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What Others Are Saying

George Burke
Retired Director International Student Services Cleveland State University (CSU), Ohio
I ntead's 88 Ways to Recruit has captured the essence of international recruitment

strategies. Following these strategies will set a great foundation for an institution’s efforts for a successful international recruitment campaign. I compliment Michael Waxman-Lenz and Lisa Cynamon Mayers in putting together this information to aid Higher Education institutions!!!

Marguerite Dennis
President of MJDennis Consulting: International Education Consultants Former Vice President for Enrollment and International Programs Suffolk University, Massachusetts What an excellent publication. I travel across the country and in Asia delivering a seminar on strategic international planning. I recommend that my clients read this publication as part of their "seminar homework."
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MacKenzie Hizon
Head of Program Development & Digital Strategy, CRCC Asia Former Director International Student Outreach Green River Community College, Washington A great reference for international educators to gain an overview of the myriad of international recruitment strategies. This compendium is a terrific addition to the international education field, providing readers with insight and a concrete sense of each concept in an easily digestible format.

David L. Hautanen, Jr
Former Director of Admissions / Director Int’l Recruitment and Strategic Enrollment Initiatives Northeastern University, Massachusetts Effective new student recruitment engages all constituents to inform and influence. Successfully implementing a comprehensive recruitment strategy is complex, and on an international basis, even more so. This book provides a wide range of tactics you can use to build a robust strategy. I also consider Intead's Strategy Consulting and Interactive Branding Tools the right complement for you to reach your institution's goals within your budget.

About the Authors

Michael Waxman-Lenz, Co-founder and CEO of International Education Advantage, LLC Michael arrived in the United States as an international graduate student from Germany, which gives him a personal understanding of the needs and challenges for students studying outside their home country. His 25year career spans activities in technology, academia and doing business around the world. He provides a deep understanding of international markets and how to deploy creatively and effectively digital technology in the international marketing and student enrollment process. Prior to co-founding Intead, Michael spent ten years in various senior executive functions at the Digital Media Division of a consumer products company, rising to General Manager. As VP of Business Development for an internet start-up company, he was responsible for strategic partnerships and digital content. Prior to that position, Michael lived in Central Asia for five years and managed a venture capital fund. His previous work experience includes his position as a manager at Ernst & Young. Michael also taught as adjunct professor at Baldwin-Wallace University and John Carroll University. His academic credentials include a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a Masters from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS), and studies at the University of Konstanz in Germany and Kingston University in London. His executive education includes courses at Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School and Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Business.

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Lisa Cynamon Mayers, Academic Advisor International Education Advantage, LLC Lisa Cynamon Mayers has spent over twelve years working in undergraduate admissions and college counseling and now provides guidance on the application and admissions processes for Intead. Lisa worked at Washington University as a Senior Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions. She was responsible for the Northeast region, led the admissions committee for the School of Architecture, and coordinated the Student Admission Committee (tour guide program). Throughout Lisa’s years of graduate study at Case Western Reserve University, she worked with the admissions office on projects including interviewing prospective students and revamping the campus tour program. Recently she served as an international application reviewer for Case. For the past eight years, Lisa has worked as an independent college counselor, guiding American and international high school students and their parents through the college admissions process. Lisa was a keynote speaker at the 2008 Inside Ivy Conference in Seoul, South Korea, organized by the Princeton Review Korea and Road to College. As a speaker and published writer on the subject of college admissions, Lisa has been able to advise countless students and parents. Lisa is the featured writer for the book Getting to the Quad. Lisa earned a BA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MA from Case Western Reserve University.

Acknowledgments We would like to thank all contributors for their helpful collaboration on this book. We appreciate Laura Guardalabene’s creative design concepts and Olya Yunak’s tireless and diligent hours of layout and revisions. Roberta Waxman-Lenz contributed her editing skills, in particular, modifying Michael’s occasional German sentence structure. Ben Waxman provided valuable clarifying comments. Edward Zheng’s research and professional advice on the Chinese markets deepened our knowledge and sources.

To Our Readers Recruiting students from around the world is complicated stuff. Cultural differences aside, simple barriers to technology can keep your outreach efforts from reaching your target audience. At Intead we understand the factors driving US academic institutions to seek international students. Administrators consider the valuable cultural exchange a diverse campus brings and the economic benefit of full-paying students. As schools across the country are planning to increase the number of international students on their campuses, they grapple with the marketing challenges of finding and enrolling these students and the challenges of making the educational experience valuable for everyone involved. With these motivations and challenges in mind, Intead offers its first edition compendium of international student recruitment techniques: 88 Ways to Recruit International Students. We hope you will find new ideas and gain perspective on what can be a daunting undertaking. This resource is available to help our community of international enrollment professionals learn from us and each other. We’ve designed it as an interactive e-book. We offer you the opportunity to guide us as we improve this compendium over time. We seek your input, rating the services described and offering additional services we’ve not yet included in the e-book. Many of the concrete examples provided in this edition focus on Asia – the region responsible for the largest flow of international students to the U.S. Yet, these tactics, services and tools can all be used in any region around the world. In future updates to this e-book, with your help and feedback, we plan to include additional examples and success stories from every region. We can all learn from each other as we enter new international markets and figure out what works. And as we all get better at this and communicate those attributes that make our institutions stand out from each other, more international students will land in the academic programs that best meet their needs. And that result is what we all want: well placed and well prepared international students to complement the domestic student population at our schools. We look forward to collaborating with you.
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Table of Contents

I. Introduction................................................................................................................................. 6 II. Armchair recruiting ............................................................................................................................ 10 III. Recruiting within the United States .............................................................................................. 25 IV. Beyond our borders recruiting ...................................................................................................... 28 V. Technology ......................................................................................................................................... 40 VI. Partnerships and relationships ...................................................................................................... 55 VII. US government support or US government funded activities ............................................. 62 VIII. Independent counselors and agents......................................................................................... 67 Appendix A: More digital marketing resources ............................................................................... 74
e-book: The Complete Guide to Global Social Media Marketing e-book: 50 SEO & Website Tips for the International Marketer
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Appendix B: Holistic digital marketing platform overview – Hubspot ....................................... 75 Appendix C: International branding for academic institutions – Intead services .................... 76

Throughout this text, we mention a great number of recruitment solutions, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies that provide services and connections to assist with international student recruitment. We do not endorse and are not sponsored by any of these groups for this publication.

