Recruiting Intelligence

Before the World Cup came to Boston, the Boston Globe delivered sobering news: hoteliers reporting tepid occupancy during event dates as prices dropped and minimum night stays went from four to two. Sold tickets as of mid-June “portend disappointment for the hospitality industry,” the paper wrote. The forecast looked as grim as the train to Foxborough Stadium looked long.

Then came the Tartan Army.

Boston, a city with genuine pride in its libations, started making emergency keg runs. Fenway Park didn’t know what hit it. Mayor Michelle Wu signed a formal letter of intent to make Glasgow a sister city. Locals are wondering if their city is, dare we say it, actually fun. No one has accused Boston of that since before Covid.

Then, right in the middle of this World Cup mania, the University of Strathclyde slid into our Instagrams with a perfectly timed message “Dear Boston, let Scotland return the welcome. Study in Glasgow – the world’s friendliest city.” Chefs kiss on the timing of that placement.

It seems we all are having a bit of fun.

The World Cup Reset

For those of us with a global point of view, the World Cup has served as a welcome corrective. The stories we typically hear have run dire for too long. Enrollment declines, visa uncertainty, policy whiplash, vanishing enrollment. But this moment has re-ignited faith in the idea of global community. The idea that we are better together is alive and well. Have we drunk the World Cup Koolaid?

Yes! Can we offer you any?

And yet, what University of Strathclyde’s ad quietly signals: while US institutions navigate the turbulence, competitors abroad are on the move. According to Keystone’s 2026 State of Student Recruitment report, drawing on 67,000 prospective students across 150 countries, the UK rose to the top of stated study intentions, interest in Italy and Germany held strong, and India entered the top 10 intended destinations for the first time. The globally mobile student population isn’t in decline; it’s expanding its options. The question is whether your institution will be in consideration.

Our suggestion: use the momentum of the World Cup to spur internationalization innovation at your institution. We, of course, have lots of ideas on that front. Chief among them: understand how your internationalization strategy and structure are actually serving you, and how they are not. As we ride through a moment of change, secure your foundation now. The ball is at your feet.

Read on for how we think you can move forward…

What we know: international students have a well-documented and unambiguous impact on the US economy and society. Each year the US is $43+ billion wealthier because of these students. And our classrooms, campuses, and communities benefit from their diverse viewpoints and clear-minded ambitions, keeping our workforce competitive, tech companies growing, and sciences advancing. 

There’s no skirting the fact higher education is in a reactionary period as the White House does all it can to implement short-sighted changes to US higher education (and we’re being generous here with our choice of words). Advocacy has never mattered more. Which makes the release of our latest research – done in collaboration with the great minds at NAFSA and Fox Hollow Advisory – that much more important. 

Opportunities to Meet the Intead Team  

• Look for us at NAFSA in May, NACUBO and APLU in June, and NACAC in September. Let us know  if you want to connect at these events.
• Meet us online Tues., May 6, for the next AIRC webinar where Intead CEO Ben Waxman will join Co-panelists Kevin Timlin, Southeast Missouri State University and Manisha Zaveri, Career Mosaic for the expert-led discussion: IEM Student Lifecycle Series: Effective Student Recruitment Strategies.  

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.

Phase I of Global Talent: International Student Employment Trends After Graduation – released for download today – gives preliminary, yet important findings that will help bolster conversations we’re all having right now. This report goes beyond public data to answer:  

• What is the longer-term value of attracting and retaining international students to US higher ed institutions?
• How do international graduates contribute to the US workforce and economy?    

