Recruiting Intelligence

2015 was a strong year for international student recruiting. And looking back, our blog was filled with many new insights, guest writers, and the important research and trends in international enrollment marketing. As we dive into 2016, we wanted to take the time to showcase what all of you told us was most valuable: our 7 most read blog posts of 2015. 

Happy holidays to all of our blog readers!

If you are wondering how that might go in the Volta Region of Ghana where many speak Éwé, you are in luck. As a small display of how interactive stuff can be fun and shareable, please enjoy Intead’s WHEEL OF HOLIDAY FORTUNE.  

And spread the holiday greetings around ♥.

Click the IMAGE  to play. 👉

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the potential of recruiting students in Colombia and statistics reported in the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) Open Doors report (find IIE’s report here). Although the country’s current economic state is unfavorable due to the peso hitting record lows against the dollar, Colombia’s government has placed more focus on education and as a result, more students have gained access to financial aid and scholarships.

However, even as we warm up to Colombia’s attractive demographics and international interests, there is another common issue Colombian students face when looking to study abroad. The English language remains a problem for the majority of Colombian students. But, like many other Latin American countries Colombia is working hard to help more young people become bilingual which is where marketing your English language program can help you stand out to this group of prospective students.

Bottom Line: Young Colombians seem to have a drive to learn the language that will help them improve their futures. Employers here are eager to find English speaking staff to help them do business around the world. Academic recruiters seeking Colombian students will do well to focus on pathway programs and the career opportunities a degree will foster. Finally, since university rankings are less important than affordability here, lesser-known institutions that can prove their value can do well.

Emily is ready to wrap up this two-part series with additional perspective to help you with your international student recruitment plan.

As we puzzle together a picture of Latin America, we are fitting Colombia into the mix. In part I of this two-part series, we will take a look at the economy and recent student mobility statistics for Colombian international students. Next week, Part II will focus on English as a second language among other critical recruiting data points.

Now, if you’ve found yourself confused by shifts in recruiting students from Colombia, you aren’t the only one. Large swings in the number of students recruited from Colombia have been common over the last 20 years.

The CIA World Factbook lists the population at about 47 million with more than 17% of the population between the ages of 15 and 24. The growth rate of the middle class is also something to consider. A report from The World Bank in 2012 shows that the middle class had grown by 50% in a decade. These same reports believed that this expansion would be sustainable. With more Colombians able to afford higher education, Colombia became the third largest Latin American source of international students. 

However, economic clouds are beginning to form. In August of this year, Colombia Reports showed the peso hitting record lows against the dollar. The peso is closely tied to oil prices and with oil losing almost a third of its value the Colombian economy has suffered.

Bottom Line: While the number of Colombian international students had been growing because of newfound economic security, they may be harder to rope in now due to the current economic climate. Lack of funds, as well as recent lack of resources to learn English in Colombia, are hampering student mobility. Still, language programs in the country are increasing (more on that next week). With the right academic offerings, there is recruiting potential in this large South American country. Scholarships and messages about overall affordability will go a long way as a recruiting draw. Career opportunities will also be powerful messages.

Our intrepid international blogger, Emily, will now wake us up and help us smell the coffee.

What is the value of having studied  internationally? When international students return home, are they able to find work?

With the recent economic upheaval in Brazil, Cláudia Osna Geber's first-hand experience in that market is invaluable as we consider our international recruiting plans. If you are currently recruiting from Brazil or are planning to recruit international students from this country, Claudia's perspective is a MUST READ.

Cláudia is a native Brazilian who is now living in Curitiba after having lived in New York City with her husband for one year. During her time in the U.S., she enrolled at NYU and Manhattan Institute of Management taking classes in international business and integrated marketing. Cláudia also interned for Intead in our New York City office.

Now in the job-hunt process in Brazil's hyper-competitive market, Cláudia shares with us how her international study experience is being received by recruiters and employers in Brazil. And she shares her thoughts on the value of recruiting there today.

Raise your hand if you are already onto the recruiting potential in Chile. On the fast track as an emerging economy, Chile is attracting more attention from the international community. Chileans see value in receiving an education and gaining relevant experience abroad. Chile’s movement toward a more global perspective will likely help recruiters enhance their recruiting capabilities in the country.

While small by many measures (a population of nearly 17M people and just 8,000 students studied abroad in 2012), Chile's economy has seen steady and consistent growth for the past 35 years. That trend has slowed a bit recently, but the long-term trend is still up and impressive. 