88 Ways to Recruit International Students
Recruiting methods and ideas to further your goals

I. Introduction Whether you are a seasoned admissions officer or a novice, we hope that this handbook will give you innovative ideas and perspectives on international student recruitment. We are certain that you will be familiar with many of the recruiting channels discussed, but we trust you will find a few valuable methods that strengthen your capabilities and improve your return on marketing investments. We understand that budgets, priorities, interests and goals vary tremendously, so consider this guide within the context of your individual institution. Let’s first look at the bigger picture of attracting students. Marketing traditionally has had two distinct components: brand marketing and direct marketing. Colleges have, in most instances, an institutional separation of these functions as well. While the marketing department tends to be in charge of the overall branding campaigns (e.g., billboards, TV, and radio), the admissions department manages the direct marketing (e.g., high school visits and college fairs). The email direct marketing also tends to be based within the admissions department. Holistic college enrollment marketing must embrace both components and aim to strike a financially responsible balance. Our handbook explores development of branding and marketing, particularly those elements that have been made possible with recent advances in technology and social media.

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We have always appreciated the frequently quoted comment about spending on advertising: “I know that we are wasting 50 percent of our advertising spending, I just don’t know which 50 percent.” Our mission is to help you identify the right 50 percent.

Direct marketing, whether offline or online, has the distinct advantage of allowing you to tie your results directly to the marketing expense. Let’s take an example from domestic recruitment. You purchased 25,000 email names for $10,000, received 500 applications and enrolled 50 students. You can calculate the “direct” Return on Investment (ROI) on that email list purchase. Each student enrolled cost you $200 based on the email list cost alone. The challenge here is that we do not know every one of the myriad of factors that influenced the final enrollment decision. With your e-mail invitation, the student received university materials. The parent may have heard a commercial on the radio. And above all, during the college tour, the guide and admissions officers gave an impeccable presentation, and the potential student related well to the student tour guide. How do you calculate the all-inclusive return? We all know selection of a university is a complex decision. In the graph below, i-graduate depicts the multitude of factors influencing the decision making process. Students’ friends and parents as well as institution websites play a critical role.
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Due to size and fragmentation, brand marketing in international markets is even more difficult than in the US market. And even in the US, the majority of universities focus on a limited geographic radius. Nevertheless, the internet and social media make it feasible and critically important to include a consistent brand building effort in your marketing. You can’t afford to let US News & World Report determine your international brand perception. Your material – well conceptualized, crafted and disseminated – should shape the perception and position of your institution. Among the many tools discussed in this handbook, social media – used to create connections and influence friends – is one method that continues to evolve rapidly. Your digital image will allow you to disseminate culturally relevant information on your academic program and create emotional touch points for perspective students and their parents. Peer-to-peer conversations multiply your access to students around the globe. The conversation must be a positive one though. Universities must deliver quality education experiences since the word-of-mouth component, reinforced and magnified by social media networks, can enhance or limit your growth potential.

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Throughout this text, we mention a great number of recruitment solutions, nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies that provide services and connections to assist with international student recruitment. However, we do not endorse and we are not sponsored by any of these groups for this publication. As part of our effort to provide greater transparency in this industry, we are launching a feedback and rating service for you, university admissions and marketing officers. Our Intead Reviews will be an aggregation of your comments, accessible to all.

We trust this service will fill the gap of having to rely on purely word-of-mouth recommendations from colleagues and give you broader feedback on individual services. We invite you to explore the beta-version of this new rating service. By contributing your experience with recruitment and marketing services, you will be assisting your colleagues in education services. We hope you enjoy our e-book. We would also appreciate your input on other exciting, useful and productive recruiting methods we may have missed. Your suggestions and additions will be included in a subsequent edition, crediting you as the source. Have a look at section 88 and provide your input. In China you cannot have enough lucky number eights. Our focus on providing these 88 methods serves to honor one of the main recruiting markets, China.

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http://inteadreviews.com

We limit the feedback to professionals with an .edu email address or qualified education institutions. We permit anonymous and named feedback on your experience with international recruiting service providers.

II. Armchair recruiting Don’t underestimate what you can accomplish from your office in Dubuque, Syracuse or South Bend. Even if you are chained to your desk, figuratively we hope, you can pursue numerous recruitment strategies with potentially great payoff. If your institution is just beginning to explore international recruitment, many of these methods can help you wet your feet in the international sector. Or if your institution has already made inroads in some markets, these methods can help to cultivate additional regions. Let’s begin.

1. Website (see also Technology section) This seems like a given, right? Of course you need a website. You may even wonder how we could have included something so obvious in our list. But, how much time have you spent on your university’s website lately? Is it accessible to students? Is it easy to navigate? Does your website feature dense text or exciting photos? Does it feature YouTube videos and links to Facebook and Twitter? Is it appealing and accessible to an international audience? In order for your website to be used to its fullest potential, you must first make sure that it can be easily accessed by your target audience – international students, their parents and their teachers and counselors. Keep in mind that YouTube is blocked in China. Any fancy YouTube videos that appear on your site will not be accessible to your Chinese market. YouKu is the Chinese alternative social media option. It also helps to include website sections in your prospective students’ native languages. Certainly, students you recruit should have an understanding of written English. However, their parents are often the decision makers (they are, after all, footing the bill), so including sections in Mandarin, for instance, will go a long way toward building a relationship with this constituency. Parents around the world want to be proud of their children’s accomplishments. As university marketers, we need to give these parents information and data points they can and want to relay to friends and family about their children’s education choice abroad. The Ivy’s brand takes care of the “bragging rights.” Everybody else needs to work harder.

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2. Email What can we say? Email is a critical factor even if we all suffer from email overload. Email open rates have declined and students have shifted to alternative communication channels. Yet email remains a cost-effective channel for reaching prospective students. Outside of India, the United Kingdom and Australia, you will encounter a language challenge in your use of emails. To address the Chinese market, adjust your email template by removing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, or at least by adding a Chinese connection. We suggest adding QQ, a tool that combines micro blogging, Twitter and Skype. Chinese students use QQ to communicate with each other and with potential university choices. Ren Ren and Weibo are also valuable social media channels to consider in China.

3. Timely and personalized responses to emails Showing up counts. International students studying in the US repeatedly cited admission counselor and faculty responsiveness as the basis of their school selection. Our research makes this point clear. International students are making a decision to travel halfway across the world, typically sight unseen, to an institution of higher education. Given international student unfamiliarity with the campus, faculty, and location, institutions that promptly and personally interact with these students have a great advantage. Student testimonials about their school selection further support the importance of this factor. When students have been admitted to more than one university of similar quality or ranking, the majority of students choose to matriculate at the institution that has been the most personal and responsive to their emails to faculty or admission offices. While this may seem overwhelming to the overworked admission counselor or professor, a little goes a long way. If an international student takes the time to send an email, a prompt response reaps significant rewards.