The report analyzes behaviors, motivations, and the economic impact of international students after earning their US degree. Special thanks to each of the following participating institutions:  

• California State University, San Bernardino
• Ottawa University 
• Salem State University 
• Southern Methodist University 
• University of California, Davis 
• University of Houston 
• University of Kansas 
• University of North Texas 
• University of Redlands 
• University of Texas at Austin 
• Washburn University 
• Wichita State University 

This research explores the alignment between US institutions producing international student talent, the US economy, and US job market demands. It’s part of a larger initiative aimed at understanding how US education benefits both international students and the nation. Read on to download the report… 

Shout out to Q4 for giving us all something to think about. Cue the Chinese expression: "Better to be a dog in times of tranquility than a human in times of chaos." (宁享平安犬生，莫为乱世中人). Yup, got it! Right now, we are those humans, perhaps wishing we were dogs.  

Between the US presidential election and IIE Open Doors data, many of us are recalibrating our approach to 2025. Fortunately, we’ve worked through anti-immigration policies and lackluster international student enrollment numbers before. We’ll weather this. But there is work ahead for all of us. 

So, if you’ve missed a few of our Recruiting Intelligence articles, we understand. This post will catch you right up. 

Opportunities to Meet the Intead Team  

• AIEA in March and NAFSA in May, we'll be presenting our latest findings at both. Want to connect at either event? Let us know.

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.

Below, get our latest insights on topics that matter to you, including:  

• Digital Marketing: The impact of AI on your SEO; Our social algorithms cheat sheet
• Marketing Strategy: 5 Student recruitment markets worth considering; How to find and use your student career outcome data to recruit; Why personas get a bad rap
• Industry Reports: CHLOE 9: Strategy Shift -- Institutions Respond to Sustained Online Demand; Trump v Harris -- Student Sentiment Analysis 
• Conference Highlights: Intead’s notes and slides from AMA Higher Ed, PIE Live Boston, NAFSA XI 

Read on… 

Increased demand for online learning is forcing institutions to rethink their approach to programming. 

You likely read that line in a news article a decade ago. But it is news once again. 

Consider this: 69% of chief online learning officers (COLOs) surveyed this year reported prioritizing online versions of on-campus courses, and 65% said they are prioritizing online equivalents of degree programs.  

These significant stats unveiled in the Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE) report, CHLOE 9: Strategy Shift: Institutions Respond to Sustained Online Demand, produced by Quality Matters, Eduventures, and Educause, reveal just how far our industry has come.  

For the past decade, a common hesitation among campus leaders resisting change was the legit and long-held idea that online courses of on-campus offerings risk cannibalizing campus student enrollments. That concern has given way to the notion that these virtual programs may instead attract new audiences. Have we achieved win, win?  

And what of the potential for Online Program Managers (OPMs) in all of this? 

Opportunities to Meet the Intead Team  
- American Marketing Assn Higher Ed, Las Vegas, NV, Nov. 10-13, 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 decks, reports with relevant content on any topic important to enrollment management and student recruiting.  Check it out.

It’s obvious that the pandemic dramatically accelerated online edu investment. Now, a few semesters past the pandemic's throes, demand for online learning remains high, particularly from students – though a greater number of faculty appreciate it, too. And obviously, institution leaders are paying attention. Thankfully the mood is also shifting from emergency response to long-term sustainability, hastening more meaningful cross-campus discussions on implementation, support, and strategy.  

The CHLOE 9 report adds depth to the conversations we’re all having about online education: investment priorities, pricing approaches, points of friction, third-party services (oh, those OPMS!), and a handful of other key topics worth consideration. Not least among them: Are the participants (faculty and students) simply phoning it in? In other words, does the convenience of remote learning still achieve the desired learning outcomes? And yes, we all feel the learning outcomes slipping.

And for you, what impact does this report have on your recruitment strategy? Read on…  

English language programs (ELP) are a barometer for future enrollment trends. Canaries in the coal mine if you will. When participation is strong, your upcoming application season will likely also be strong. On the other hand, a drop in participation can foreshadow a similar fate for near-term enrollment. (source: see pandemic) 

Understanding the health of this academic niche makes a lot of sense, especially for those tasked with program development or international student recruitment, which is why we so appreciate the efforts of EnglishUSA and their partners BONARD and Pearson Test of English, for their work on the recently published Annual Report on English Language Programs in the USA 2023. The report offers insights helpful to edu institutions across the board. And in this, their second annual report, they offer good news: ELP enrollment is up.

