruitment travel from recent conversations with our SIO colleagues David Di Maria, Ed.D., senior international officer and associate vice provost for international education at UMBC, and Jill Blondin, Ph.D., associate vice provost for global initiatives at Virginia Commonwealth University. Plus, the key conversations that will help you make the most of the travel you do have budgeted. Because you never want to waste a good trip. Read on…  

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Is Your Content Functional but Vibeless?

 

So, my oldest child joined us for dinner out the other night. She dressed with her usual flair, all yellow and brown this time. And she ordered herself a drink to match – some cocktail concoction that apparently took a cue from her hues. I had never ordered a drink to match my look before, so I asked her what I should get. Her response: "Dad, I have no idea. Your look is functional but vibeless – jeans with a black fleece. How about a Miller Lite?" 

Absolutely loved that line: functional but vibeless. How common is that situation in the marketing/communications world? Consider all of the functional but vibeless emails we receive. You probably can’t consider them. They’re all just so forgettable.  


Our next opportunity to meet! 
NAFSA Region XI, Hartford, CT, Oct 27-29. The Intead team will be there presenting on Admission Process Analysis, Marketing Data Analytics, and Marketing Study Abroad with university partners from our New England region friends from Quinnipiac, Johnson and Wales, Clark, and Emerson. Practical strategies and creative tactics to hit your enrollment targets.  Hope to see you there! 

The Resource Center for Industry Insiders 
Take your challenge of the day and plop it into our search bar. With 800+ publications and our 15 years of weekly blogging, you will find relevant content on any topic important to enrollment management and student recruiting.  Valuable perspective and data on topics you care about. From agent-university partnerships to predictive modeling and CRM efficiency, to new market development, our Resource Center has you covered. Check it out.


Examples of what we mean:

→ Dear inquiring student, 

Thank you so much for submitting your application. We note you are still missing one document. Blah, blah, blah…our deadline is approaching. 

Thanks, Vibeless University Admissions Team 

---

→ Dear admitted student, 

Let us introduce you to all of the really great student associations you could join here at Vibeless U! When you arrive, you should look into one. Oh, and here’s a fun picture … 

Sincerely, Vibeless University Admissions Team 


All function, no form, low response rate, immediately forgotten. Instantly deletable. 

Taking time, tapping consumer insights from your current students, injecting creativity, tracking the metrics to figure out what works, what converts. These are the activities that produce results. These are the activities that will share your institution’s true vibe far and wide. 

Every communication you have with students and prospective students, matters. It’s how you connect with them. Correction: It’s how you stay connected. Retention is as important as recruitment.

Today, we offer the three golden rules to creating a lead nurturing campaign that’s got the function you need and that all important vibe. We think this post will be really helpful for your team members tasked with the nuts-and-bolts details of your institution’s prospective student outreach.

Important to communicating vibe: the order you present your messaging matters by region and student type. Is affordability your first hook? Career opportunity? Environmental justice? Academic prowess? All important content areas. Different student segments will click on one or another topic at different points in their decision-making process. THAT is what consumer insight research confirms for you as you use your content to improve application rates and yield.

Share this one with the right folks on your team and, read on 

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The Resource Center Every Enrollment Leader Needs

 

It could be the rush to diversify student recruitment markets. Or the need for tech tools and processes to bring the student journey into the AI era. Or maybe it’s to simply find marketing insights and cultural nuances for a specific region or country. More often than not, it has to do with needing to build internal support for your global student recruiting plans. Whatever the reasons, all we know is our digital content is flying off our virtual shelves.  

Because of the rush – downloads from our site are up 41% year over year – we thought it a good idea to pause our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this important message: Intead has a digital Resource Center enrollment leaders and practitioners tap every day as they consider next steps and start their research.  


Our next opportunity to meet is THIS WEEK! 
Join Ben and Virginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin on Aug. 1 at 2 p.m. at the EducationUSA Forum as they share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  Find them in Salon F. Hope to see you there!


Our publishing goes far beyond simply reporting. When we write and edit, we first ask ourselves: 

  • Does the content bring value to our community, or is it simply self-promotion?  
  • Can we make our insights more actionable for our readers?  
  • Can our readers use our content to formulate, articulate, and justify their student recruitment plans? 
Based on the user click rates, we appear to be doing better than just OK.   