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4. Targeted marketing materials for each international market The needs and preferences of students in different regions of the world will vary. By taking the time to address specific concerns, you will be showing sensitivity to the varied backgrounds of your applicants. Researching cultural differences across your markets will enable you to respond to relevant concerns. We also recommend getting input from international students currently at your university as to specific concerns they had prior to arriving. Using native languages in your marketing materials will also increase understanding and comprehension and develop a stronger connection. Note that even international students with solid English skills are working harder to figure out the US academic system, application and visa rules. Trying to understand it all in your second language adds to the challenge. Making your marketing messages easy to grasp and your application process easy to navigate will win you fans and applicants. Let the language testing confirm language proficiency – don’t make your marketing literature a barrier to convincing prospective students to apply and enroll. Is there any business that would purposely put barriers between their customers and their sales messaging? You can also target your markets by purchasing online advertising on US-based websites with visitors from your target markets. US News and World Report’s website is one example. For the day after launch of their ratings, US News and World Report receives about one million unique visitors. During the week after publishing their annual rankings, approximate 300,000 unique visitors came from outside the US. About 35,000 of those came from India and 25,000 from China. For the month of September 2012, 800,000 unique visitor were international and of those, 13 percent came from India and 7 percent from China. Are you a customer of Hotcourses or of US News and World Report? Please give us your feedback on these services here.

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5. Mailings to students who have initiated contact When a student contacts you directly by completing the form on your website for additional information, you should begin to execute your marketing plan. Mailing letters, catalogs and other brochures abroad can be a costly venture, so printed mailings should be part of the overall marketing strategy alongside less expensive strategies such as email and other forms of personalized digital outreach via social media.

6. Mailings to students from purchased lists of prospects Acquiring prospective students via purchased email leads is an established practice in the United States and has certainly taken hold internationally. There are numerous providers of student contacts. In the end, it’s a question of economics. Do you get a return on your investment (ROI)? To get that return, appropriate follow up, engagement and contact strategies are a necessity for international students since they are unlikely to visit campus prior to a decision to apply. List buys in the US are more sophisticated. More knowledge of your success rate is available across various US geographies and high schools, as well as appropriate GPA, SAT and ACT score levels. Assessing international student lists is more challenging, though the process for collecting such information has recently become more systematic.
The in t rudim ernational proce entar ss y, and o ther in though Co is more lle s offer more titutions a ge Board r e s ta targe ted li rting to st s.

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If you have used these services, please provide your feedback here.

7. Advertisements in local newspapers, magazines and other periodicals Students and parents use local periodicals as one source of information on higher education. By advertising in these periodicals, especially in the local language, you will be able to reach a wider audience than if you rely on email or a website alone. Print advertising moves branding of your institution to a broader context beyond solely using direct student recruitment. Depending on the specific country, you may consider a public relations effort that highlights your academic research, alumni assuming government or corporate positions, or particular business successes. Many universities’ marketing departments are highly experienced with this showcasing process in their home markets. Similar to the United States, advertising and marketing agencies provide information about the local publications reaching your target audience(s).

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8. Distribution of materials to local high schools In the same way that materials are sent to American high schools, we recommend sending materials to targeted international high schools. Rely on previous applications, suggestions from colleagues, and your own research to determine your targets and to make inroads into prospective high schools. Build personal relationships with counselors, administrators and teachers within targeted schools. These relationships will become increasingly valuable as students enroll in your school and report back that they are happy with their decisions. Of course, you need to deliver on your brand promise to the students so that they can become the influential ambassadors you want.

9. Material distribution via EducationUSA offices in country To submit materials to EducationUSA offices, first obtain a login and password. Here is the request website: https://www.educationusa.info/secure/signup.php. You’ll find more information on EducationUSA in section 78.

10. Building relationships with local immigrant communities All major US metropolitan areas have immigrant communities, many with their own print and web publications, radio stations and other community organizations. Building a welcoming image and relationship with these communities can be very helpful in a number of ways. Informal communication networks among immigrant communities influence students’ and their parents’ selection of location for study. “We want you to be close to uncle or aunt….” Relatives or acquaintances provide an extra assurance that international students, traveling thousands of miles from home, will be well cared for and properly guided. There is great comfort to parents in knowing that IF an emergency arises far from home, family members are nearby. Our research has shown that this fact alone was the deciding factor for applicants with multiple admittance letters to accept a particular university.

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11. Virtual college fairs Virtual college fairs have become a new sensation in the United States and can be expanded to international recruitment. CollegeWeek Live, Hobsons and EducationUSA, among others, offer these fairs. Virtual fairs provide a forum for a basic marketing presentation similar to one you would give in a physical college fair environment.

We have heard mixed results regarding response rates and effectiveness of this outreach, not dissimilar to physical fairs. Ultimately, each university needs to determine whether the effort of attending and showcasing its brand is worthwhile. Calculate your ROI in respect to the directly generated leads. Yet also consider the branding impact in the overall context of all other marketing efforts.

Have you used CollegeWeek Live? Share your experience here.

12. Developing videos using current or alumni students Videos can range from low-budget – think home-style – movies to high-budget, Hollywood-type productions. You can make videos highlighting attributes of your campus, faculty, students, etc. within any given budget. If you need inspiration, spend some time searching YouTube or colleagues’ websites for high quality videos. We highly recommend making your videos in different languages (at best) or providing subtitles. Parents and grandparents, who are likely footing the tuition bill and playing a prominent role in the decision making process, should have access to the information presented in the videos. And remember, YouTube is censored in China and Vietnam. If you spend the time and money to create an incredible video and then use YouTube as your host site, your Chinese and Vietnamese audiences will not be able to access your video. You must use a local platform (e.g., YouKu in China) to enable your audiences to view your videos.

