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!
- When looking back on some of the best content articles for international educators from 2022, I default regularly to what the team at Intead put out regularly. Not surprisingly, the best of last year’s batch had to do with data.
- Of all the prospective student audiences international admissions reps would most like to get the current pulse of, it would be Chinese students. This upcoming webinar from The PIE and Sinorbis will surely be well-attended.
- What does 2023 hold in store for social media? According to this Social Media Explorer piece, the older guard will struggle to maintain, while the way is open for new platforms and TikTok to grow (if it doesn’t get banned in the US).
- On the marketing side of social media, 2023 looks to be dominated again by short-form video but look out for the rise of AI’s impact on content creation (see also #ChatGPT conversations). Solid thoughts by Social Media Examiner.
- Stories are driving engagement on Instagram. If you’re looking for some tips (14 of them, actually) then you’d do well to find a better summary of how you can use Instagram Stories Highlights to help repurpose great content.
International Education News
- What’s happening on community college campuses since the Great Resignation, which hit a low water mark in the fall of 2021? The future doesn’t look bright with re-staffing though up slightly by mid-22 continuing to lag behind 4-year peers.
- What do higher ed institutions have to look forward to in 2023 when it comes immigration reform? Not much as a result of the likely stalemate that will occur in a divided Congress.
- A recent prospective international student survey of 14,000 in 147 countries by AECC suggests the US and Canada are losing ground, with Australia, the UK, and New Zealand becoming more favorable destinations. We’ll see.
- As China re-opens in significant ways this week both to inbound travelers and outbound students (by resuming passport processing), most destination countries don’t see problems with requiring negative Covid tests of incoming students.
- Agents in China identified 3 top issues driving study abroad by students from behind the Great Wall: cost, post-study work access, and educational quality. Work while studying was rated highest for those considering the US and New Zealand.
- What is the way forward in 2023 for US-China relations? Don’t expect real softening on the foreign policy front, according to this Brookings article, but when it comes to educational relations, I am cautiously optimistic of a warming trend.
- Does this statement ring true for you? “International students have been consistently undervalued and under-appreciated in the role they play both in supporting our world-class higher education system (UK) and in the immense contribution they make to our society.”
- What lessons did we learn in 2022 in international education? According to IDP Connect, the need for human connection, the reliance on trusted support, and the desire for trusted partners. Keeping students’ interests first.
- Canada - Overall, Chinese students choosing Canada have dropped 42% since 2018, with only 52K receiving Canadian study permits (down from 90,000). This coupled with a 34% increase overall in visas issued, shows the drops have been covered with increases elsewhere.
- China - New Zealand’s Minister of Health says that they will not require negative Covid tests for visitors to Kiwi nation, in stark contrast to the country’s ultra-cautious approach earlier in the pandemic.
- China - What a strange world it must be in China these days. After 3 years of incredibly strict Covid-related restrictions, the sudden release of these barriers has caused chaos for those seeking post-graduate education in China with up to 1.6 million missing December entrance exams.
- India - The UGC expects up to 49 globally-ranked universities from the US, UK, Australia, France, and Italy to set up campuses in India once recent changes have been initiated. That seems quite an ambitious target for as bureaucratically challenged a country as India.
- India - We all know Indian students studying abroad are in serious growth mode. But will the numbers triple in the next two years to over 1.8 million seeking higher ed options outside their home country? If so, look out, world! France & Germany are set to benefit.
- Netherlands - Unprecedented. Can you imagine any other country saying this? “The minister of education, culture and science in the Netherlands has written to the boards of all public research and applied sciences universities, urgently requesting a halt to international student recruitment.”
- United Kingdom - For a country so seemingly concerned with net migration (and how new intl students impact overall numbers), the recent changes that the British government have made to allow students to switch to skilled worker visas before finishing their studies are a bit of a head-scratcher.
- United Kingdom - My feeling is that most governments do a poor job educating businesses about post-study work visa requirements. But for less than 3% of British employers surveyed even aware of the 2-year Graduate Route work visa is astonishing.
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.
