In our day-to-day professional work in international education, we all struggle to manage information flow, identify opportunities, synthesize possible solutions, and act appropriately to better ourselves, our audiences, and our world. To help in this often overwhelming task, Social Media & International Education (SMIE) Consulting offers this free weekly e-news brief to share our perspectives and to provide some wisdom along the way. Happy reading!
- Looking to convince your leadership that you need to invest in stronger digital marketing efforts internationally? Get equipped with the arguments and tactics you can to make the case by attending this Thursday webinar from ICEF.
- While everyone’s attention is on TikTok as a primary platform to reach prospective students, don’t fall asleep on how Snapchat can be used. 58% of its users are outside North America. Solid piece from Intead.
- If you’re looking for case studies for translation services, check out this quick video from Webcertain explaining how the company developed “super-fast, high quality” translations for a European airline.
- What are you doing differently for your Facebook and Instagram marketing strategies? Looking for some ideas on how to stand out? Check out this Social Media Examiner article for help.
- If conversations are happening on your Facebook page how are you moderating/managing them? There are several tools available to make this task a more streamlined and time-saving one.
International Education News
- ICEF Monitor’s article profiling the extended student visa wait times suggest the demand for US higher ed is growing again, but the capacity at many posts to meet that need is not satisfactory and must be addressed to not lose more ground.
- Though this Indian news headline shocks with the lengthy wait times (those are for visitor visas) the good news is that the student visa waits are 10 days or less with the US Embassy looking to increase consular staff to meet demand.
- On the other side of the visa equation, US student visas issued to Chinese students are down 50% from pre-pandemic levels. Hence the reason wait times for interested Chinese looking to study in the US are single digits in China.
- I like articles that present a problem but then provide solutions. This one from ICEF Monitor shares the impact of a stronger US dollar on incoming intl students, and how US institutions can make adjustments.
- Headwinds are nothing new for US unis recruiting international students, especially in China. How we respond is the key. Some really strong examples in this Forbes piece from campuses committed to painting that picture.
- Are agents becoming ever-present in our recruitment strategies among US universities? More than half, but not everywhere. But take a look at how the UK is dealing with the current debate on using agents.
- Is the dream of a truly diverse international student population on campus achievable, or will it always be dominated by India and China? This PIE News piece makes the case that numbers don’t lie.
- Sad to see this kind of university (this time not a DHS-backed fake institution) still able to operate, but it sounds like the local press investigation shut it down. This fake uni in Houston was not (thankfully) on the SEVIS-approved list.
- Within the University of California system the big news this past week was the substantial increase in the number of Californians being offered first-year places. The downside for intl students: down 12% (out-of-state down 19%).
- How should US campuses be welcoming students this fall? Make it big, make it count, let them know how much they mean to you personally and institutionally. Love this article from a former professor and current parent.
- How do you grow if you’re a rural private institution? Open two urban campuses primarily for overseas graduate international students like Trine University in Angola, Indiana did in Detroit and Phoenix. Brave move, paid off.
- Hey everyone, Arizona State is booming. With combined online and on-campus populations over 140K, 13,000+ total international students enrolled, and 1050 new first-year intl student cohort - up 44% over 2021. Stunning.
- When universities, employers, and local government officials can agree and implement solutions that focus on student employability, everyone wins. This example from the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia is worth a read.
- If you’re searching for an assessment of how US and Canada’s policies and disputes with China in recent years have impacted relations behind the Great Wall, read this insightful paper from a UC prof.
- I have a lot of time for Gateway International. This recent survey results article shares one important image I think is important for intl educators to have at the ready to explain the variety and scope of service providers we have available.
- Organizations like Every Campus A Refuge and IIE’s Scholar Rescue Fund are amazing, but really need more colleges and universities to buy into these projects to truly live out institutional missions to serve their communities.
- Global - We all talk about measuring ROI, but internationally, how many of our institutions really get it, and match future investment in recruitment strategies accordingly. Thought provoking opinion piece in The PIE News.
- Australia - This story Down Under about contract cheating is eye-opening: “Illegal cheating services threaten academic integrity and expose students to criminals, who often attempt to blackmail students into paying large sums of money,” said Jason Clare, Australia’s Minister for Education.
- Australia - The US is already well-behind the UK and Australia went it comes to TNE on a truly global scale. The prospect of UK-Australia collaboration in this are should be a significantly motivating factor for US institutions to step up.
- Canada - Officials in Canada are investigating the truly out-of-character high study permit refusal rates for African student applicants. Claims of discrimination and racial bias are hard to ignore with sub-20% approval rates.
- Canada - How significant are the study permit backlogs for students seeking Canadian higher education? Currently, over 200,000 are waiting for decisions on their applications. That’s on top of the 621,000 who were already in Canada at the end of 2021.
- Canada - While the numbers are reaching record heights in Canada, the rise in visa fraud by applicants, many of which in India come from the Punjab, are down to fake bank statements and birth certificates. Refusal rates up to 41% (from 15% pre-pandemic).
- Canada - As students return to campus at Canadian institutions, some are keeping up Covid-enforced health mandates, including vaccinations to live in residence halls. How are you handling the start of the new academic year?
- Russia - I don’t know whether to be shocked or not by the continued attraction of Russian institutions for international students. Largely, “the vast majority of applicants are from friendly countries, that is, from CIS countries, Asia, Africa.”
- Russia - The criminal invasion of Ukraine by Russia has not spared Ukrainian institutions, in fact, it has targeted them. Karazin U in Kharkhiv was devastated by bombings. Two institutions in Melitopol and Mariupol were merged by Putin’s order the day Mariupol fell.
- Vietnam - This Southeast Asian nation is becoming quite the rising star in the development of its education system. Vietnam is now poised to internationalized the vocational education and training sector as a key element in the country’s progress.
- United Kingdom - The housing shortage is real on many campuses in the US and many other major destination markets. This story about a UK uni telling students not to buy plane tickets or complete the enrollment process until they have secured private housing (after striking out with on-campus options) is a worry.
- United Kingdom - I wonder if “Priority” and “Super Priority” visa processing could ever work for US student visa issuance. Not the way we’re set up now, but worth exploring. The UK is reintroducing these extra fee services just in time for the September intake.
If you’d like a more in-depth analysis of the main news stories each week, check out our Midweek Roundup international education live chat on Wednesday at 1pm ET on the SMIE Consulting Facebook page, YouTube channel, Twitter feed, and LinkedIn. A podcast version is available as well on all major podcast provider platforms.