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An HD camcorder can be as tiny as a cell phone, but mounted on a tripod and edited in video software can produce amazing results. With financial resources at a premium on many campuses, it can be difficult to envision how a department could fund even these items for a low-budget video. However, nearly every campus library or instructional technology department has access to the products you need, as well as a licensing agreement to use premium video editing software. On-campus partnerships are key to creating films without funds. – Dusty Krikau, Indiana University, South Bend

13. Offering webinars (in English) Most of us are familiar with webinars. Live or recorded webinars provide slides and audio via an online presentation. Webinars can also include live interactions through which participants can ask questions via chat or even call into the webinar by phone. We don’t find many universities using this highly productive channel in international markets. EducationUSA offers a series of webinars (see EducationUSA). Few universities to date create multi-language webinars, record them and offer them as a video on demand on their websites. Many companies now leverage their one-time webinars in that way and receive longer-term benefits in terms of relevant content from the investment. Recorded webinars provide time flexibility to the parents and students to view the presentation. The major providers are:

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14. Webinars with faculty (multiple languages) Giving students direct access to a professor from their culture makes a big impression. But there’s more to this recruiting tactic. Webinars including faculty able to speak the native language of prospective students and parents are not used very frequently, but we have recommended this avenue to clients, and they have been incredibly successful. Many parents speak minimal or no English. This type of faculty presentation provides them direct access to information. Furthermore, seeing a faculty member from one’s own culture gives parents additional comfort in sending their son or daughter to your academic institution.

15. Webinars with current students These serve as a type of organized word-of-mouth advertising. Students and parents want to feel comfortable that students from their country are successful in your environment. Current students can share their stories of the college admissions process, transition to life in America, campus experiences, success stories and future plans.

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16. Scholarship offers Scholarships are not used extensively enough in the international recruiting process from our perspective. Many highly qualified international students could greatly benefit from financial support to attend your college. Your approach depends on your general discount rate and your focus on recruiting international full-tuition students. But, the prestige effect can be equally if not more important. Scholarships indicate selectivity and recognition. In that respect, the behind-thescenes tuition aid and discount process is not as helpful for your marketing as the ability to promote a roster of scholarship programs. Undoubtedly you will need to balance these offers with domestic admissions and other financial requirements.

17. Arrangements with government sponsored programs Governments of many foreign countries encourage their students to study abroad in the United States by offering generous scholarship programs. For a student to enroll at your institution through one of these programs, your university must be included on the approved list of institutions. In these cases, it is critical to contact the embassy or the education minister if you would like students to consider your institution. Saudi Arabia offers a well-known program of this type. Similar programs exist in Iraq, Kurdistan and Brazil. These programs frequently change, so it is important to watch for updates.

Government of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (GOI MoHESR) Programs http://www.ticua.org/public_policy/ sm_files/GOI_MoHE_Scholarship_ 2011April.pdf

A recent article in a popular online Brazilian periodical, Bonde, noted that the number of Brazilian students studying abroad Higher Committee for Education Development in Iraq (HCED) continues to skyrocket through the Science http://hcediraq.org/HCED_english_ Without Borders program. With 6,700 Brazilians website/aboutus.html currently studying abroad as part of the program, KRG-HCDP Scholarship program there are 12,000 recipients set to begin their http://www.mheundergraduate sandwich programs in September krg.org/index.php?q=node/249 at universities in the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Korea, Portugal, Spain, the US and the UK. The Institute of International Education (IIE) serves as the administrator for Brazilian students coming to US universities under this program. Details can be obtained here: http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Brazil-Scientific-Mobility. 18. EducationUSA weekly update
The Science Without Borders program, jointly funded by the Brazilian government and the private sector, will consist of awarding 101,000 scholarships until 2015 for Brazilian students to study abroad at qualified universities of their choice. Information courtesy of Julio Ronchetti, President, FPP EDU Media, [email protected], Sao Paulo, Brazil. – from NAFSA discussion group Marketing/Recruiting.

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EducationUSA offers a whole range of distribution channels to universities. One of which is this weekly RSS feed with news from universities.

19. EducationUSA YouTube channel Another interesting distribution channel reaching many countries is the EducationUSA YouTube channel. This channel has a large number of videos on a wide range of US education related topics. The channel seems to have gained some audience traction, with more than 170,000 views over the years.

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20. Text messages (instead of or in addition to emails) Text messaging has taken hold in the United States, but has an even longer history in many other countries where Internet penetration is less extensive. Text messaging can provide critical information and communication channels. Source: digitalbuzzblog.com, http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/2011-mobilestatistics-stats-facts-marketing-infographic/ Be mindful that some text messaging services charge for incoming texts. You may not want to send unsolicited texts if your recipients will be charged for your outreach efforts. That is not the impression you want to make with potential customers. 21. Interviewing services Selection of international students in general may be challenging, but universities face a particular challenge in selecting Chinese applicants. The magnitude of highly qualified candidates from China has put a particular spotlight on this country. Furthermore, the media is abuzz with articles about falsified documents and uncertain credentials from students applying from some of these countries. You can remedy this issue in part through in-person and digital remote student interviews. It is often not practical to send your own staff for extended periods, on top of the logistical effort required to arrange such interviews. Skype is one commonly used option. Yet there are other alternatives. If existing alumni are available, they can be helpful. However, schools typically have not yet developed a seasoned alumni pool in China. So here are a few solutions:
Click on this link to view a sample report of student interviews from CIEE. http://www.ciee.org/cai/documents/ SampleCAI-Report2012.pdf
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www.ciee.org/cai

Vericant is a company focused on verifying student application materials. They provide in-person interview services, record the videos and proctor a written test on behalf of the university in order to verify spoken and written English capabilities.
www.vericant.com

http://www.vericant.com/howitworks/
We believe admission officers know a qualified candidate when they see one, but with Chinese applicants, it can be difficult due to time difference, distance and sheer application volume. Vericant helps schools identify qualified Chinese applicants via video interviews and proctored writing samples. Our interviewers meet with Chinese applicants in major Chinese cities, then upload all applicant information to Vericant’s Online Portal. Our partner schools work with us to have reliable and interesting information about each of their Chinese applicants; to effectively manage a large number of applications and to give each applicant a one-to-one interview experience. Annual Membership Fee is based on school size. Interview cost is 2,500RMB and includes unlimited distribution to Vericant partner schools where the applicant has applied.

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Likelive is a service owned by the language company ETS and provides a digital platform to have candidates record interview questions. It’s an interesting set up since you define the questions and the recording mode. The candidate does not know the questions and can be recorded live without rehearsed responses. The result is a pleasant real interview atmosphere, without staffing involvement. The review can be quick and efficient.
www.likelive.com

www.decisiondesk.com

DecisionDesk is a company specializing in a video application system, focused on music schools. As you can imagine, music programs require and rely on audition performances. Students from around the world submit their auditions via the DecisionDesk platform.

Have you used remote interviewing services? Share your experience here.

22. Collaboration with similar institutions The community of international educators is supportive and welcoming. Through professional organization message boards, conferences and social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), international recruitment professionals can easily connect and exchange ideas. Consider institutions similar in size and reputation to your own and contact your counterparts at those universities. While you may be met with some resistance to sharing information, generally, international educators are working towards a common goal of increasing the international student population throughout the country. Social media and message boards also give you the opportunity to connect with colleagues and ask questions. It’s amazing how quickly questions are answered and how useful responders’ comments can be.