A special thanks to Cheryl Delk-Le Good for bringing this report to our community.

The analysis of the canaries gives us the signposts we all want. The countries where ELP numbers are up give us perspective on where it might make sense to focus our international student recruitment investments.

Our next opportunity to meet!   
NAFSA Region XI, Hartford, CT, Oct 27-29. The Intead team will be there presenting on Admission Process Analysis, Marketing Data Analytics, and Marketing Study Abroad Programs with university partners from our New England region friends from Quinnipiac, Johnson and Wales, Clark, and Emerson. Practical strategies and creative tactics to hit your enrollment targets.  Hope to see you there! 

PIE Live North America, Boston, MA, Nov 19-20. We will be talking about our analysis of career success data and how institutions can use that data to improve recruitment initiatives around the world. Our powerhouse co-presenters: Kerry Salerno, Chief Marketing Officer, Babson College and Andrew Chen, CEO, F1 Hire.

Bookmark this: Intead’s Resource Center 
Take your challenge of the day and plop it into our search bar. With 800+ publications and our 15 years of weekly blogging, you will find relevant content on any topic important to enrollment management and student recruiting. Check it out.

According to the EnglishUSA report, the global English language teaching sector continues to recover and is now 77% of its 2019 student numbers, signaling a positive trend in overall postsecondary enrollment. In the US, the recovery rate was 69% – lower, but still positive.   

Compare this to US institutions as a whole. While all enrollment (domestic + international) is still down 800,000 students from 2019 numbers per the National Student Clearinghouse, solid gains have been made to rebuild enrollment. The latest IIE data on international students in the US (2022/23) indicates that numbers have reached 98% of the 2019/20 levels.  

On a global scale, the EnglishUSA report shows 1.1 million students in 2023 took an English language course in one of eight major destinations – Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, and US.  Among these, the US was the third most popular country, hosting 13% of the students, falling in line behind the UK and Australia. And that 13% added up to over $1.7 billion in direct economic impact to the US economy. Education is a solid export for the US. 

These numbers just scratch the surface of the nuanced report, which offers perspective on preferred course types, recruitment channels, visa challenges, more on the economic impact of ELP students, and other valuable insights.  

With students back on campus, we know you’re busy. So, today a quick overview of the stats we found particularly interesting as global marketers. Read on… 

It could be the rush to diversify student recruitment markets. Or the need for tech tools and processes to bring the student journey into the AI era. Or maybe it’s to simply find marketing insights and cultural nuances for a specific region or country. More often than not, it has to do with needing to build internal support for your global student recruiting plans. Whatever the reasons, all we know is our digital content is flying off our virtual shelves.  

Because of the rush – downloads from our site are up 41% year over year – we thought it a good idea to pause our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this important message: Intead has a digital Resource Center enrollment leaders and practitioners tap every day as they consider next steps and start their research.  

Our next opportunity to meet is THIS WEEK! 
Join Ben and Virginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin on Aug. 1 at 2 p.m. at the EducationUSA Forum as they share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  Find them in Salon F. Hope to see you there!

Our publishing goes far beyond simply reporting. When we write and edit, we first ask ourselves: 

• Does the content bring value to our community, or is it simply self-promotion?  
• Can we make our insights more actionable for our readers?  
• Can our readers use our content to formulate, articulate, and justify their student recruitment plans? 
  

For the uninitiated, our growing library currently houses more than 800 pieces of content relevant to the work you do every day. Think ebooks, case studies, conference slides, actionable one-pagers, podcasts, webinars, and more. It’s built on Intead’s 15+ years of publishing on the topics you care about and our ability to predict the future. 

For enrollment leaders, and those aspiring to be, we offer management perspective on budget development, staffing structures, team management, technology implementation and more. 