For the uninitiated, our growing library currently houses more than 800 pieces of content relevant to the work you do every day. Think ebooks, case studies, conference slides, actionable one-pagers, podcasts, webinars, and more. It’s built on Intead’s 15+ years of publishing on the topics you care about and our ability to predict the future. 

For enrollment leaders, and those aspiring to be, we offer management perspective on budget development, staffing structures, team management, technology implementation and more. 

Some of our Resource Center users know exactly what they are looking for and they type it into the search bar. Others use our handy checkbox options to quickly filter their search: 

  • Agents 
  • Alumni 
  • Digital Marketing 
  • International Student Recruitment 
  • International Students 
  • Market Research 
  • Non-Traditional Students 
  • Persona 
  • Predictive Modeling 
  • Social Media  
  • Technology 

We also offer deep, well-researched insights on student recruiting in key countries and regions: 

  • Africa 
  • Brazil 
  • Central America
  • China 
  • Colombia 
  • Ecuador
  • Europe 
  • India 
  • Kenya 
  • Latin America 
  • Middle East 
  • South Africa 
  • South America 
  • South Asia 
  • Southeast Asia 
  • US 
  • Vietnam

Search by keyword, topic, region, or category. It couldn’t be easier. 

Sound valuable? (We welcome your feedback. Oh, and those notes we get from readers telling us how they used one piece or another to push forward…love that!)

Click here for direct access to our Resource Center page 

You’ll find a good amount of our content is available for free. Some, however, is for our Intead Plus members only. Our members have access to a range of team training tools, webinars, ebooks, and slide decks that required significant effort on our part to put together -- the kind of stuff we use to guide our clients. These pieces offer even more value to our readers. 

And, if you’re curious what your peers are downloading lately (and who isn’t?!), read on… 

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Yes, you should consider Tanzania, but here’s the thing…

 

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), a 48-country region with 1.2 billion people has a gross tertiary education enrollment ratio of just 9.4%. The global average: 40%.

To put it another way, young Western European and North American students are 10 times more likely than their SSA peers to get a shot at a degree. Another example of where you are born truly matters.  

Many capable degree-seeking SSA students look beyond their home countries for education opportunities. The good news here is you are likely in a position to help them find and actualize their dreams. Let’s look into the numbers. 


Our next opportunity to meet! 
EducationUSA Forum, Washington, D.C., July 30-August 1. Ben and Virginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin will share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  Hope to see you there! 

The Resource Center for Industry Insiders 
Take your challenge of the day and plop it into our search bar. With 800+ publications and our 15 years of weekly blogging, you will find relevant content on any topic important to enrollment management and student recruiting.  Valuable perspective and data on topics you care about. From agent-university partnerships to predictive modeling and CRM efficiency, to new market development, our Resource Center has you covered. Check it out.


As it stands, a full 70% of the SSA population is under age 30. And, by 2050, the number of university-age individuals in the region is expected to double. Yet, there is little chance its higher ed system will meet the demand. The most recent count shows 88 rated higher ed institutions in SSA, that’s per the Times Higher Education Sub-Saharan Africa University Rankings last year. That’s a tight (read: unrealistic) enrollment squeeze for these universities by any measure.  

Are you taking note? If you aren’t, France sure is. They are the top receiving country for this significant cohort. A Campus France report shows that 92,000 (27%) of the 430,000 SSA international students in 2021/22 studied in Europe, with France their top choice, followed by Germany, then Portugal. That same year, 42,518 traveled from SSA to study in the US, a number that rose to 50,199 in 2022/23. That's 18% growth from just 2021 to 2022.

These student decisions make sense as SSA is home to 23 Francophone countries, and more than 60% of people who speak French daily live in Africa. In fact, 80% of children studying French are in Africa. For some prospects, this makes France an appealing choice for international education. Others are less interested in studying in the country that once colonized them, as one U.S.-bound student noted at the 2023 AIEA conference. 

Our suggestion: Get to know this region. The growing youth population of sub-Saharan Africa offers a clear contrast to America’s enrollment cliff. Of course, not every student source country will be right for your institution – and none will match the application potential from India, even China – but as you expand your market reach, you may find parts of SSA make a whole lot of sense for the programs you offer and the internationalized campus you are building.  

Key questions your enrollment team should ask before entering any new market. Obvious, but helpful to clarify and state them as you think about each country:  

  • Is there a growing youth population? 
  • Is there a growing middle-class/GDP growth?
  • Can a set of families afford travel costs and your program tuition? 
  • Do your programs line up with the job opportunities in that market? 
  • Can you provide a welcoming community and academic support for these students on campus? 