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23. Creation of international book award For decades universities have used book awards, given to high school sophomores or juniors, as a means of honoring high achieving students and encouraging interest

in their institutions. Take this one step further and develop a book award for international students at key feeder or prospective international high schools. Care and cultural sensitivity should be considered in the selection of the book to be awarded. Institutions can develop criteria for awarding the recipient based on individual institutional goals and priorities.

24. Voice of America's Student Union blog Voice of America (VOA) has a successful blog, called Voice of America's Student Union blog. Here’s the link: http://blogs.voanews.com/student-union. It has over 6,000 Facebook fans, and more than 2,500 Twitter followers and has generated 30,000 pageviews per month. You can contact Jessica Stahl [email protected] to include your events. She compiles and publishes a list of upcoming webinars and online events every Friday for the upcoming week.
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25. Building relationships with international college counselors At international high schools that have dedicated college counselors, you can make great inroads by developing a personal relationship with the counseling staff. Counselors are the gateway to students. If your institution is highly regarded by the high school counselors, you can better position yourself to attract applicants and matriculants. Let them know the specific characteristics that make your school a good choice for a particular type of student. The same information you share with recruiting agents will be valuable to schools counselors.

III. Recruiting within the United States For those of you willing and able to venture beyond the walls of your office to further your institution’s marketing and recruiting efforts, new doors are open to you. Even without leaving the country, or even your city, you can recruit effectively. Read on.

26. Attending local cultural festivals In cities throughout the US, ethnic communities host cultural festivals to expose Americans to food, drink, dance, art and other aspects of international cultures. Research the cultural festivals in your own community, and choose an appropriate event for hosting a table or booth to highlight your college. By making inroads into your local cultural communities, you may encourage applications from family members or friends back home, not to mention that you will be viewed as an ambassador of goodwill while you nibble on dumplings, baklava or other international treats.

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27. Developing relationships with international alumni living in the US Alumni can be one of your single most important advocate. By creating an ambassador group of alumni, you will be able to influence the message being portrayed about your college. Start small by focusing on alumni within your area. Create a group that will be better informed and also excited to begin helping with recruitment. If international students visit your campus, connect them with area alumni. After students are notified about admission, ask your alumni team to contact students individually. There are numerous ways for alumni to become involved.

28. Regular meetings with current international students When the students arrive in the fall each year, make a point of getting together to discuss what’s new, any challenges the students may face, and how they can better involve themselves in campus life. Set meetings once or twice per semester. Potentially you may also want to provide these students a point of contact – a person or email address – for continued collection of this information as they have fresh thoughts on their adjustment process through the year. Be sure they are sending positive messages about their school back home. They have become your informal ambassadors.

29. Create a focus group of current international students Your current international students can greatly inform your understanding of future marketing and recruiting efforts. Think of it – you have a built-in focus group which can have a significant impact on future projects. Serve some fun food, and use this group of students to better understand what you can do to increase recognition of your institution abroad. These students can also be incredibly valuable for understanding how they first learned about your college, whether they worked with a counselor or agent, and what would have helped them to better navigate the process.

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30. Developing a recruiting team of current international students to serve as ambassadors Many universities have cultivated teams of student ambassadors to serve various admissions purposes. International students can be asked to volunteer their time to share their university experiences with prospective students and parents. By organizing a team of volunteer student ambassadors, you can encourage action within online social networking communities. For example, international student ambassadors could provide regular input to RenRen or be available via QQ for prospective students.

Try to plan a program that current international students can attend when they are back in their home countries over school break, i.e., winter break or summer break. Utilize local alumni to help you plan a program in which prospective students and parents are invited to socialize with alumni and current students. Target key areas in which you have a critical mass of prospective students, current students and alumni. If you are not able to attend in person, you can provide current students talking points and marketing materials.

31. Meeting with education representatives at international embassies in the US In an effort to collaborate and build relationships, it could be worthwhile to travel to Washington, DC to meet with education representatives at key international embassies. Developing a personal relationship will help to boost your institution’s brand recognition and marketing potential. Embassy contacts can be helpful in highlighting your institution in promotional and scholarship programs.

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32. Hosting an international counselor visit program If your institution has the budget to plan an international counselor visit program, this can be an incredibly valuable tool for educating counselors about your university. Consider organizing a visit program with other area universities and sharing resources to offset the cost of counselors’ visiting. You should target key counselors from high schools with whom you already have relationships or are hoping to forge new relationships. The visit could include campus tours, sessions with faculty and current students, and visits to local attraction

IV. Beyond our borders recruiting Traveling outside the US enables new opportunities for student recruitment. The possibilities are endless and can be overwhelming. Before you dive in, take some time to plan the best use of your time and precious institutional resources.

33. High school visits – organized on your own High school visits are one of the most commonly used methods of meeting prospective students. As budgets are cut, admission counselors need to be thoughtful and creative in their travel planning. Word of mouth seems to be the most common means of determining new regions to tap for recruitment and specific high schools to visit. For new admission counselors, turning to seasoned veterans can be incredibly helpful for travel planning. Your colleagues on NAFSA’s national or regional listserves are a great way to get input from your peers and gain perspective for your planning in different regions.

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34. High school visits – organized through a tour company If planning and implementing an international high school visit schedule seems daunting, organizing travel through a reputable tour company can be a great solution. Many tour companies specifically focused on education institutions exist, satisfying a wide range of budgets, interests and locations.

Have you joined any international high schools tours? Tell your colleagues about your experience here.

35. High school visits – organized with other universities Many universities will join forces to plan and execute recruitment travel. There are pros and cons to this type of arrangement. First you must determine like-minded universities with the same resources (time and money) to coordinate travel. There are advantages to numerous universities planning visits together. Students who initially have no interest in your college may choose to attend a group session for another school and come away excited about your school’s offering. There may also be comfort in traveling with a group, particularly for first-time admission counselors. Be sure you have solid differences and advantages that set you apart from the other schools on the trip. Choose a collection of travel partner schools that represent a range of options for the students you will meet.

36. US travel to secondary schools with high international population
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Increasing numbers of international students attend boarding schools in the US. You benefit when your colleagues target US boarding schools with high international populations. Leveraging your colleagues’ visits facilitates recruitment and matriculation of international students. International high school students don’t always have the benefit of visiting college campuses as easily as their American peers. A meeting during a high school visit brings the campus to them more vividly than a website viewing.

