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!
- How is your site set up? If yours isn’t image/video-first, uses white space, with clear call to actions “above the fold” the visual generation Z will soon lose interest. If you’ve only got a few minutes for marketing-related reading - read this.
- Looking for a quick presentation on Chinese social media to better understand that country’s unique social media ecosystem, check out this Webcertain explanation of what to expect.
- Are colleges going in blindly with some ed tech companies seeking to deliver on metaverse ideas to boost their institutions cred? Perhaps so if this Chronicle report on one particular vendors approach that leaves data privacy in tatters is to be believed.
- This kind of service is inevitable. Students can now have their social media accounts scrubbed for potentially damaging posts before they start applying for jobs. Perhaps this should be a learning experience for prospective students as well.
- We who have done social ads know that not every campaign comes off like we’d want. So how do you get ahead of the curve to correct poor performing ads before it’s too late.
- If you’re doing ads, what platform is your go-to? The reality may be, particularly due to Apple’s new iOS data privacy framework, that YouTube now offers more impactful, targeted ads and analytics to show success.
- What questions should you ask about producing video for YouTube? According to Social Media Examiner, ask first: what is your content about, who is your audience, and why should they watch your content?
International Education News
- You’d be forgiven for thinking that Congress is on the same page as international educators about how our immigration system is broken and that we’re losing ground in the global talent war after reading this article. Maybe someday.
- Is the visa overstay story promulgated by the previous administration as much of a myth as we thought? Yup. During the pandemic the overstay rate for all visa categories dropped to only 1.23%, for students/exchange visitors, it’s 1.55%.
- I hate to admit it, but Mauricio is correct: most international ed marketing doesn’t work. Most colleges simply don’t have the social media chops, staff bandwidth, or in-country expertise to truly see success. Check out Platty’s model for results.
- Are we coming out the dark declining intl enrollments tunnel of the pandemic in the US? Of course we are! Intl applications are up at 65% of respondents to IIE’s Spring Snapshot Survey.
- One of the other main highlights of the IIE spring report of well over 500 US colleges shares that the percentage of currently enrolled intl students taking all classes in-person increased from 8 to 55% from spring 2021 to spring 2022.
- What’s the solution to foreign intellectual property theft from US institutions? According to this GAO report: “outreach and education increases university officials' awareness of research security threats and builds stronger relationships with university officials.”
- While some openly ignore this article because of the source, the reality is that at a top 5 US college for intl students, a lawsuit has been filed by the former PDSO that she was forced to issue I-20s for students without complete documentation.
- The question about this Columbia U case is would ICE act against this Ivy League institution? Given that the offenses took place pre-2020 who knows, but “If the allegations in this lawsuit are true, it is difficult to imagine Columbia maintaining its certification.”
- More standards and best practices in agency-university partnerships are welcome. This effort by ALTO is worth examining, but enforceability remains one of the most relevant rubs in these relationships.
- This upcoming i-graduate webinar on July 7 is worth attending if you’re interested in the areas intl students rate best and worst on campus leading to their overall satisfaction of the student experience.
- Kudos to the 20 top HSI and R1 universities in the United States (including UNLV) for teaming up to double the number of Hispanic doctoral students and by 20% the number of Hispanic professors on campus by 2030.
- How credentials for displaced individuals are considered by 3rd country institutions has increasingly been brought into the spotlight by the war in Ukraine. Great piece from WES on what’s happening and what a reasonable standard should be.
- Compelling article from a provost of a SoCal uni arguing for the need for reimagined career services because that’s what first-year students are most concerned about - 85% want to get that first job and need a lot of institutional help.
- Australia - Curious about the various issues facing Australia and New Zealand during their reopening for intl students this year? Check out this ICEF Monitor podcast discussing what these two major destinations are grappling with post-pandemic.
- Bulgaria - Last week we gave a shot out to Taiwanese universities holding places for Ukrainians displaced by the war. This week Bulgaria has seen its institutions open places for Nigerians that had been studying in Ukraine.
- Canada - Behind India, Bangladesh has been one of the fastest growing student demographic groups flocking to Canada. From this article, these students have found help in the form of significant scholarships and work experiences to offset their costs.
- Canada - Publicly-funded colleges and institutes north of the border seek to “futureproof” their institutions with a 3-year plan based on globalization, international engagement, and commitment to a number of UN SDGs.
- Canada - Backlogs of study permit applications from new international students are contributing to 6-9 month waits for final approval for entry into Canada. Of course, students account for less than 14% of the overall visa applications pending.
- China - Is China’s largest graduating class of students (over 10.7 million) worried about their future? “Any job that pays more than 5,000 yuan ($750) a month will be fine….The bottom line is earning enough that I can feed myself and save a little bit.”
- India - What’s driving the greater majority of Indian Gen-Z students who go abroad for study? Over three-quarters plan to work and settle in their destination country of choice. As a result, post-study work is the #1 issue driving college selection.
- New Zealand - If you were an international student on a post-study work visa in New Zealand who was unable to return to the country during the pandemic, wouldn’t you want your visa extended now that you could return?
- New Zealand - The realities of international student declines in New Zealand during the pandemic are only now being revealed. Currently, only 32K out of more than 82K international students are studying there, down 61%.
- Russia - Higher education institutions in Russia are going back to the bad-old days. Each university there will now be required to have a rector for students’ moral development. Re-Sovietization is happening.
- United Kingdom - The first cohort of UK post-study work visa students have been successful - 60% finding job. Interestingly, the majority applied to more than 50 jobs in their search. Of those 60% - 60% are employed full-time.
- United Kingdom - Covid-19 concessions that allowed new intl students headed to the UK to start studies online (due to inability to enter the country/obtain their visas) are ending this week. Calls from intl educators and students are for those to be extended.
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.