Our long-term readers will recognize the approach this post takes to analyzing a specific country and its potential for international student recruitment. In other posts, we've focused on many Asian and Southeast Asian countries. We thought we'd look to the America's today. And with this post we offer one last plug to the lastest research we will be presenting at the upcoming AIRC and ICEF conferences in December. There are still a few slots left for our 3rd annual ICEF Pre-conference Global Marketing Seminar for Education Institutions.

Bottom Line: While some challenges stand in the way of attracting Chileans to the U.S., 2,513 Chilean students chose U.S. institutions in 2014, as reported by IIE's latest Open Doors Data. The common barriers to international education (language and financial constraints) are beginning to be removed and the U.S. is becoming an increasingly attractive education destination for young Chileans. Well crafted social media campaigns and a solid agent network are likely your best bets for reaching those seeking to study abroad. An ESL program or other language support is going to be an important element for U.S. institutions recruiting from this region. Finally, we recommend focusing on your institution's strongest graduate level academic programs rather than diluting your message by promoting your university overall. Be bold and clear with what differentiates your institution.

Now, let's turn to Emily so she can tell us what time it is in Chile...

Do you get a lot of credit card offers in your mailbox? We certainly do. Those banks are paying a tremendous amount for all that direct mail. And they have analyzed the ratios and response rates to know beyond any doubt that RETAINING a current customer is FAR less expensive than RECRUITING a new one. Yet they still know that spending marketing dollars to get a new one is worth it, if done right. 

This week is about recruiting and retention.

Last week we borrowed from grocery store market research to learn about marketing your student outcomes. This week we will borrow from industry again to consider how international student experience relates to student retention. In other words, how to keep your customers happy. (Hint: listen to them).

We know that student retention is important. Your goal is to get them in the door AND see to it that they earn their degree. That produces satisfaction for everyone involved, on many levels. Here’s the thing: NAFSA’s research says your perspective on what keeps a student is likely different than the student’s perspective on the same thing.

Bottom Line: Current research from NAFSA suggests that international students want more internship and job opportunities and they will move around to find them. Setting clear expectations about what you have to offer before students arrive and listening to what they are really seeking from you will go a long way toward creating the student experience that results in retention and degrees earned.

We are full of questions today, and Emily is ready to step out of the box and tell us more about how student experience drives retention. And how you can drive student experience.

This week we want to compare your university education to roasting a chicken. No, really.

We want you to consider a lesson learned in the grocery industry about marketing. What in the world would your international student recruiting plans have to do with roast chicken you ask? Perhaps not quite as much of a stretch as you might think.

Here at Intead, we are always looking at what industry does, how it markets, what it tracks. And we apply those lessons to academia. It keeps us on our toes.

Bottom Line: Supermarkets learned a while back that advertising focused on cooked meals attracts customers better than showing raw ingredients. For university enrollment, focusing on jobs and outcomes is critical in today’s academic marketing. The message resonates with students and parents alike. So you might want to rethink all those images of happy students on the quad, or engaged in classrooms. The ascending career needs to be present, and perhaps even dominant, in your advertising.

We will be discussing these approaches to academic marketing at the upcoming AIRC and ICEF conferences in December. Are you going? We’d love to meet you face-to-face instead of keyboard to screen! There are still a few slots left for our 3rd annual ICEF Pre-conference Global Marketing Seminar for Education Institutions.

More on using outcomes in your marketing below.

Recruiting agents are increasingly used by our university clients these days. There is far more ease in the move in this direction since NACAC removed a significant barrier. As institutions consider the options, it is important to understand how to use agents well. It would be nice if someone were to write a book about that, don’t you think?

Turns out there is a lovely online resource, an e-book that your peers have widely contributed to, reviewed and accepted as a valuable source. You can download it for free right HERE.

As fortune would have it, this e-book was written and produced by Intead (heard of those guys?) and more than 2,000 downloads later, the e-book continues to find its way into the hands of admissions teams researching best practices.

Bottom Line: Agents are a reliable way to outsource your sales processes to distant lands ONLY IF you put real budget dollars behind making those sales representatives well-versed in your university’s selling points. Sales reps can’t sell a product they don’t know well. Meet us at the AIRC and ICEF conferences coming up in December and we can teach you a whole lot more. Our ICEF Pre-conference Global Marketing Workshop for Education Institutions is filling up.

Now for some perspective on what agents do and how to figure out if they are doing it well for you.