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!
- An interesting perspective on institutional branding, particularly internationally here. Institutions that don’t have the historical name brand must define their own spaces, their own uniqueness, oftentimes coming through risk-taking.
- What works best in marketing to the Chinese audience? According to this Webcertain guide, KOC marketing is key - Key Opinion Customer marketing. This approach leverages authentic micro-influencers to make connections.
- Every social media manager endeavors to find that perfect viral video. Is there a secret sauce? This 3 step approach to Instagram and TikTok visual content strategy may well worth be trying internationally.
- Letting others share how your institution helps them achieve their goals is what they call social proof. How can you make that a front and center piece of your ad strategy online? Check out this Social Media Examiner article for more.
International Education News
- From an Inside Higher Ed story on the University of Wisconsin system considering direct admissions: “Generally, direct admissions is popular with institutions that are not competitive in admissions. ‘We’ve gone for a long time in this country thinking that open-access institutions means there’s a place for everyone…. But students don’t always know that, and particularly more vulnerable populations don’t know what open access means or that there’s a place for them.’”
- Very pleased to see the final nail in the ACICS accreditation coffin hammered home this past week. So often used as a loophole for visa mills to run free with lax oversight to take advantage of intl students, good riddance: “The deputy secretary’s decision is not grounded in its continued long-standing inability to come into compliance with the minimum standards expected of accreditation agencies over the course of years.”
- This PIE News piece on the drop in Chinese student visas to the US is quite telling: “The US was already behind the United Kingdom in 2019. The UK has vastly outpaced the US and demonstrated the most interest out of all study destinations worldwide, since before the pandemic.” But Zhu said she doesn’t believe that the trend will necessarily be long-term, predicting that the US market will “bounce back”, although the country may no longer “dominate” in China as other destinations grow in popularity. “It depends on whether [US] educators are willing to make more effort and investment in the China market.”
- Another story from China Daily on the reasons for the decline in interest in the US for study focuses on what some institutions are saying about themselves (bold is my emphasis): “We believe that we are not as badly off here because we are well-known in China as a China-friendly business school. We're very culturally diverse. The Coral Gables campus south of Miami is self-contained and very safe and beautiful.”
- India, on the other hand, is booming with its interest in US study, so much so that record numbers of student visas are expected to be issued this June-August period to help meet demand that has spiked wait times for students.
- Interestingly, Indian students interest is spiking for at least three major English language destinations - US, UK, and Canada - which have all experienced significant backlogs and delays.
- Here’s a brilliant assessment of the challenges and opportunities for international education in the US (and beyond) from thought leader, John Hudzik: “To survive and thrive in the higher education global environment, international education needs to document value for institutions, society, and the student, while controlling costs and finding ways to innovate.”
- The UK’s HEPI released its 6th Soft Power Index this past week revealing the US has extended its lead over Britain in the number of world leaders educated at its universities (67 to 55). Why does soft power matter? “Educating international students has been seen as a key measure of soft power because it is thought to build an ‘emotional bond’ between alumni and a country, as well a support for its culture, language and values.”
- If you’re looking for a discussion on how important career prospects are on prospective intl students decision-making process as to where to study for their degrees, check out this ICEF podcast.
- A new report from Sinorbis and BOSSA (China’s largest agency member association) suggests that while the outbound market will rebound sooner than expect, safety is now the #1 concern of parents and students: “However, another insight the report gives is that anxieties are cropping up in the Chinese global study abroad market. Safety is now the number one concern that many students have, followed closely by the cost of living and academic performance.”
- How do you convince Chinese admits to enroll? Authenticity matters, so how far are you willing to go get them over the line? Apparently, as Intead learned, student handbooks written by current Chinese students for incoming ones are quite convincing.
- Why all institutions don’t do these new international student interviews to capture that excitement arriving overseas students have, I’ll never know. I guarantee ASU will be leveraging these with future prospects.
- Kudos to my colleagues at Lynn U in FL who have the student conversion process on lock, even internationally: “Lynn gets between 17 and 18 percent of its students from outside the United States. But Lynn hasn’t suffered, as many colleges have, from lost international students during the pandemic…. The top five countries (outside of the U.S.) represented at Lynn are: Brazil, the Bahamas, Italy, Spain and Venezuela.”
- Ongoing orientation for intl students is a hot topic given the inevitably info overload they get on arrival. This take from the Conversation is worth considering: “To better support international students beyond orientation week, universities can focus on developing year-round academic and extracurricular opportunities that encourage cultural exchanges between international students, their peers and the wider society.”
- This IDP report on Nigeria and its recently established physical office in Africa’s largest country (by population) is well worth a read. The US is behind Canada and the UK in terms of interest. Deciding factors: tuition and scholarships. But the 98% visa approval rate for IDP-assisted UK-bound Nigerians is out of this world.
- Global - One of the topics most of us in intl ed rarely have the time or bandwidth to understand is the larger global geo-political forces at work that impact our industry. This University World News article on this topic is well worth your time.
- China - Perhaps the last country (save North Korea) to reopen its doors to intl students, China is finally making moves, ever so slowly, to allow overseas students to return. We’ll see how willing they will be to come back in numbers.
- Japan - Quite extraordinary to see two top Japanese institutions considering a merger as early as next year. Tokyo Tech and TMDU looks set to come together in part to help the government’s goal to create world-class institutions.
- New Zealand - The Kiwi nation seems to be retrenching when it comes to its immigration policy related to international education’s role. This statement sounds more US-like: “International education is ‘not primarily designed to be a pathway to migrate to New Zealand.’”
- New Zealand - The nature of the changes being made to New Zealand’s international education strategy for 2022-30 don’t give a lot of policy signals pointing to a return to robust inbound flows of overseas students.
- United Kingdom - As several British colleagues have stated recently, the UK market is becoming heavily graduate based. This government report on the latest UCAS figures shares that intls make up only 12.3% of undergrad (down from 14.7%).
- United Kingdom - For a detailed analysis of the UK clearing process for undergraduate applicants, look no further that Alan Preece’s piece that dives deep on the changing international landscape of the UK undergrad education.
- United Kingdom - At the UK’s top 24 unis (Russell Group), however, international students made up 20% of admitted students. Chinese, Indian, and Nigerian students saw the biggest increases.
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.
