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 do you conduct a digital undergrad campaign in India and Brazil designed to increase apps and yield? The power team at Intead released a case study of a digital campaign they ran for a Big 10 university outreach efforts.
- While this interview with Ruffalo Noel Levitz discusses their report on challenges of recruiting prospective undergraduates for online programs, the findings are applicable to most recruitment campaigns whether for online or in-person degrees.
- When planning for social media campaigns, pay attention to developing your personas first. If you don’t, you risk swinging wildly and missing your target intl student audience.
International Education News
- This report from EAB does suggest that parental involvement with high schooler’s college decision is a shared one. Multiply that by a factor of 4 for international parents whose children may be going half way around the world without ever physically seeing campus before arrival.
- If you’re looking for a well-reasoned assessment of the current post-pandemic state of intl student recruitment, this article from Louise Nicol in the University World News has several compelling points on being “high touch” as much as “high tech.”
- Karin Fischer’s edition of Latitudes this past week highlighted the range of emotions of attendees at the first in-person NAFSA Annual Conference since 2019. Though attendance was half what is was one word did ring true: “hopeful.”
- I’ve certainly seen this phenomenon happening in the US - the intl ed talent war. The reality is the pandemic has produced a significant loss of experience on-campus. Coupled with the rise of ed tech, colleges have become even more dependent on service providers even for many day-to-day operational functions.
- Encouraged to see that though devastated by the pandemic Intensive English Programs in the US, the damage was not nearly as bad as other Western nations. Resilience and promising signs of growth ahead for this sector.
- One country poised to rebound from the impact of the pandemic looks to be Vietnam with current SEVIS By The Numbers for May 2022, indicating interest has remained and may soon turn positive for the #6 sending country to the US.
- When intl students ask what they should do to improve their chances of getting a visa, what do you tell them? To what resources do you direct them? While this advice from the US Embassy in Delhi is always sound, what would you add?
- Australia - The new government Down Under wants to “rebuild trust” in the country's tertiary education sector, but is light on details on how that may happen beyond increasing the number of vocational education places available.
- Australia - What struck me most about this article on the exploitation of intl graduates of Australian universities is that there are laws on the books that prevent institutions from offering advice on post-study work. Talk about defeating the purpose.
- China - If you’re looking for a review of how much the CCP restricts, molds, influences search results on sensitive topics, check out this article from Brookings. Quite revealing data indeed.
- Latin America - Outbound students from Latin America have provided new, reliable markets for many western nations, but could the major players particularly in Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico, be poised to become important destinations?
- New Zealand - Soon-to-be open borders and a new campaign promoting intl study in New Zealand focusing on student success stories hope to revitalize the country’s flagging intl ed sector. Will it be enough? It’ll be a long road back.
- New Zealand - Unfortunately, I believe the Kiwi’s efforts to restore its reputation as a major destination for intl students are a reflection that it will take quite some time to regain the loss of students and reputation. A focus on “quality over quantity” speaks volumes.
- New Zealand - The realities of reopening borders late for New Zealand show that interest among international students will be slow to recover, with only 10% of 5000 slots allotted for student visas having been approved.
- Nigeria - Determining which students can/should be exempt from English proficiency tests to prove ability is a tricky subject in many intl offices. For Nigerians looking at the UK as a destination, they are feeling increasingly at odds with British policy.
- Russia - What does it mean when it consecutive weeks we have seen China seek to withdraw from western global rankings, and now Russia leaving the European standard system for higher education? Isolationism and control.
- United Kingdom - Without question, the new UK high potential route for graduates of top global universities is designed to grab up top talent, but at the expense of outstanding graduates from less prestigious countries. Not great optics.
- United Kingdom - Iranian and Nigerian student interest in the UK market seem to be growing quickest based on recent data from Uniquest and its parent Keystone Group’s findings.
- United Kingdom - Recent QS data seems to suggest that British institutions must avoid complacency to stay competitive. Interestingly, students surveyed suggest less than 20% want to remain past post-study work (3 years).
- United Kingdom - The UCAS boss suggests a personalized approach by country is the way forward for British universities to recruit international students. I do not think she understands the meaning of the word personalization, I’m afraid.
- United Kingdom - UK unis are undergoing a bit of self-reflection at the moment, deciding how they should determine institutions are delivering good money for their value. Worthy cause, but often can descend into idle navel-gazing without direction.
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.