If you ever need help exploring new market opportunities, we are just a click away: info@intead.com.

We've written about and analyzed African source countries before. Today, let's dive into Tanzania, an SSA country that currently meets 3 key market entry requirements. 

  • Rising youth population: Nearly 20% of Tanzanians (68.6 million total pop.) are aged 15 to 24, with the median age 17. 
  • Rising incomes: In 2020, Tanzania moved from low-income to lower-middle-income status and today gets a B+ per credit rating agency Fitch. 
  • Employment opportunities for returning graduates: Tanzania’s unemployment rate is forecast at 2.38% this year, with growth in agriculture, mining, tourism, infrastructure, and energy sectors.  

Your institution's rank is far less important here and, as we noted, your competitor institutions are likely not present in this market.

Take a closer look with us at how you might position your institution to attract Tanzanian students. Read on for 5 key recruitment insights on this market. Go even further using our Resource Center offering 15 targeted articles and reports on specific approaches to recruiting students from Africa. Pro Tip: use the search bar and type in "Africa" to find, for example, this post on African Tech Hubs.

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Recruiting Intel Digest - The Most Useful Stuff from Q2 2024

 

For those of you who are regular readers, we know the Intead team is guilty of generating too much value all at once. Not apologizing for it. 

The Intead team has cranked out 3 industry reports and 2 book chapters with never before gathered data. True to form, this stuff is absolutely instructive for the ways you will want to position your academic offerings.

Our latest research is THAT good. 

If you haven’t kept up on what we’ve published recently on the international student experience (3 separate datasets!), don’t worry. This post will catch you right up. It’s your quarterly industry insights at-a-glance, and this round includes new Intead research with our partners at NAFSA, Studyportals and F1Hire along with our own view of industry news. 


Our next opportunity to meet! 

EducationUSA Forum, Washington, D.C., July 30-August 1. Ben and Virginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin will share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  

Be in touch! We’ll buy the coffee. 


In today's Q2 Wrap Up post you will find...

Access groundbreaking data on: 

  • How international graduates are finding jobs in the US job market, and the regions most apt to hire them 
  • International graduate employment stats, including specifics on salaries, employers and the institutions that are making successful employer connections  
  • How the US election is shaping international student decisions 

Industry points of view on: 

  • Why Guyana is an emerging student recruitment source 
  • How to take a data-driven, actionable approach to budgeting for international enrollment  

Marketing insights such as: 

  • Economists’ new take on the ROI of your degree 
  • Knowing when you’re ready to tap into your international alumni network 
  • Getting your WhatsApp Business account up and running 
  • The enduring value of email marketing 
  • Messaging for the (really) small screen 
  • Link to the new higher ed industry pub: Entry Points to US Education: Accessing the Next Wave of Growth. 

Read on… 

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Are You Ready for an International Alumni Strategy?

 

Cue the confetti. A new guide for international education practitioners just hit the bookshelves.

Produced by Star Scholars and filled with analysis and counsel from luminaries in our field, you'll want to grab a copy (link to purchase below). With thanks to editors Dr. Jing Luan, Leilt Habte, J.D., Dr. David Di Maria, and Dr. Krishna Bista, and too many amazing chapter contributors to list here, this book packs a punch.

We were honored to participate by contributing a chapter on how to Leverage International Student Alumni in your student recruitment efforts and another chapter on Using Digital Marketing for International Student Recruitment. Below, we will be talking about your international alumni and serving up a really nice interactive tool offering guidance based on where you are at with your alumni program.

We could not have provided the clear and actionable content without the leadership of our friend and colleague, Dr. Gretchen Dobson with the depth of her work in this area.

The value of your international alumni cannot be understated. Few ready-made resources can connect as quickly and honestly with prospective international students, making them feel understood and welcome. This is about helping them connect with what is real and tangible based on a degree from your institution. Yet, for many institutions, tapping into this network remains on the to-do list. It’s one of those great ideas that remains underutilized. Blame resources, blame poorly maintained databases, blame, well, you know exactly what we are talking about.  

Of course, your institution has strong institutional support for building and maintaining a robust domestic alumni network. All the while, the relative importance and financial value of international students are often overlooked. In some cases, 7% of the total student population being international represents as much as 30% of total tuition revenue. A good idea to do that math for your institution if you have not already. Yet our institutional infrastructure remains lopsided, heavy on domestic alumni, light (or non-existent) on international alumni despite what they can contribute.


