Recruiting Intelligence

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), a 48-country region with 1.2 billion people has a gross tertiary education enrollment ratio of just 9.4%. The global average: 40%.

To put it another way, young Western European and North American students are 10 times more likely than their SSA peers to get a shot at a degree. Another example of where you are born truly matters.  

Many capable degree-seeking SSA students look beyond their home countries for education opportunities. The good news here is you are likely in a position to help them find and actualize their dreams. Let’s look into the numbers. 

Our next opportunity to meet!   
EducationUSA Forum, Washington, D.C., July 30-August 1. Ben and Virginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin will share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  Hope to see you there! 

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As it stands, a full 70% of the SSA population is under age 30. And, by 2050, the number of university-age individuals in the region is expected to double. Yet, there is little chance its higher ed system will meet the demand. The most recent count shows 88 rated higher ed institutions in SSA, that’s per the Times Higher Education Sub-Saharan Africa University Rankings last year. That’s a tight (read: unrealistic) enrollment squeeze for these universities by any measure.  

Are you taking note? If you aren’t, France sure is. They are the top receiving country for this significant cohort. A Campus France report shows that 92,000 (27%) of the 430,000 SSA international students in 2021/22 studied in Europe, with France their top choice, followed by Germany, then Portugal. That same year, 42,518 traveled from SSA to study in the US, a number that rose to 50,199 in 2022/23. That's 18% growth from just 2021 to 2022.

These student decisions make sense as SSA is home to 23 Francophone countries, and more than 60% of people who speak French daily live in Africa. In fact, 80% of children studying French are in Africa. For some prospects, this makes France an appealing choice for international education. Others are less interested in studying in the country that once colonized them, as one U.S.-bound student noted at the 2023 AIEA conference. 

Our suggestion: Get to know this region. The growing youth population of sub-Saharan Africa offers a clear contrast to America’s enrollment cliff. Of course, not every student source country will be right for your institution – and none will match the application potential from India, even China – but as you expand your market reach, you may find parts of SSA make a whole lot of sense for the programs you offer and the internationalized campus you are building.  

Key questions your enrollment team should ask before entering any new market. Obvious, but helpful to clarify and state them as you think about each country:  

• Is there a growing youth population? 
• Is there a growing middle-class/GDP growth?
• Can a set of families afford travel costs and your program tuition? 
• Do your programs line up with the job opportunities in that market? 
• Can you provide a welcoming community and academic support for these students on campus? 

If you ever need help exploring new market opportunities, we are just a click away: info@intead.com.

We've written about and analyzed African source countries before. Today, let's dive into Tanzania, an SSA country that currently meets 3 key market entry requirements. 

• Rising youth population: Nearly 20% of Tanzanians (68.6 million total pop.) are aged 15 to 24, with the median age 17. 

• Rising incomes: In 2020, Tanzania moved from low-income to lower-middle-income status and today gets a B+ per credit rating agency Fitch. 

• Employment opportunities for returning graduates: Tanzania’s unemployment rate is forecast at 2.38% this year, with growth in agriculture, mining, tourism, infrastructure, and energy sectors.  

Your institution's rank is far less important here and, as we noted, your competitor institutions are likely not present in this market.

Take a closer look with us at how you might position your institution to attract Tanzanian students. Read on for 5 key recruitment insights on this market. Go even further using our Resource Center offering 15 targeted articles and reports on specific approaches to recruiting students from Africa. Pro Tip: use the search bar and type in "Africa" to find, for example, this post on African Tech Hubs.

In 2019, the Intead team along with FPP EDUMedia conducted primary research to assess the influencers, interests, and political reactions in African and Latin American student populations to help institutions like yours tap emerging, or what we now consider, evolving student markets. 

More than 12,300 international students from over a dozen countries responded to our survey. What we learned has helped shape some really important conversations with clients looking to broaden their international reach.  

Enrollment ambiguity continues to push us to explore new opportunities. We encourage you to return to this research for still relevant guidance as you look for ways to grow, diversify, and strengthen your international recruitment strategy.  

If you want to chat about how you are building your Fall 2024 strategy or the tactical execution approaches we have found most valuable, Ben and Iliana will be at the NACAC conference presenting alongside our colleagues from AIRC and Middle Tennessee State University on Sept 22 in Baltimore. Can we schedule a time to chat? Coffee's on us! 

We know folks are short on time and just want us to get to the actionable points. So, we took the key ideas from our previous research and put them into a one-pager comparing Africa, Central America, and South America. You can grab that at the bottom of this blog post.  

