Recruiting Intelligence

We've been in the fields of higher education, international student recruitment and digital marketing for quite a while and we've found there is ONE QUESTION EVERYONE ASKS.

While the headline for this post may be a bit overly provocative, we hope it caught your attention and you will read on. We think this is an important one and we want all hands on deck. You are an important participant in maintaining educational integrity as market forces push to streamline your institution.

The Delta project is one of our favorite data sources and this latest report did not disappoint. Their lastest Delta Project Report looks at what drives the cost of higher education.

The report identifies the main cost drivers and shows that higher ed headcount as a ratio of the number of students enrolled remained relatively flat at public institutions and increased x percent at private universities (see Chart 1 below).

From a business point of view, the challenge is productivity: institutions did not produce any growth per employee. Before you start sputtering about using this measuring stick for the academic market, bear with us for just a couple paragraphs. We can leave it to your colleagues conferring MBAs to debate why there was no growth. They can also consider how to establish benchmarks for measuring growth for education. For our purposes today, we are simply looking at this as a financial and statistical fact that other parts of the economy have shown increased productivity or more output per employee hour. 

This year, we have been asked to recruit 10% more international students to internationalize our campus and to raise the necessary tuition revenue. Yes, we understand the financial pressures that we are under as a college and greater international student enrollment can be part of our long-term viability as we have been tracking a trend of weaker demographics in our typical domestic recruitment region. In talking to prospective domestic students and their parents, I know the pressure our higher tuition bills put on families.

I love what we accomplish as a college. We may not belong to the elite group of colleges, but I know we do change lives. More precisely, our professors, academic and other advisors, counselors, and fellow students change lives.

Student retention is one of the key buzz words in higher education. As a metric, this one is a key indicator or an individual institution's success in providing a valued education and in aggregate, an indicator of our country's ability to export education. 

Claudia Osna Geber is our newest Intead intern. Ms. Geber and her husband arrived in New York a few weeks ago to enhance their educational experiences and to live life abroad. As international students they are able to provide a unique perspective to our readers. This is Ms. Geber's first piece for the Intead Recruiting Intelligence Blog. Her experiences and insights can help to inform those who are in the business of international student marketing and international student recruitment.

The visa interview is one of the unpleasant steps in the process of becoming an international student in the United States.  We recently had a conversation with Tony Edson, who worked for the State Department for 28 years and dealt with the visa process.  We suggest five activities to help your prospective students feel more comfortable with the process.  You can dispel online and offline rumors that make your students nervous during the interview, set the right tone and show that you care about your students. You will be doing your job better, increasing the odds of your students receiving the visa without a hitch and allowing them to enroll at your college. Don't leave it up to chance. 

University President is a high profile and very challenging position. Trends in higher education are not making the position easier. As a result, we were interested in this little study of What Presidents Think underwritten by Pearson and published by the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Student enrollment requires a personal interaction with prospective students and their parents. At the same time, admissions departments are faced with many demands and limited budgets. Marketing technology is part of the solution to establish efficient processes in order to reach more students more efficiently but also since prospective students are researching their university choices via digital channels. 

During the winter break, I found more time to read lots of books and magazines. Let me share one headline that stuck with me.  "Average is Over." It's the title of economist Tyler Cowen's book about the future of our economy. But beyond the title of this book, this theme was prevalent in many of the books and articles I read. Competition is intensifying across all product and service categories, and product cycles are decreasing. Higher education is no exception to that increased competitive environment.  And you, the admissions and marketing departments, stand at the forefront of that competition for qualified and motivated students.  

• What motivates and interests this generation?
• How can universities communicate and how does this student group communicate with each other?
• What can we tell about how this generation consumes content?

The millennial index highlights five different segments and personas (See Chart 1). Depending on your focus (undergraduate vs. graduate studies), you will find a different share of these segments among your target audience.