Internationalization of universities, including international student recruitment is receiving a great deal of attention in many universities. We want to discuss whether universities are wasting money with international recruiting activities.
First of all, we have to answer the basic question: why are you recruiting international students?
These are the two primary reasons: increase diversity on campus and increase the tuition revenue base. These two reasons may lead to very different answers to the question of whether international student recruitment is a worthwhile endeavor for your institution.
International recruitment has a cost.
Increasing diversity is an important goal for universities. Diversity can be supported with exchange programs and may require financial support for international students. So in that respect, your university will make a conscious decision to support diversity efforts financially and you will not be wasting money.
The more pertinent question focuses on the second reason: raising net tuition revenue for the institution that can fund university operations and ensure long-term survival.
The equation is simple: Tuition revenue $ - expense $ > x $
But we have to take into account a number of additional factors:
- Are you considering only the recruiting expense? What about the the increasing student service needs?
- What time frame are you considering for the net revenue calculation?
- What other support services will be needed or utilized to support international students?
Many universities entering international recruitment markets are faced with the challenge of intense competition, lack of brand awareness, lack of ranking to attract interest, lack of recruitment scale to expand marketing and all the challenges of international markets in terms of logistics, differing institutional environments and, let's not forgot, language barriers.
In general, long term commitment is an important ingredient of success. Experience, long-term partnerships and local contacts matter to be successful for smaller and or less branded institutions.
You may not know for years whether you are wasting your money, if your goal is positive net tuition revenue from international students. Consider balancing medium-term brand building as well as short-term recruiting gains. Partner with ESL or pathway providers to grow your international enrollment and capabilities. Build and nurture an agent network if you choose to employ recruiting agents.
We looked back at the IIE open door data and analyzed who were the fastest growing universities in terms of enrollment during the past 5 years. Chart 1 shows you the percentage gains and Chart 2 displays the universities with the largest absolute number of international student increases between 2009 and 2012.
Chart 1
Chart 1 shows dramatic percentage increases of 2 -14x increases in the number of international students. You largely see unknown university brands with relatively small numbers of international students (<100) with the exception of the Central New Mexico Community College. Only you know whether you'd consider it success to increase your enrollment by 100 students and whether this would have a sufficient impact and warrant the resources.
Your recruitment success will depend on your success benchmarks as well as many college-specific factors such as location, academic prestige, ranking, tuition level, alumni network and recruiting resources. We can show successful examples for any type and location, ranging from community colleges to small liberal arts colleges in remote locations that successfully scaled international recruitment.
As with all student recruitment, success is a function of a combination of many different individual recruitment efforts including on-and off-line marketing, strong inquiry follow up, and successful and happy alumni satisfied with their academic and living experience.
In Chart 2, you will again note a broad list of universities, some with existing or expanding global brands such as NYU, Columbia, UC Berkeley and Northeastern. All of them have a signficant number of incremental international students enrolled between 2009 and 2012. Remember this chart, shows the incremental number of students (not the total number) of international students enrolled. For example, the University of Delaware enrolled 2,000 more international students during that timeframe, an increase of close to 200% during that time frame.
Going back to our beginning statement, you must clarify your goals, expectations and benchmarks for your internationalization. And yes, don't forget to allocate the appropriate resources in line with those goals and expectations. Competiton is strong out there.
Chart 2