In the full Emerging Markets e-book, available to Intead Plus members, you will find very helpful recruitment strategy insights: 

• How your university can best appeal to student prospects in specific evolving regions and countries (segmentation)  
• Influential messaging tips that highlight your strongest differentiators (stand out in the marketplace)  
• Effective distribution channels to reach your target audience with those differentiators.  

To get the free one-page comparison, read on… 

Your feedback keeps us on the right track. You, our blog readers, tell us with your clicks and your comments. We welcome the likes, the corrections, the whole shebang.

As we look ahead to what is shaping up to be a bustling 2023, we’d love to hear what topics you’d like us to tackle. Send us a note and we’ll take it into editorial consideration. Maybe even throw a shoutout your way.

Just coming off a whirlwind December with presentations at the AIRC and ICEF conferences and our full day workshop at San Diego State University, we have so much to share with you in the weeks ahead. Reflections, insights, slides. All in the name of making your student recruitment marketing plan that much tighter. You’ll be glad you are along with the ride.

Right here and now, we’ve compiled our readers’ top 10 posts from 2022. These are the blog posts that you said were most enticing and valuable. You clicked, you shared, and hopefully, you put into practice some of what you learned.

Big Picture: our analytics show in no uncertain terms that everyone wants to know more about China, TikTok, new market development, data analytics, and the student mindset. We'll have more on those topics throughout 2023. Still valuable: Read on for quick hit summaries and links to the content that most drew your attention, and the attention of your colleagues, over the past year.

The relief of entering a more “normal-ish” academic year is met with both new and familiar recruitment and admissions challenges: student housing shortages, diminishing interest in postsecondary education here in the US, eroding confidence in our academic institutions, and increasing competition for students from abroad. Oh, and the looming demographic cliff in the US.

One step forward. Two steps back. (Or was that four? Maybe let’s not count right now.) This from the marketing agency always pushing analytics ; -)

Truth is, we’re not that cynical. But if you are reading the edu literature, the headlines would push anyone in that direction.

Nevertheless, if you follow what IIE has to say, then in-person learning has rebounded, as has in-person study abroad and international applications. We are waiting on concrete industry enrollment numbers to confirm growth, but still, we know what is happening out there. There is progress on many fronts.

There are always cycles. And those who analyze and plan are far more likely to succeed. Too busy to do it well is not an option. Too cynical to fight for success really doesn’t work either. Optimism tied to well-researched targets motivates the team. Motivated, proactive partners can truly move the needle.

COME LEARN WITH US!

Among our colleagues in this field, we see a tremendous thirst for gathering and evaluating our options, with time to really talk it through. The Intead/San Diego State University One-Day Workshop will be a hands-on opportunity to learn from an awe-inspiring international student recruitment faculty.

• Full-day, hands-on workshop on strategy and execution: Come with questions, leave with a plan.
• Two luminary keynotes
  • Social Justice Luncheon with Dr. Jewell Winn and Adrienne Fusek
  • Chinese Student Influencers Dinner with Dr. Yingyi Ma and Brad Farnsworth

• At $200 for the day (inclusive of all meals), this learning opportunity is a steal. (Pricing goes up to $350 on October 24, 2022).

As you take a moment to weigh the opportunities in higher ed today, we offer a recap of the most valuable news from Q3 2022, including insights on China and Africa as well as some practical how-to tips on marketing to the Gen Z digital natives. Read on…

All eyes on China is not a winning international student recruitment strategy today. Not that it ever was. The stronger approach: diversifying the pool of countries your institution pulls from. We’ve been saying this for more than a decade. Institutional budget allocations have not always heeded the advice.

We get it. Student volume and confidence in achieving enrollment targets have driven academic CFOs and others who manage risk to take the more conservative path. Over the past decade+, our clients are typically those interested in pushing beyond the conservative global recruitment path. They are the institutions that recognize the value of building a broad range of relationships to feed their student enrollment.

This diversification, both domestic and international, provides for more long-term stability. That strategy is becoming far more attractive to many more institutions today. And that strategy takes time and investment to execute well, to build a reliable and diverse supply chain as it were.

Last week we wrote about the three key things to look for in markets ripe for international student recruitment: a growing youth population, rising incomes, and employment opportunities for returning graduates. And a growing list of countries in Africa is meeting the short(er) list for institutions seeking international students. It may be time you take a closer look at this region.

Here’s the link to Part 1 in this 2-part series (in case you missed it). Today we offer student recruitment insights for Ethiopia, South Africa, Morocco, and Tanzania.