37. College visits (to recruit for graduate programs) College visits gain your institution visibility in recruiting for your graduate programs. Use this opportunity to speak directly with students to increase brand recognition and answer questions on your graduate programs. We realize that relationships between colleges are built and maintained through personal contacts, in particular among faculty members. Ultimately some of these faculty connections result in formation of dual degrees or joint degrees across colleges.

The goal is to create a win-win situation for both institutions. A new joint program should attract revenue to both institutions. Realistically, no institution wants to give up tuition revenue and see their students leave for another program. See section 80 on the US Commercial Service’s “Gold Key Service,” which arranges meetings for American colleges with international colleges to establish joint programs or possibly to recruit for graduate programs.

38. College fairs A well attended college fair will give you the opportunity to interact with significant numbers of students in one easy location. In planning international recruitment travel, consider scheduling your travel plans around major college fairs. Numerous organizations plan and promote college fairs. Be sure to bring comfortable shoes, sufficient materials, a kindly disposition and tremendous energy. The items below represent an open-source document intended to aid would-be international recruitment travelers in determining the best college fairs for their needs and a systematic approach to a successful experience. The document was prepared by George F. Kacenga, Director of International Enrollment Management at the University of Colorado, Denver, with contributions from the NAFSA International Enrollment Management Forum in the Admissions and Credential Evaluation Network of the Recruitment, Admissions, and Preparation Knowledge Community.
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Determining which international college fair is right for you

1. 2.

Know your college/university mission or goals related to international affairs and admissions. Know the international markets that are targets for your admissions office. a. Do you want to break into a new market, and can you make a multi-year commitment? b. Do you want to further develop existing relationships?

3.

What is the political situation in the country (countries) where the college fair will be held? Will safety for participants (school representatives and students alike) be an issue? What is the economic condition in the country (countries) where the college fair will be held? What is the exchange rate and how volatile have changes in the exchange rate been over the last 18 to 24 months? Look at the organizations sponsoring/organizing the college fair: a. Is this the first year? b. Are there any stats from previous years? i. Number of participants? ii. Participant make-up: Graduate, Undergraduate, Secondary School
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4.

5.

6.

What do student mobility trends from this market into mine look like? a. Open Doors Fast Facts: http://www.iie.org/en/research-and-publications/opendoors

7. 8.

What budget do you have to spend and how much does this cost? Are housing and transportation included? Taxes? Federal per diem considerations? Does the fair require pre-registration by attendees? Is there a cost for attendees? Does the venue enable ease of attendance by attendees (i.e., public transportation, parking, etc.)? In how many other fairs do I want to participate and in what markets?

9.

10. Once at the fair: a. How much space do I get? b. Can I give a presentation? c. Am I advertised in the promotional materials (online or published)? At a cost?

11. Location of the venue - are there sufficient resources for participants to do private events (i.e., using the college fair to promote a hotel reception or meet with alumni)? 12 . Is it mandatory that a college/university staff member attend, or are alumni or approved representatives permitted? 13 . Timing of the fair relevant to US admission cycle and secondary school graduation in the local market. 14 . How much social network activity occurs pre- and post-college fair(s) (e.g., Facebook presence, other online outlets)? What is the nature of that activity? 15 . Who else has been invited: universities, embassies, consulates, credential evaluation organizations, ESL programs, banks, and other commercial enterprises? a. Will you be washed out in the crowd? 16 . Will the US Embassy be involved in the fair(s) in any way? Will representatives from the US Embassy be on hand to do sessions re: visa application process? Does your admissions office have sufficient knowledge of the visa process, processing times, lagtime, etc.? 17 . What are the alternatives to college fairs in the area(s) in which the college fairs is being held and how do they compare with regard to return on investment? Can you calculate a cost-per-inquiry, cost-per-applicant, cost-per-matriculant, and establish a target ROI before deciding to participate and what the odds are that you can hit it? 18 . What is the weather cycle during the dates of the college fair? (Fair attendance can be seriously impacted, for example, in Western Europe during winter by heavy snow, and fairs during monsoon season in Asia are always at the mercy of the weather.) 19 . What else is happening in-country during the dates of the fair – sporting events, visits by heads of state, etc., that will impact traffic, access to venue, willingness of students to attend?
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There are hundreds of college fairs and many providers. Here is a selection of a few well-known fairs: Education USA www.educationusa.info/highered-fairs.php Council of International Schools www.cois.org Think Education USA www.thinkeducationusa.com/en/study-fairs/ QS World University Tour www.topuniversities.com/tour Linden Tours www.lindentours.com

QS World Grad School Tour http://graduateschool.topuniversities.com/world-grad-school-tour China International Education Exhibition Tour www.cieet.com/en/index.asp IIE Fairs in Asia www.iiehongkong.org/ufair/ China Education Exp www.chinaeducationexpo.com WEBA Education Fair www.studentfairs.webs.com United State - India Education Foundation www.usief.org.in

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We know that many of you have participated in international recruiting tours. Let your colleagues know how it worked for you by clicking here.

39. Alumni-hosted college fairs As mentioned previously, alumni are an incredible, often underutilized resource. Obviously you won’t be able to attend all of the fairs you’d like. Enter your alumni. As you build your pool of dedicated alumni you will be able to trust their capabilities at college fairs. In fact there is an entire week of college fairs organized by the US Departments of State and Education during International College Week. This is but one example of the myriad of fairs that can be staffed by alumni.

40. Alumni meetings In an earlier section we mentioned the importance of creating an alumni network. This can be useful within the US, but it can also be incredibly helpful abroad. Once your travel plans are solidified contact alumni living in the areas you will visit. By scheduling time to meet with alumni, you will strengthen the connection between the alumni and your institution. Use this opportunity to ask the alumni and their thoughts on means of enhancing your school’s image abroad. You can also inquire about additional high schools you might visit.

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41. Overseas recruiting offices Some universities have been fortunate enough to have established overseas offices. These offices serve as sites for faculty engagement, international collaboration and recruitment. Two examples of universities that have successfully established overseas offices are Kent State University and Ohio State University.

"Kent State University established its China Center as a formal partnership between Kent State University and several Chinese universities. It is located in Beijing. “Goals of the China initiative include establishing a physical presence in China, signing memoranda of understanding with at least five major Chinese universities, beginning strategic student recruitment from China, offering Kent State programs in China, expanding the university’s study abroad programs to China and Kent State’s Chinese language program, establishing a Confucius Institute at Kent State and a Center for Asian Studies, and becoming a resource center for local companies interested in doing business in China." – Kent State University eInside; University Expands Internationalization Effort into China (http://einside.kent.edu/?type=art&id=86723)

In February 2012 Ohio State University established a gateway office in Shanghai, China, and in March 2012 a gateway office opened in Mumbai, India. A Faculty Advisory Committee is working to arrange the opening of a gateway office in São Paulo, Brazil in 2014. NYU hosts offices and programs in several international locations – Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and London.