Some of our Resource Center users know exactly what they are looking for and they type it into the search bar. Others use our handy checkbox options to quickly filter their search: 

• Agents 
• Alumni 
• Digital Marketing 
• International Student Recruitment 
• International Students 
• Market Research 
• Non-Traditional Students 
• Persona 
• Predictive Modeling 
• Social Media  
• Technology 

We also offer deep, well-researched insights on student recruiting in key countries and regions: 

• Africa 
• Brazil 
• Central America
• China 
• Colombia 
• Ecuador
• Europe 
• India 
• Kenya 
• Latin America 
• Middle East 
• South Africa 
• South America 
• South Asia 
• Southeast Asia 
• US 
• Vietnam
  

Search by keyword, topic, region, or category. It couldn’t be easier. 

Sound valuable? (We welcome your feedback. Oh, and those notes we get from readers telling us how they used one piece or another to push forward…love that!)

Click here for direct access to our Resource Center page.  

You’ll find a good amount of our content is available for free. Some, however, is for our Intead Plus members only. Our members have access to a range of team training tools, webinars, ebooks, and slide decks that required significant effort on our part to put together -- the kind of stuff we use to guide our clients. These pieces offer even more value to our readers. 

And, if you’re curious what your peers are downloading lately (and who isn’t?!), read on… 

Students as consumers and the consumer insights that matter.  

Getting to the mindset of international and domestic students is central to what we do. Last week we unveiled a new study on career pathways for international students seeking US work experience. If you haven’t had a chance to review the report, it’s worth your time. The report provides fresh insights into what a US degree actually produces for international students, offering a new way to quantify the value of your degree for all of those ROI-minded student prospects (and their families).  

This week we shift our focus to other factors that influence international student decisions to study abroad, including how the US presidential election factors into their choices. We did this research back in 2016 (the Trump/Clinton match up). Now we have new student data to compare and, YES! it is fascinating. 

In partnership with global study choice platform Studyportals, we distributed a 13-question survey via email to Studyportals account holders and placed banner ads visible to their website visitors. All told, 2,492 respondents from 106 countries across the globe participated. A significant percentage of responses came from students in African nations.  

There were some real surprises. Spoiler Alert: 2024 is NOT 2016. 

Our next opportunities to meet!  

GMAC Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 19 – 21, 2024. Ben will be presenting TODAY on how global elections are influencing student mobility. More than just the US presidential election has the power to upend what students will choose to do next.   

EducationUSA, 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.  

Be in touch! We’ll buy the coffee. 

Today, we share the Know Your Neighborhood (KYN) 2024 Survey Summary Report with you – our first post-pandemic addition to the KYN series. Previous KYN full reports are available to Intead Plus members. The 2019 report on emerging markets (Africa and Latin America) still has legs. The others have some still valid nuggets on cultural differences even though they are now 5 to 7 years old. Helpful stuff considering that 50,000+ international students completed our surveys. 

In our latest KYN report, we unlock current insights into the preferences and motivations of prospective international students, including the impact of political fatigue, observations on a possible rise in cynicism, and more. We share observations that suggest these feelings have opened some students to studying in previously avoided countries. And, of course, we get into the influence of families on prospective student decision-making. 

If you’ve been following along these past few weeks, you already know there has been a shift in priorities among international education seekers since our last KYN study done in the midst of and after the wild and surprising 2016 election year. Other than perhaps Karl Rove, no one really thought Mr. Trump would win in 2016. 

At the time, very few (14%) international student respondents said they would be more likely to study in the US should Donald Trump win the election. This go ‘round that number jumps to 30% who say more likely.  

Asked another way, in 2016 the majority (54%) said they would beless likely to study in the US should Mr. Trump win. That number dropped considerably in 2024 to 28%. What’s more, 42% this year say it won’t make a difference who wins. It’s just not as important to today’s cohort.  