And for more African student recruitment insights from our pre-Covid research (still highly relevant as you develop your recruitment plans), check out:

• Out of Africa, Part 2: African Students Studying Abroad
• Out of Africa, Part 3: International Study Across Africa & Foreign Investment

With a nod to last week’s post (with many useful links for the careful planner that we know you are), important to note that there is competition for these students from attractive and less expensive institutions in Russia (before the Ukrainian crisis), France, Germany, China, and some Middle Eastern countries.

In our discussion of 7 African nations, we cite a variety of useful sources to demonstrate how varied information sources will add to your country and cultural perspectives. Hopefully through this post and the next, you will find some new research sites to support your planning. (We love participating in that broader teaching mission as well).

Read on for tips on recruiting students from Ethiopia, South Africa, Morocco, and Tanzania

The best markets for international student recruitment have three key things going for them:

• a growing youth population, 
• rising incomes, and
• employment opportunities for returning graduates.

The African continent has a number of under-utilized recruitment hubs that boast all three.

The three bullet points above are useful generic perspective applicable to pretty much any institution – higher ed and private high schools. But what about your specific institution?

How do you make headway in the new(ish) student recruitment markets that African countries represent? Will your differentiators resonate there? Which channels will reach your ideal student segments?

Perhaps start with some of our analysis with helpful, still valid insights compiled prior to Covid. You’ll appreciate the discussion of recruiting agents, creative partnerships, and other valuable recruiting channels:

• Africa's Tech Hubs: Your New Student Source?
• International Student Recruiting in Africa Part I: Africa’s Competitive Edge (3-part series)

To be clear, African countries, as sources of international students will not replace the flow of students coming out of China. So, if your enrollment goals are all about achieving target numbers and not about diversifying your campus, you may hesitate to invest here.

And yet, the thing about hitting your enrollment goals is that you win by building strong relationships and pipelines. Clearly, China and India have the volume and the larger accessible market size, but your institution needs student recruitment opportunities where you can be truly competitive. And diversifying your campus has rewards that speak directly to your institution’s broader teaching mission. Seeking less common sources of international students is one way you do all that.

An increasing number of institutions are approaching the Intead team to explore further afield. A welcome and important mindset. While regular readers of our blog know we continue to share perspectives on, and implement recruitment strategies for, traditional student sources (China, India, Vietnam, Brazil, S. Korea). With more institutions seeking new markets, it is a good time to revisit the approach to Africa as a valuable source.

Obviously, the pandemic slowed the inflow of international students from all parts of the globe, and Africa is no exception. But now, as pandemic restrictions ebb and economies recover, smart institutions are bringing Africa back into their awareness as a prime source of engaged, qualified students.

In fact, more than a few African countries have achieved the World Bank’s “middle economy” status and are expanding their leadership in sectors such as agriculture, oil and gas, and tech. These industries offer promising careers but tend to demand higher education degrees. Foreign degrees draw attention to job candidate resumes. Many US institutions offer long-established degrees and certifications that African higher education institutions are still developing.

Important to note that there is competition for these students. While the US has a strong draw (the US brand and all that), Russia (before the Ukrainian crisis), France, Germany, China, and some Middle Eastern countries have been courting students from African countries for a while with less expensive degrees than are typically found in the US.

Also interesting to note that over the past 5 years, both the US and China have each invested in the African continent at around $40B annually. Much of the investment has gone toward construction (roads/transportation) and mining.

According to The Brookings Institute, “China’s influence goes beyond the trade relationship: It is also the top investor in infrastructure, and now is the first destination of English-speaking African students, outperforming the U.S. and the U.K.” (source cited below).

In our 2-part blog post about 7 African nations, we cite a variety of useful sources to demonstrate how varied information sources will add to your country and cultural perspectives. Hopefully, through this post and the next, you will find some new research sites to support your planning. (We love participating in that broader teaching mission as well).

Read on to evaluate some of the strategies that we have found effective for recruiting students from the African continent.

As your institution strives to hit ever-more ambitious enrollment goals we know that you are focused on the future.

Part of that future, for those up to the challenge, will be putting great effort and resources into diversifying your student source countries. With shifts in student mobility, declining enrollment in English language programs, and major changes in the Chinese student market, now is not the time to rest on your institution’s laurels.

Beyond the educational, cross-cultural benefits of a more globally representative student population, broadening your recruiting channels will help you meet your enrollment targets. Your CFO and senior administrators will thank you, since diverse global enrollment = diverse revenue sources, meaning a more stable base of tuition that can weather downturns in individual markets.

But which student markets should you target? And, more importantly, how can you best appeal to those students?