Our next opportunities to meet! 

EducationUSA Forum, Washington, D.C., July 30-August 1. Ben and Virginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin will share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  

Be in touch! We’ll buy the coffee. 


In Entry Points to US Education: Accessing the Next Wave of Growth, our chapter on international student alumni management is a great read for any enrollment leader looking to justify the costs associated with building a stronger connection to international alumni. It delves into the motives behind such an effort, including: 

  • Brand awareness 
  • Reputation management 
  • Recruitment 
  • Employability 
  • Global connections 
  • Public diplomacy 
  • Financial resource  

At the end of the chapter, we offer the link to an interactive questionnaire designed to assist international student recruitment teams in evaluating their ability to deploy alumni ambassadors. This simple 8-question form provides customized recommendations based on your responses.Today this tool is available to Recruiting Intelligence blog readers (even if you don’t purchase the book. But really, purchase the book!) Read on to check out the evaluation form… 

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KYN 2024: What Matters Most to Prospective International Students

 

Students as consumers and the consumer insights that matter.  

Getting to the mindset of international and domestic students is central to what we do. Last week we unveiled a new study on career pathways for international students seeking US work experience. If you haven’t had a chance to review the report, it’s worth your time. The report provides fresh insights into what a US degree actually produces for international students, offering a new way to quantify the value of your degree for all of those ROI-minded student prospects (and their families).  

This week we shift our focus to other factors that influence international student decisions to study abroad, including how the US presidential election factors into their choices. We did this research back in 2016 (the Trump/Clinton match up). Now we have new student data to compare and, YES! it is fascinating. 

In partnership with global study choice platform Studyportals, we distributed a 13-question survey via email to Studyportals account holders and placed banner ads visible to their website visitors. All told, 2,492 respondents from 106 countries across the globe participated. A significant percentage of responses came from students in African nations.  

There were some real surprises. Spoiler Alert: 2024 is NOT 2016. 


Our next opportunities to meet! 

GMAC Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 19 – 21, 2024. Ben will be presenting TODAY on how global elections are influencing student mobility. More than just the US presidential election has the power to upend what students will choose to do next.  

EducationUSA, Washington, D.C., July 30-August 1. Ben and Virginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin will share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  

Be in touch! We’ll buy the coffee. 


Today, we share the Know Your Neighborhood (KYN) 2024 Survey Summary Report with you – our first post-pandemic addition to the KYN series. Previous KYN full reports are available to Intead Plus members. The 2019 report on emerging markets (Africa and Latin America) still has legs. The others have some still valid nuggets on cultural differences even though they are now 5 to 7 years old. Helpful stuff considering that 50,000+ international students completed our surveys. 

In our latest KYN report, we unlock current insights into the preferences and motivations of prospective international students, including the impact of political fatigue, observations on a possible rise in cynicism, and more. We share observations that suggest these feelings have opened some students to studying in previously avoided countries. And, of course, we get into the influence of families on prospective student decision-making. 

If you’ve been following along these past few weeks, you already know there has been a shift in priorities among international education seekers since our last KYN study done in the midst of and after the wild and surprising 2016 election year. Other than perhaps Karl Rove, no one really thought Mr. Trump would win in 2016. 

At the time, very few (14%) international student respondents said they would be more likely to study in the US should Donald Trump win the election. This go ‘round that number jumps to 30% who say more likely 

Asked another way, in 2016 the majority (54%) said they would beless likely to study in the US should Mr. Trump win. That number dropped considerably in 2024 to 28%. What’s more, 42% this year say it won’t make a difference who wins. It’s just not as important to today’s cohort.  

We connected with so many of you over these stats at NAFSA a few weeks ago (what a week that was!). But, if we didn’t get that chance to chat in person, not to worry. Today’s summary report will give you what you need to know about the current international student mindset. It offers the core quantitative facts from our research as well as our recommendations on how your team may want to react to this news.   

Do, however, stay tuned as our data analysts are still wading through the quite telling qualitative responses. We are getting more insights organized for publication later this summer. (Hey, if you are reading this based on a share from a colleague, be sure to subscribe to our blog!) 

Read on to download our KYN 2024 Survey Summary Report and for 4 key takeaways from the study… 

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Career Success for US-Educated International Students?