We connected with so many of you over these stats at NAFSA a few weeks ago (what a week that was!). But, if we didn’t get that chance to chat in person, not to worry. Today’s summary report will give you what you need to know about the current international student mindset. It offers the core quantitative facts from our research as well as our recommendations on how your team may want to react to this news.   

Do, however, stay tuned as our data analysts are still wading through the quite telling qualitative responses. We are getting more insights organized for publication later this summer. (Hey, if you are reading this based on a share from a colleague, be sure to subscribe to our blog!) 

Read on to download our KYN 2024 Survey Summary Report and for 4 key takeaways from the study… 

Career opportunity is the primary motivating factor for international students. All our research into the international student journey says so. We’ve known this for a long time. If you can demonstrate that your degrees pave a beaten path to positive career outcomes, then you’ve got your prospect’s ear. Not many institutions can back up their promises with data...until now. 

Institutions seem to have had a hard time making the case for bottom line ROI. Sure, there’s the usual “x% employed within 6 months” data every institution flaunts, but what does that really tell a student who’s halfway around the world? Not a whole lot. We’re not saying to nix that stat – definitely keep it – but it’s hardly concrete proof for your prospective students. 

The fact is most institutions simply don’t have the student data on the whole job search process to offer much more. Especially for international students graduating from your specific institution. 

Nor do most institutions have the bandwidth to think it through for the international cohort. But data does exist that can help you uncover a truer and fuller picture of career potential for your international students. It’s a matter of knowing where to look, how to look, how to clean and crunch the data, and then interpret that data appropriately.  

Enter Intead’s analytics team and our colleagues at F1 Hire! On offer to you for download: our first Connecting Dots study, How International Students are Finding US Jobs: A Look at the Students, Degrees, and Institutions Producing Success. 

Our next opportunities to meet!  

GMAC Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 19 – 21, 2024. Ben will be presenting on how global elections are influencing student mobility. More than just the US presidential election has the power to upend what students will choose to do next.   

EducationUSA, Washington, D.C., July 30-August 1. Ben and Viginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin will share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  

Be in touch! We’ll buy the coffee. 

Our newest dataset focuses on practical next steps for international graduates. The ROI insight they’re really after. And for institutions, our approach to analyzing US Department of Labor data can help your marketing recruitment team stand out at any student fair anywhere in the world. Wanna see how? Read on to download our report... 

The NAFSA room was sold out; every seat taken.  

That morning we really weren’t sure what to expect with our session being held in the very furthest room on the 3rd floor of the New Orleans Convention Center. And that convention center is one of the largest we’ve ever seen. Like, you need an Uber to get from one end to the other. 

We could not have been more thrilled with the turn out. What everyone came for: new data, never before collected, on what international students are doing after they earn a US degree. 

What’s been missing from our community’s conversation on the value of US degrees for international students is real ROI. Sure, we talk about ROI: “94% of our students are employed or pursuing advanced degrees 6 months from graduation.” But we’ve never quantified actual ROI...until now.  

Today we’re sharing a preview of new research on the career progress of international students who graduated from US institutions. (The full report will publish later this summer. Be among the first to receive this and 2 other groundbreaking reports by pre-registering. You’ll also get our NAFSA 2024 session slides.)  

This NAFSA research report will be the first of what will become an even deeper analysis based on more research between now and 2025. We want to truly understand what a US degree produces for international students. Is it worth their investment? Is it worth ours? This is data we’ve been wanting to mine for years.   

Our next opportunities to meet!  

GMAC Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 19 – 21, 2024. Ben will be presenting on how global elections are influencing student mobility. More than just the US presidential election has the power to upend what students will choose to do next.   

EducationUSA, Washington, D.C., July 30-August 1. Ben and Viginia Commonwealth University SIO Jill Blondin will share insights on Navigating Budget Challenges in International Recruitment: Practical Strategies for Every Phase.  

Be in touch! We’ll buy the coffee. 

