Recruiting Intelligence

We’re going to state the obvious and break it down. Because it seems some of your colleagues may need to hear this. Better coming from us than you.  Helpful perspective: historical data tell us that 30% to 40% of all US institutions see declining international enrollment in any given year. So, for your consideration...

First: If you are not seeing the enrollment results you want, something must change to produce new outcomes. (Someone wise has said: insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results. Apparently, it wasn’t Albert Einstein. Nevertheless, it holds up).   

Second: If you want to increase university enrollment fast, you’re going to have to put real money into the process. You’re likely going to continue doing what you already do because even though you are seeing diminishing returns, you can’t afford to lose them. So, new funds must be added to the existing budget.   

All obvious, right? Well, it seems folks need to hear it. But we have more to share here to help you get the numbers ... 

Opportunities to Meet the Intead Team  

• AIRC, Seattle-Bellevue, Washington, Dec. 4-7, 2024. Our team is here now with 3 powerful sessions on budgeting, pathways, and streamlining admissions processes. Come find us. 
• AIEA, Houston, Texas, March 02-05, 2025
• NAFSA Annual, San Diego, CA,  May 27-30, 2025

Bookmark this: Intead’s Resource Center 
Access 800+ articles, slides decks, reports with relevant content on any topic important to enrollment management and student recruiting.  Check it out.

Third: If you cannot access additional funds, you will have to cut something you are currently doing and reallocate those funds. If your leadership is of the innovative risk-taker mindset, you can stop doing some of your current, less effective things and put that money into the new thing. Your stronger results will be slow to materialize, and your leadership needs to stay the course (not pull the funding) when fabulous new results do not magically appear in year one. To maintain internal support, you must track your activity and report on the results along the way.

What you want with all the tracking is your ability to provide your leadership with the confidence that there is learning and progress going on that will lead to stronger results in the next couple of years. Know that your leadership is facing down a whole lot of criticism including daggers from across campus trying to remove your funding. The dagger throwers are expecting your plans to fail.  

Fourth (getting into the details): You have options when you think about innovating to produce new, stronger results. We review 12 primary recruiting options when we run our conference workshops on student recruiting. Today we take a quick look at each tactic with a careful eye on cost and flexibility.

Read on for our 12 recruitment option tips and perspective… 

The US continues to be a top destination for international students. As other anglophile countries find new reasons to limit their student intake (we’re looking at you Canada, Australia, and UK), there is still competition for student attention. Now is no time for US institutions to rest on their laurels.  

The macro numbers around student mobility are always interesting. But the fact is that each institution has tremendous potential in any given market if it plays its unique cards well.  

It starts with market intelligence, understanding your consumer, their motivations, influencers, and how the unique attributes of your institution relate to those consumer insights. There are questions you and your recruitment team are asking: 

• Are you reaching the right prospective international students?  

• Are your markets diversified enough? Targeted enough?  

• How do you know if you are doing all of this well? 

Opportunities to Meet the Intead Team  
- NAFSA Region XI, Hartford, Connecticut, Oct. 27-29, 2024
- PIE Live North America, Boston, MA, Nov. 19-20, 2024
- AIRC, Seattle-Bellevue, Washington, Dec. 04-07, 2024 -- including our pre-conference global marketing workshop. A full day of Intead global intel (lunch included ; -). Details here. 

Bookmark this: Intead’s Resource Center 
Access 800+ articles, slides, reports with relevant content on any topic important to enrollment management and student recruiting.  Check it out.

Over the past year we’ve offered insights into regions we think are well worth watching on 3 continents – China, India, Vietnam, Tanzania, Guyana. Each of these countries offers something interesting for international student recruiters to think about. All won’t be right for every institution, but each are right for some.  

Read on to understand how we’re thinking about these markets and to link to our more in-depth articles each one.  

The plight of your visa-seeking international grads may best be summed up in this quote, “Given the choice between a prostate exam and sponsoring a work visa, hiring managers will probably choose the former.”  

Zeke Hernandez, a Wharton School professor and author of The Truth About Immigration, gave us a good chuckle with that one when we read it in an August 2024 issue of The Economist. It’s funny because it’s true as the meme goes.   

In an analysis done by ed tech company F1 Hire, only 1.6% of the 1.5 million job postings analyzed had sponsorship-friendly language in the job description. This research was part of Intead’s Connecting Dots report How International Students are Finding US Jobs, published in May. If you haven’t seen it yet, find it here. Our analysis of US Department of Labor data and proprietary data from F1 Hire offers job market insights you won’t find anywhere else. 

Opportunities to Meet the Intead Team  
- NAFSA Region XI, Hartford, Connecticut, Oct. 27-29, 2024
- PIE Live North America, Boston, MA, Nov. 19-20, 2024
- AIRC, Seattle-Bellevue, Washington, Dec. 4-7 -- including our pre-conference global marketing workshop. A full day of Intead global intel (lunch included ; -). Details here. 

Bookmark this: Intead’s Resource Center 
Access 800+ articles, slides, reports with relevant content on any topic important to enrollment management and student recruiting.  Check it out.

Understanding career pathways for international students is an increasingly necessary topic for those of us who advocate for and work on behalf of this valuable and important student population. In fact, 84% of international students cite career advancement as their top motivator for studying abroad. And >99% believe it’s why their families want them to study abroad (source: Intead’s Know Your Neighborhood 2024 report).  

But it’s so much more than that. These bright, highly skilled students are a crucial part of the economy. As pointed out in a recent Economist article, immigrants account for 14% of the US population yet are responsible for 36% of the country’s total innovation. It makes sense why. They bring not just knowledge, but new ideas, perspectives, and networks that help shape their work environments. Global perspectives, ideas, and connections benefit everyone.  

At Intead we need only look up from our own desks to see the positive impact of multinational teams (and to our case studies for bottom-line proof of results). We expect many of you are fortunate enough to work in similar environments. We are all better for it as individuals. Our work product is stronger as well.  

The Biden Administration offered a bit of good news for international students earlier this year when they issued guidance making it easier for foreign graduates of American academic institutions to get work authorization. But it’s a small gesture that will likely have minimal impact. Still, we welcome the forward motion. 

Read on for ways your institution can improve career connections for your students...