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http://oia.osu.edu/pdf/China_Gateway.pdf http://oia.osu.edu/pdf/India_Gateway_Overview.pdf http://oia.osu.edu/pdf/Brazil_Gateway.pdf

http://einside.kent.edu/?type=art&id=86723 http://www.kent.edu/globaleducation/initiatives/beijing.cfm http://www.beijing.kent.edu/

http://shanghai.nyu.edu/index2.shtml http://nyuad.nyu.edu/ http://www.nyu.edu/global/london/

42. Utilizing current students studying abroad Work alongside your study abroad colleagues so that when your current American students venture abroad through academic programs, you can encourage them to aid with marketing and recruitment efforts. Organize a packet of materials for them to bring to their international institutions. Potentially meet with the American students before they leave and give them some pointers about your school they might highlight to foreign students. If you called this a “Student Ambassadors” program, you may give it a stature that encourages even greater participation.

43. Utilizing alumni to staff events Alumni are frequently utilized in the US recruitment process to staff college or highschool fairs and interview prospective students. From our experience, colleges are not as organized on the international front. In part, this is due to the limited numbers of international alumni and the greater effort required to organize alumni abroad. Furthermore, many alumni office systems do not track international alumni very well due to different address fields and fewer address updates. Digital databases maintain relationships among a growing number of students and are starting to make the process much easier. Systems such as LinkedIn, which are accessible in almost all countries, connect with former students, regardless of their location.

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44. Creating a team of Alumni Ambassadors Don’t underestimate the success Alumni Ambassadors can provide. As mentioned in earlier sections, cultivating a group of well-versed, excited alumni can reap tremendous rewards. Ian Little of CDB Solutions developed a strategic plan for a university to use in international student recruitment. This excerpt is taken from that strategic plan and nicely captures the benefits of utilizing alumni.

How can these alumni help with recruitment efforts? They can do so in three primary ways: direct recruitment activity, identifying new business targets, and assisting domestic/foreign students with internships. Alumni are capable recruiters, who often take pride in assisting the university with direct recruitment activities. While they may not feel comfortable visiting a local high school per se, they may feel comfortable hosting a reception for parents of local high school students when a university representative is in town. Or, they may welcome the opportunity to organize parent groups of foreign students currently enrolled at XYZ university, who may also enjoy meeting a university rep, especially a senior administrator. Alumni are also helpful at education fairs, and since the university has so many alumni in key markets, it may be able to turn to them when the recruitment schedule gets too busy, or perhaps during the spring recruitment season, when the travel budget is a bit tight. Alumni can help the university explore business opportunities that can impact recruitment. For example, if an alumnus works for a larger company, they may arrange for a university representative to host an information session through the human resources department of the company.

Or, if the alumnus is a member of a professional society, they may be able to identify opportunities within the academic area for promotion of on-line programming, training, and continuing education. Alumni chapters here in the United States often host a send-off for local students going away to larger schools. This activity can be very useful for the university in helping to build the global brand. If the university is able to host a reception with alumni, it should do so before the students head off to the university for the fall. The university can use this opportunity not only to get alumni together, but also as a vehicle for offering useful tips on managing the transition from their country to the US. Alumni should be surveyed, and asked how they are willing to be involved. One way, if possible, would be to identify internship opportunities for foreign students as they return home for the summer, and for domestic students looking to study abroad. The value of the practical education and training is high, and sometimes the best way to get these positions is through collegial connections. Source: Ian Little, CDB Solutions, September 2012

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45. Requesting names of prospective students from alumni Depending on the size and connections of your alumni population, collecting names of prospective students may be appropriate and worthwhile. Word-of-mouth marketing is very powerful, and many schools benefit from their current student connections back home. In particular, social media, blogging, and LinkedIn make these connections easy and more frequent. The challenge is integrating these efforts systematically into the recruiting process.

Few Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM) exist to integrate international students into the alumni network. International alumni often miss out on traditionally mail-distributed newsletters and continued contact with their alma mater. Schools miss out on a valuable resource for recruiting the next generation of students. Coordination between admissions and alumni relations can create valuable contacts and links to assist in recruitment.

46. Organizing home events with alumni International alumni may be excited to host events in their homes. Depending on your network, the regional habits, and living circumstances, organizing alumni in their home countries may be challenging. Apartments in Japan or China may be on the outskirts of the city or too small for meetings. On the other hand, some alumni may have adequate space and would feel honored to represent their alma mater. Alternatively, alumni may also offer to host a program at a local hotel or restaurant.

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47. Utilizing faculty when they travel abroad Faculty regularly travel abroad for symposia, conferences and their own research. Work towards developing materials that faculty can distribute on their trips abroad to promote your university. Encourage faculty to reach out to the local EducationUSA office to promote your institution and to host a program for prospective students. Depending on the comfort level of the faculty members, they could also be encouraged to host a meet and greet with prospective students and their parents.

48. Hosting regular programs at your international locations If you are fortunate enough to have an international satellite office or campus, use this to your advantage. On a regular basis, host programs to highlight your institution. Encourage visiting faculty members to give a lecture on their area of expertise. Host a meet and greet event to share the university with prospective

students and parents. Encourage visiting American students who are participating in study abroad to attend events with prospective students. Develop relationships through programming geared for embassy officials, EducationUSA counselors or other visiting dignitaries.

49. Summer camps/classes for international students A relatively new approach for gaining visibility is through summer camps and classes that bring international students to your campus. One such well-marketed summer program was hosted by Valparaiso University in 2012. As part of this summer program, the university offers a special program for international students, integrating leadership, academics and ESL. Valparaiso tells us they achieved their desired results. We consider it an interesting idea for the right type of student. The familiarity and experience should certainly assist with future recruiting efforts. We noticed a similar program promoted by an Indian partner for Hiram College in Ohio.

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50. Sponsor study abroad programs (in countries of interest) To further promote your brand, study abroad programs for American students can create inroads at international universities. The partnership you can develop by sending your students to study for a summer, semester or year at an international university can promote your institution and increase name recognition among that university population and the greater community.