I was extremely honored to have presented our latest research at NAFSA last week alongside Dr. Joanna Regulska, vice provost and dean of global affairs at UC Davis. UC Davis is one of the 12 innovative and forward-thinking institutions participating in this groundbreaking study. 

Our research involved a 22-question survey sent to international students who graduated from our 12 university partners between 2019 and 2023 (see below for the full list). With a 5.3% response rate, 1,797 graduates from 131 countries answered our survey questions. Of these, 1,323 still reside in the US, 474 live elsewhere. 

What we learned will have a direct impact on international student recruitment, as well as offer perspective on US immigration policy. Data informs how we make sense of the world and move forward as a community and a society. The data collected encourages us to understand the value of CPT/OPT to our international students and the US.  

Laid bare: the real outcomes and the positive impact international student graduates are having on the US economy.  

For those of you interested in taking part in our next survey, be in touch at info@intead.com. So many of our higher ed colleagues at the conference raised their hands to evaluate participating in the next research phase of this project. Be a part of that! 

Below we share key takeaways from our research and provide you quick access to the slides from our NAFSA presentation. Read on... 

Greetings from New Orleans!  

NAFSA 2024 is well underway, and we are here for it. Literally. There are a ton of Intead team members in the Big Easy this year and we have a lot to talk about, not to mention all that we have to learn. Are you here, too? Let us know (info@intead.com). We’d love to connect! 

If you’ve been following our posts, then you already know we’ve been waist deep in data for months. The result of which is three different reports that we think will help shape the way you approach international student recruitment. Actionable insights delivered. 

One of our new outputs is a continuation of our popular Know Your Neighborhood (KYN) series. This time, a global survey done in conjunction with the global study choice platform Studyportals. 

Let’s meet in New Orleans @ NAFSA 2024! 

Join one of Intead’s two presentations: 

• ChatGPT and AI: What are the real opportunities for enrollment management? 
  TODAY (Wed 5/29/2024) @ 1 p.m. NOCC Room 391
  Featuring David L. Di Maria, Senior International Officer & Associate Vice Provost for International Education at UMBC, and Iliana Joaquin, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Intead 

• Groundbreaking Data: International Student Employment After Graduation
  Thurs., May 30, 2024 @ 11:30 a.m. NOCC Room 398-399
  Featuring Dr. Joanna Regulska, Vice Provost and Dean – Global Affairs, UC Davis and NAFSA Board Member with Ben Waxman, Intead CEO 

Our newest KYN report is our first post-pandemic addition to the series. In it you will find an analysis of the influencing factors and desires of international education-seekers when choosing where and what to study. And this includes the influence of politics and political leadership on their decisions – a question mark for many of us as we move through this long (and painful?) US presidential election season. Does this matter to international students? You betchya! 

The analysis is a thought-provoking comparison to our oft cited 2016 Know Your Neighborhood survey (Intead Plus members can access the full series here), which was conducted with FPP EDU media on the precipice of and in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election when Mr. Donald Trump was a first time Republican Presidential Nominee. Our report lays bare the undeniable shifts in the priorities of international education-seekers in the time since, including their current perspective on choosing to study in the US based on the winner of the 2024 US presidential election (Mr. Donald Trump versus Mr. Joe Biden).  

Were our findings surprising? You be the judge: 

• 30% of the international student respondents are more likely to want to study in the US if Mr. Trump wins, compared to just 14% who said so in the lead up to the 2016 election. 
• 28% are less likely to want to study in the US if Mr. Trump wins, compared to 54% who said so in 2016. 
• 42% said it didn’t make a difference, compared to 32% in 2016. 

Interesting. And we haven’t even gotten to the qualitative insights that really illuminate international student sentiment. We will have that ready for you soon. 

Until then we are offering our blog readers key findings from the Know Your Neighborhood 2024 survey via a downloadable infographic that will give you a lot to think about. It will certainly give you something to talk about. In fact, we can’t think of a better conversation starter for those mingling about at NAFSA this week. Give it a try! Read on…