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!
- Digital is the main driver of college admissions. While this new Mongoose survey of admissions leaders suggests email still is king (42% most effective), 50% see adding chatbots or web chats to their sites in the next year.
- This Unibuddy and IDP Connect presentation on Gen Z digital habits internationally and how to reach them at the top of the recruitment funnel is well worth reviewing. Live where your audiences lives, my friends.
- This annual Admissions Directors survey results webinar from Inside Higher Ed is always a good watch/listen. This year the focus will likely be on responses to affirmative action challenges and the new direct admission phenomenon.
- Love the topics to be discussed on this Keystone webinar on intl student social media trends: social as search, is FB dead, and how real is TikTok for reaching students.
- Is your institution considering hybrid and online means to extend the delivery of your academic programs in ways you may have only dreamed of or consigned to continuing education departments? If not, what you doing?
- The Ambassador Platform’s whitepaper on Gen Z social media habits, the necessity for student ambassador programs in recruitment, and the importance of user-generated content is a worthy read.
- Are you mapping your students’ journey through the admissions process? Are the various touch points and your responses the ones that really make the most sense? Check out this Webcertain webinar for the inside look.
International Education News
- When Secretary of State Blinken pledges something will be done regarding the huge backlog of Indians awaiting US visa interviews, you know the situation is serious. Glad that issue is getting top-level encouragement.
- How drastically different is the current US student visa interview wait time issue in India v China? Night and day: 430 days in India, 2 days in China for an F-1 student to get a spot for an interview.
- In a decision welcomed by all international students seeking OPT now or in the future, a US appeals court upheld the validity of expanded OPT for STEM students up to three years.
- Interesting look into the history of the US News rankings over the years in and how this “reckless” rankings game has drifted from its original intent.
- For those curious about the relationships between the US government and research dollars going directly to China between 2015-21, this GAO report shares how the CDC, NIH, and, oddly enough, the Defense Department gave $28.9 million to Chinese sources.
- What do prospective international students want more of during the recruitment cycle? This Interstride survey suggests that they want to know more about financing options, employment opportunities, and career outcomes. Is your messaging that clear?
- If you’ve not heard about the “direct admissions” movement yet, check out this piece from Joe Morrison of Concourse (recently purchased by EAB). It will change the admissions game forever, especially if enacted internationally.
- Speaking of direct admission, this space is becoming more crowded with Sage Scholars also committing to this flipped admissions model to connect it’s students with partner universities.
- So happy to see the Qatar Afghan Scholarship Project having served over 250 Afghan students study in the US on full scholarships. Long may this effort continue!
- Why does having quality educational credential evaluation improves your international admissions efforts at your institution? Check out this useful explanation from Educational Credential Evaluators.
- If you need a quick top-up on the top tips from the last quarter for international educators, check out Intead’s “Most Useful Stuff.” Always a good read and refresher.
- As far as global resources on educational statistics go, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s databases are at or near the top as a go-to.
- Understanding your own backyard can sometimes lead to future recruitment grounds, at least in-directly. This US census data models shows ethnic backgrounds across the country by concentration. Kudos to Pieter Vermeulen at UNT for this resource.
- The tide of STEM-designated majors continues to rise, now with data communications journalism joining data business degrees adding two years of work experience to international students’ Optional Practical Training time.
- If you’re not familiar with ECE Aid, check out these success stories from students who had their credentials evaluated through this service funded by donations from other students and outside companies.
- Africa - Anyone who has recruited in Africa for any length of times knows that there can be a lot of fraud, but oftentimes unscrupulous agents are the ones taking advantage of students’ desperate desire to seek education abroad.
- Australia - To be fair, intl educators Down Under were concerned that uncapping student work hours in needed professions could have been a distraction for students from their studies. The new Australian government agrees.
- Canada - On the other side of the world, Canada lifts the 20 hour/week cap on international students to meet the critical labor shortage in the economy. Misplaced priorities?
- Canada - I asked the question a couple of weeks ago about the cause of Canada’s extreme study permit backlog. At present, 151K intl students are at risk of missing their first semester. This lawyer says it’s an antiquated system causing the delays.
- China - Chinese students studying abroad (around the world) are returning to China in ever increasing numbers, up to over 1 million last year (up from 777K). Sign of things to come?
- China - While some Chinese lawmakers want the government to de-emphasize teaching English to its students, the decision not to take that path is a welcome one for western educators.
- Commonwealth - For 50 students at 10 Commonwealth institutions in Hong Kong, UK, India, Malaysia, and Australia this 8-week virtual exchange program seems to be a welcome step across borders.
- Iran - With what’s happening in Iran these days, it seems like things are really shifting in this country ruled by the ayatollahs for 43 years. If the support for these protests from Iranian students studying abroad is any indication, maybe it has changed for good.
- United Kingdom - This troubling shift by the Home Office to take a deep look at the dependents accompanying international students in the UK is causing many international educators across the pond to fear a significant backward step.
- United Kingdom - This talk of fast-tracking / out-sourcing app processing in the UK to deal with expanded application flows is an interesting one, but a pay to be admitted quicker scheme is a bit distasteful.
- United Kingdom - Some pathway program providers are really committed to enroll Chinese students. This INTO charter flight to the UK shows the lengths to which some will go.
- United Kingdom - A recent Universities UK International report documents the overreliance of British institutions on India and China for post-graduate course recruitment.
- United Kingdom - While this article focuses on the need for diversifying UK recruitment markets, the interesting discussion on the disruptive role aggregators are playing in the pathway provider model that has been so vital for UK unis.
- United Kingdom - While many in the UK would hope for a return to normal, post-Covid, the data suggests no one should get their hopes up too high. Many post-Brexit, post-pandemic factors have shifted the landscape irrevocably.
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.