Recruiting Intelligence

Creating brand recognition abroad when there are so many higher education institutions can be an ongoing challenge for universities. Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio has instituted an exciting and novel approach to building brand awareness, spreading its educational message and educating international students who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to attain an American degree. At the 2012 NAFSA Region VI Conference three Franklin University leaders presented their exciting on-location international degree programs. A special thank you to Suzie Arehart, Bridget Banaszak and Tamer Khadre for presenting this information.

“It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future,” as the quote goes by Yogi Barra & Niels Bohr.  I was reminded of this quote as I read an article on trends in liberal arts colleges. "Since 1990, the number of liberal arts schools in the U.S. has dropped from 212 to 130, a 39 percent decrease". This information came from a study by Roger Baldwin from Michigan State University "Are liberal arts colleges disappearing"  The author states that only a handful of colleges have gone out of business, but many have added vocational programs in nursing and business and have changed their focus so dramatically that they no longer retain a liberal arts identity. It's a shift of great magnitude without any major headlines for the outside world to notice. I strongly feel that education will continue to change without dramatic public headlines.

 I want to discuss five predictions and analyze how these changes will affect student recruitment and marketing activities. 

Travel to international markets and personal outreach to students and parents is an important element of student recruitment. No different than in your home recruitment activities, the personal touch can be a critical starting point of a relationship and a future enrollment.

Orientation is an important part of setting up, integrating and preparing international students for their new living and academic environments. We have heard questions and frustration about students missing orientation at the beginning of the semester. We'd like to give a few suggestions on how to encourage greater participation. 

I have heard quite a few U.S. colleagues asking me about the secondary schools in Vietnam and where they would find the most number of potential candidates for their programs. Where will you find students with strong academic performance, best English skills, and high propensity to seek a college education in the U.S.?

We couldn't help it, but the University of Chicago's recent letter to prospective students caught our attention.  We are awarding the University of Chicago's Office of Undergraduate Admission and the leader of the crew, James Nondorf, VP of Enrollment and Financial Aid the Intead Award for Creative Engagement.  

What started as a way to decorate my office became something more intriguing this summer. This past spring I decided to make my office look brighter and more collegiate. I began purchasing pennants during my spring and summer visits to college campuses as a way to share pride for those universities. As my collection developed I was struck by the vast cost differential of collegiate pennants.

Although all of the pennants were manufactured by the same company, Collegiate Pacific, the prices of the pennants ranged from just under $10 to over $20. I couldn’t figure out why there would be such a vast price range for standard 12”x30” felt pennants. I was shocked and also curious. What would I find when comparing these universities? With the help of our summer interns we put together a chart outlining the price of pennants at the top 100 universities, according to the 2011 US News and World Report rankings. What did we find?

The pennant index project revealed some surprising results. Whereas I had made a hypothesis that the caliber of the institution and its prominence on the US News rankings would determine pennant price, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Some of the most expensive pennants came from lower ranking institutions. There seems to be little correlation between ranking, tuition price, and pennant price. For this research, Columbia and Harvard were an incredible steal. 

Are you concerned about improving your reach and productivity in social media marketing? You should always be thinking about improving your systems, and this could be one to consider.