According to Best Practices in International Student Recruitment and Retention in Anglophone Countries by Hanover Research, the U.S. recruits international students mainly from Asian and South Asian nations. “Asia currently generates 62 percent of America’s international students, and 74 percent of those students come from India, China, Japan, and South Korea.” As shown below (Figure 1), 11.2% of international students are from South Korea. Therefore, recruiting South Korean students can be an effective marketing strategy for colleges. How can US universities better attract Korean students?
Build relationships with High Schools in South Korea
Many Korean students from high schools listed below apply to colleges in various countries, such as the U.S., Canada, Japan, and China. These students want specific and precise information about overseas colleges. However, getting useful information is not easy because of geographic limitations. Therefore, many Korean students rely on information from the Internet or professional consultants. When colleges hold their own college fairs, briefing sessions or presentations at high schools, students and their parents definitely attend them. Below you will find a list of some of the high schools that send many Korean students abroad for higher education.
Ewha Girls’ Foreign Language High School
Daewon Foreign Language High School
Daeil Foreign Language High School
Myungduk Foreign Language High School
Seoul Foreign Language High School
Hanyoung Foreign Language High School
Korean Minjok Leadership Academy
Chungsim International High School
Make Connections with Consulting Firms for College Planning in South Korea
As I already mentioned above, many students visit consulting firms in order to discuss their college planning or they visit their websites to get information. Some consulting firms, such as Uhak.com and YESuhak, were introduced in a previous article: Prospective Korean Students' Web Searches. Thus, I want to introduce the other famous consulting firm, called Uhaknet in order to describe ways to reach Korean students. This company was established in 1992 and has 400 employees. It cooperates with 2500 partners in various countries, such as the U.S., France, Japan, and Spain. Some of their partners are very well-known colleges, such as Emory University, Western Michigan University, and Washington State University. Uuhaknet also has branches in New York and Los Angeles. Here are three suggestions colleges can try when they work with this company.
- Try advertising your college through Uhaknet’s site (Figure 2)
- Post your college’s information if the firm has not posted yet (Figure 3)
- Participate in fairs held by the firm (Figure 4)
- You can hold briefing sessions or make presentations for students
Uhaknet posts specific information on more than 140 colleges in the United States. For example, if you click Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), you can find very detailed information about the college. It describes CWRU’s history, location, population, percentage of international students, characteristics, and even notable alumni.
There are numerous creative ways to reach prospective Korean students. We've provided some ideas but we'd love to hear from you. How are you reaching Korean students? What creative methods have you employed?