 

Career opportunity is the primary motivating factor for international students. All our research into the international student journey says so. We’ve known this for a long time. If you can demonstrate that your degrees pave a beaten path to positive career outcomes, then you’ve got your prospect’s ear. Not many institutions can back up their promises with data...until now. 

Institutions seem to have had a hard time making the case for bottom line ROI. Sure, there’s the usual “x% employed within 6 months” data every institution flaunts, but what does that really tell a student who’s halfway around the world? Not a whole lot. We’re not saying to nix that stat – definitely keep it – but it’s hardly concrete proof for your prospective students. 

The fact is most institutions simply don’t have the student data on the whole job search process to offer much more. Especially for international students graduating from your specific institution. 

Nor do most institutions have the bandwidth to think it through for the international cohort. But data does exist that can help you uncover a truer and fuller picture of career potential for your international students. It’s a matter of knowing where to look, how to look, how to clean and crunch the data, and then interpret that data appropriately.  

Enter Intead’s analytics team and our colleagues at F1 Hire! On offer to you for download: our first Connecting Dots study, How International Students are Finding US Jobs: A Look at the Students, Degrees, and Institutions Producing Success


Our next opportunities to meet! 

GMAC Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 19 – 21, 2024. Ben will be presenting on how global elections are influencing student mobility. More than just the US presidential election has the power to upend what students will choose to do next.  

EducationUSA, Washington, D.C., July 30-August 1. Ben and Viginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin will share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  

Be in touch! We’ll buy the coffee. 


Our newest dataset focuses on practical next steps for international graduates. The ROI insight they’re really after. And for institutions, our approach to analyzing US Department of Labor data can help your marketing recruitment team stand out at any student fair anywhere in the world. Wanna see how? Read on to download our report... 

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Groundbreaking Data: International Student Employment After Graduation

 

The NAFSA room was sold out; every seat taken.  

That morning we really weren’t sure what to expect with our session being held in the very furthest room on the 3rd floor of the New Orleans Convention Center. And that convention center is one of the largest we’ve ever seen. Like, you need an Uber to get from one end to the other. 

We could not have been more thrilled with the turn out. What everyone came for: new data, never before collected, on what international students are doing after they earn a US degree. 

What’s been missing from our community’s conversation on the value of US degrees for international students is real ROI. Sure, we talk about ROI: “94% of our students are employed or pursuing advanced degrees 6 months from graduation.” But we’ve never quantified actual ROI...until now.  

Today we’re sharing a preview of new research on the career progress of international students who graduated from US institutions. (The full report will publish later this summer. Be among the first to receive this and 2 other groundbreaking reports by pre-registering here. You’ll also get our NAFSA 2024 session slides.)  

This NAFSA research report will be the first of what will become an even deeper analysis based on more research between now and 2025. We want to truly understand what a US degree produces for international students. Is it worth their investment? Is it worth ours? This is data we’ve been wanting to mine for years.   


Our next opportunities to meet! 

GMAC Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 19 – 21, 2024. Ben will be presenting on how global elections are influencing student mobility. More than just the US presidential election has the power to upend what students will choose to do next.  

EducationUSA, Washington, D.C., July 30-August 1. Ben and Viginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin will share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  

Be in touch! We’ll buy the coffee. 


I was extremely honored to have presented our latest research at NAFSA last week alongside Dr. Joanna Regulska, vice provost and dean of global affairs at UC Davis. UC Davis is one of the 12 innovative and forward-thinking institutions participating in this groundbreaking study. 

Our research involved a 22-question survey sent to international students who graduated from our 12 university partners between 2019 and 2023 (see below for the full list). With a 5.3% response rate, 1,797 graduates from 131 countries answered our survey questions. Of these, 1,323 still reside in the US, 474 live elsewhere. 

What we learned will have a direct impact on international student recruitment, as well as offer perspective on US immigration policy. Data informs how we make sense of the world and move forward as a community and a society. The data collected encourages us to understand the value of CPT/OPT to our international students and the US.  

Laid bare: the real outcomes and the positive impact international student graduates are having on the US economy.  

For those of you interested in taking part in our next survey, be in touch at info@intead.com. So many of our higher ed colleagues at the conference raised their hands to evaluate participating in the next research phase of this project. Be a part of that! 

Below we share key takeaways from our research and provide you quick access to the slides from our NAFSA presentation. Read on... 

 

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