Recruiting Intelligence

Recruiting international students is hard work. There's no doubt about it: Traveling internationally, meeting students and parents over the span of back-to-back (to-back-to-back) 12, 14 or 16 hour days, all while keeping up with home office responsibilities. Thank goodness the rewards are great. Well, the personal rewards are great, that's why we are in this line of work. But what about the organizational rewards. How are we doing there?

Will the use of commission-based recruitment by U.S. higher education grow dramatically in the near future? We are wondering this, of course in part, because of the decision by NACAC to tolerate the use of commission-based recruitment by their members. Universities may feel less constraint to admit that they are using agents and encouraged to add this recruitment channel. Furthermore, more universities are increasing their emphasis on international enrollment as an additional revenue source. And yes, everybody is looking to diversify their student body as well. 

According to this great infographic, 82% of American universities use Facebook to communicate with prospective students.

As you interact with international students, your job is to present your academic programs the best way you can and identify the right students who will be a good academic, personal and financial fit for your institution. 

Universities rarely go out of business or let's say out of existence. Maybe we should carefully add "so far" since we know that financial pressures are increasing dramatically. Competition is intensifying. Public funding has decreased and as we all know tuition has increased to a level where it is difficult to raise net tuition. Students and their parents are more reluctant or unable to take on the financial burden. I am a strong believer that education is one of the best investments young people can ever make. Financial pressures, among other reasons, have pushed many colleges to recruit more international students. Full paying students are rare in the United States, so adding a cohort of more or less full paying international students can make a difference.  As a result, we see many universities entering the international markets. And by the way, we don't mind since we enjoy working with colleges and it is helping us grow our business as well.

In addition to working for Intead as the Academic Advisor, I also work alongside high school students counseling and preparing them for the college application and admissions process. As an independent counselor I don't work for a specific high school or college. I am paid directly by my clients. I treat each family as if the students were my own children, eager to go into the world, but in need of advice to get to the next step. Because of my work with Intead I am incredibly interested in the great agent debate primarily because it affects our clients and their ability to recruit students, but more personally because, abroad, I would likely be assigned the title "agent." This post isn't intended to perpetuate the agent debate but given my unique perspective as one who works with students and parents, in the US and internationally, and who partners with universities, I have an ability to see these issues from numerous sides.

When it comes to international student recruitment and marketing there are many obvious factors that affect a student's interest in one institution over another. Things like (US News and World Report) rankings, cost/financial assistance, availability of desired programs, an international student presence, post-graduation opportunities. These factors all play into a student's decision making process. But there are other factors, which I'll call "soft" factors that also affect student's decision making. In building or maintaining recruitment and marketing efforts it's certainly worth your while to consider these factors.

Universities are getting hit by a tsunami of changes ranging from increased competition among universities as they expand traditional recruiting territories, stronger on-line competition from traditional and new competitive entries, rising tuition and student debt levels as well as a new marketing environment.  I am focusing on the latter change, which is getting less attention given the magnitude of the other factors. 

We are avid readers of all types of materials so we decided to share with our readers our staff bookshelves. Here is our first installment.  Please feel free to send us recommendations of books you found helpful and would suggest to your colleagues.