Enter our latest Know Your Neighborhood eBook: a special edition report focused on student recruitment in the emerging markets of Africa and Latin America. In partnership with FPPEDUMEDIA, and their fabulous international student database, we reached out to our target markets and received more than 12,300 survey responses from students in 16 countries. Of course, we crunched the numbers and created some great infographics to convey our insights to you.

With this report you will make better and more informed decisions as you embrace and adapt to a changing global market.

From top program interests to messages that most influence students’ university selection and everything in between, we’re giving you a country-by-country breakdown of our findings, including recommendations on how and where to engage students.

Give it a read, and when you’re ready to put the insights into play, we’re here to talk: info@intead.com.

Read on for a preview and to download your copy…

This is our third and final installment in our series about international student recruitment opportunities in Africa. In case you haven’t been with us since the beginning, Part 1 was about the emerging online learning opportunities in Africa, and Part 2 was about African student mobility and study in the U.S.

This week, we are focusing on international study within the continent and how some countries are trying to harness that student mobility for their own gain. With any marketing plan it is always important to understand the larger environment and other consumer options.

Our Intead Plus BookShelf Subscription gives you access to our Global Marketing Worksheets helping you plan your approach to entering any new region or market. We use these worksheets when giving our workshops at various conferences to help you create realistic budgets and timelines, targeted messaging and overall marketing plans. 

As we noted in Parts 1 & 2 of this series, foreign investment and economies are on the rise in Africa, along with the population. The continent is expected to have 2.8 billion people by 2060, roughly 40 percent of the world’s total.

Those people will need to be educated, and the rise in demand for tertiary education has begun. The sub-Saharan enrollment from 1970-2013 grew 4.3 percent annually, as compared to the global average of 2.8 percent, according to the World Bank.

Many African students are turning to universities outside of their home countries—and many of them are still staying within the continent. Let’s look at what is going on and what you need to know about China and India before you start recruiting from Africa…

(Read on)

Last week, we spoke about the emerging online learning opportunities in Africa.  This week, we are focusing on international study, both areas that have expanded because of a college-aged population boom across the African continent.

Foreign investment and economies are on the rise along with the population. The continent is expected to have 2.8 billion people by 2060, roughly 40 percent of the world’s total.

Those people will need to be educated, and the rise in demand for tertiary education has begun. The sub-Saharan enrollment from 1970-2013 grew 4.3 percent annually, as compared to the global average of 2.8 percent, according to the World Bank.

U.S. universities have made large efforts to recruit international students in Asia, but as mentioned in our 2016 blog series on recruiting students from Africa, African nations are a boon of potential students that have barely been touched with marketing efforts.

Currently, the continent has a population of 1.2 billion people, 60 percent of which are under the age of 25 (720 million). To really drive that number home, 29 out of 30 of the world’s countries with the youngest populations are in Africa.

If you didn’t check these posts out last week, see our previous posts: Overall Student Trends in Africa, Recruiting Students from Nigeria, Recruiting Students from Kenya, plus this post on Africa’s tech hubs.

How can U.S. institutions use this population growth to their advantage? We've got the data and tips to point you in the right direction.

And, for even more recruitment advice, check out Intead Plus and our new, more affordable Bookshelf Membership.

Read on…

Universities from Moscow to Los Angeles and everywhere in between have a growing interest in student mobility within the African continent. As political tensions grow and visa practices shift, more and more conversations in our industry turn to the question of diversification of student sources.

Frankly, the comment, “I’m concerned that we are too reliant on China,” has been hanging in the air for about a decade. But now, NOW, SIOs and those above them are taking this concern far more seriously.

Long post today. Those who persevere will be rewarded with valuable tips. Promise.

It is important to note the growth of online learning platforms that are expanding everywhere. A recent Intead blog post discussed the growth of Coursera and EdX, which primarily serve U.S. users. Across the Atlantic and the Pacific, there has been a rise in the use of online platforms as well. There are many factors to consider as you think about diversifying your sources of students.

Intead is offering full access to our global market research including our oh-so-helpful ebook on recruiting non-traditional students, now available through a more affordable Intead Plus subscription called Intead Plus Bookshelf. All the market research access and none of the custom Google Analytics Report. Just offering you more options. Take a moment to check it out.

Pro Tip: Your subscription to Intead Plus is institution wide. Anyone internal to your organization can tap our resources through your institutional subscription.

Now, let’s step back just a bit for perspective and then dive in deeper over the next three weeks to consider how diversifying your student sources in Africa can work. We hope you’ll stick with us for this three-part blog series and pass it on to your colleagues.

As always, our posts help you convey to others in your institution a broader understanding of what you are trying to achieve and the challenges you face. And they help you set your plans in motion. 

Read on…