When it comes to international student recruitment and marketing there are many obvious factors that affect a student's interest in one institution over another. Things like (US News and World Report) rankings, cost/financial assistance, availability of desired programs, an international student presence, post-graduation opportunities. These factors all play into a student's decision making process. But there are other factors, which I'll call "soft" factors that also affect student's decision making. In building or maintaining recruitment and marketing efforts it's certainly worth your while to consider these factors.
Frequency of Flights
If it is challenging to arrive to your city or campus, students may think twice about applying and subsequently enrolling at your institution. This has created a challenge for Canadian universities recruiting in Brazil. In a session held at the 2013 ICEF Toronto Workshop Carlos Robles mentioned that airline travel between Brazil and Canada is challenging since only one flight currently exists per day. I assume he was speaking of arrival to Toronto which would affect a great many institutions in the greater Toronto area.
While you will not be able to change airline schedules, adding flights at whim (wouldn't that be nice though?) you should keep in mind how accessible your city/institution is from various international markets. It makes far more sense to recruit from international regions that are more easily accessible than others. Also an awareness of ease or difficulty of travel will help you to better explain how students can arrive at your institution. It makes good sense to have an awareness of travel options prior to engaging with international students and their parents.
Difficulty of Visa Attainment
There are certain regions of the world where students have an inordinately difficult experience applying for and receiving their student visas. If the process is overly cumbersome or if prospective students receive advice from peers about the difficulty of the process, meaning that the problem could be real or perceived, students will apply to attend colleges in certain regions less often. Students see little purpose in going through the arduous tasks involved with applying for admission and visas if there is little hope that they will find ultimate success in studying abroad.
Dietary Needs
Prospective students are savvy at researching prospective institutions and institutional offerings. For some students dietary restrictions (vegetarian, kosher, halal) are key facets in their daily lives. If an institution or community is unable to provide suitable food (or if the perception is that appropriate foods are not available) prospective students might lose interest in an institution. Effectively communicating your institution's understanding of and commitment to providing appropriate food to meet a range of dietary restrictions is key. For example, if you are recruiting in the Middle East be sure to emphasize the availability of halal foods on campus and in your community.
Housing Needs
Your international student population may present unique needs when it comes to housing. If you don't have housing available on campus, students may desire a homestay option. Within your community you will need to effectively recruit homestay hosts or you will not be able to accommodate student needs. Similarly certain international students, particularly Muslim women may require single sex housing or the availability of housing for a chaperone. More and more institutions have done away with single sex housing. Without this option you may be eliminating a population of students who may have been otherwise interested in your institution. Again effectively conveying your housing options through your marketing campaigns, particularly to targeted populations, is going to be critical.
Existence of a Local Ethnic Community
Ideally international students want to relocate to a location with a familiar local ethnic community. Presence of a local ethnic community allows students an ease of transition to their new academic environment because there will be availability of familiar foods, either in restaurants or groceries, worship locations, and native language speakers. While thousands of international students attend universities each year in locations without a local ethnic community, this factor is often a consideration for enrollment and for longterm success. If you are fortunate to have thriving ethnic communities near your institution it would be a great benefit to tout this "soft" factor in your marketing materials and publications.
These "soft" factors certainly beg for institutional discussion and attention in marketing materials. Do you have other ideas of "soft" factors that we haven't noted? Share them with us in the comments. We'd love to put together a complete list.