V. Technology At our core we at Intead are a technology company dedicated to helping universities harness digital solutions for their recruitment and retention needs. Let’s be honest here, we love technology. We have been digital marketers for well over a decade now. And we’d love to encourage our readers (and clients) to better utilize options available today. Digital media offers powerful tools for optimizing your marketing over time based on trackable user behavior. Digital marketers can test and modify their messages to appeal to the right student and their parents. Tracking web traffic from the first unrecognized visit by a prospective student to the final step of enrollment can lead to cost reductions, efficiency gains and result in yield improvements.

51. Digital marketing It’s a truism that digital marketing is critical for today’s student recruitment. We are marketing to the digital native generation that has grown up with continous internet access and increasingly complete mobile web-based access. This generation is always connected, information on demand is taken for granted, and quick response time in the desired communication channel is expected. We are going to focus on the operational aspects of reaching international markets. Our experience has been that universities do not differentiate sufficiently between their domestic and international digital marketing. We think about digital marketing very broadly. Our thinking includes the various channels, media, and techniques you can use to broadcast your message. Channels for reaching your target audience include websites, social media, and YouTube. Media available to you include videos, articles

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Think With Google: A research resource for greater understanding of how prospective students search for schools online: http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/li brary/studies/engaging-the-edusearcher/

and blogs. Techniques for facilitating your visibility online include search engine optimization, paid search, and email marketing. Our later sections detail these and other methods available to you to move your marketing strategies to the next level. Furthermore, our focus on international recruitment requires paying attention to non-US digital markets. Our discussion in this chapter addresses not only the importance of using multiple languages, but also different search engines, social networks, video platforms and mobile destination patterns, all specific to the region targeted. The following definition of digital marketing helps clarify the broad range of approaches we need to add to our toolboxes.

Digital marketing is where marketing meets the internet and other forms of new media, such as cell phones and even video games. Digital marketing covers a wide range of activities such as: Social network marketing: utilize websites like Facebook to spread the word about their products, or learn more about the needs, wants and interests of their customers Search engine optimization: optimize a website so it ranks high in search engine results Open source innovation: collaborate with customers or independent product designers to create new products Viral marketing: videos, etc., that are so much fun people want to see them and share them with their friends using social media platforms Experiment based market research: learn about consumer behavior by conducting controlled experiments on line, such as testing two versions of a product description on a website to see which results in more sales Web analytics: analyze data collected through websites in order to set prices, create better ads, make decisions about product distribution, and improve product design Reputation management: track what people are saying about a brand online, and help companies manage their brand image Source: University of Michigan http://cob.umd.umich.edu/693401/

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52. Developing your international web presence We suggest two types of dedicated destinations: Many, if not most universities, create special pages for international students – a great start. Again, the principle should be less is more. Provide simple, clear language; use pictures and graphs. We cannot emphasize this sufficiently: US university websites are at best challenging to navigate since they service many constituencies. Non-native English speakers struggle with the complexity of finding information. If you remember the i-graduate chart from the introduction, your website is of great importance. Now put yourself in the position of a student, or let alone parent, with limited English skills to navigate your website. It’s a challenge. Language diversification on your website can only strengthen your accessibility to international students. Regardless of a student’s TOEFL score, unless he/she has previously lived in an English-speaking environment, the new language on a university website will be overwhelming. Our university websites serve many constituencies among university stakeholders. So for a non-native speaker the wealth of material can be intimidating, making a search for specific information challenging. We are great supporters of microsites in different languages. Why?

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      

You can tailor the information to the international student. You can direct international students to the targeted information. Local languages will make the content much more accessible to the prospective student and their parents. (It is critical to reach parents effectively.) You can integrate specific request buttons, sign up boxes. Social media connections can be localized (see section 53). Sharing of specific pages in various languages is much easier. Local search engines will pick up the url.

53. Social media Student recruitment without social media marketing is like an airplane without wings. As in the US, social media link students and enable your connection to this generation. We suggest dividing social media activities into three segments: College board presents a clear overview of various social media networks relevant for higher education marketing and points out different characteristics of the markets (www.collegeboard.org). Where They Go: Different Platforms Rule in Different Countries
Social Media in English via US social media sites Social Media in different languages via US social media sites Social Media in different languages via other social media sites

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India: very social, US sites are the dominant players South Korea: local social media sites and video sites dominate China: local search engines and social media sites dominate Japan: mix of domestic and international, video and mobile are most relevant

54. Prospecting via global social media databases Social media platforms are rapidly evolving and a new breed of companies is developing: social media monitoring and data aggregators.

These companies track and data mine social media conversations and connections in various countries, a potentially useful tool for your marketing and admissions team. These tools not only monitor your reputation or follow important conversations, including your brand or relevant topics, they allow you to interact with specific social media users. We recently found a company with tremendous capabilities around the world, testing unique ways to reach prospective students with data based targeting capabilities. These programs are currently in pilot mode. If you are interested in learning more about the company and their results, send us an email at [email protected] with the headline, SMM pilot, and we’ll send you additional information.

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55. College information websites In the United States, sites like College Prowler and College Confidential are popular among students as platforms for sharing candid thoughts about their own colleges or ones they have visited. These sites are distinct from the big social networking sites and focus exclusively on input from the college population. Each international market offers similar sites where prospective students can exchange and gather information from each other.

Examples of such sites in China and Vietnam include www.Chasedream.com and www.VietAbroader.org.

Chinese business-oriented students turn to Chasedream.com as their College Confidential equivalent. This site receives more than 2,000 posts per day and over 150,000 page views per day. Many Western universities advertise on that website, but statistics are not available to determine effectiveness. Advertising certainly creates visibility, but we consider the positive and negative impact of student postings and views even more critical. We have heard repeatedly in our research that students check Chasedream for opinions on various schools. At a minimum, a school needs to be aware of the buzz around their brand and student feedback. VietAbroader.org is a student-led organization with the mission of supporting Vietnamese students efforts to find study opportunities abroad. The organization showcases its Study Abroad Conference that helps young people access study programs in the US. The Conference includes seminars and a school fair with representatives from over 80 US colleges. The organization seems to have an extensive network locally and internationally. It is run by former or current students from highly ranked universities around the world.
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56. Online advertising through various websites and directories Online advertising is a broad category. This section focuses on your advertising objectives. You want to think of two distinct types of advertising: search and display advertising. Search refers to search engines, where you can buy a placement within the search results. Google has made this technique popular, and it is used around the world.

Paid Search Results

You can pay for online advertising through different types of arrangements, ranging from guaranteed placement on a site (similar to buying an ad in a newspaper) to purely performance-based advertising, where, for example, you pay only when a student registers on your site for a mailing. We’ll introduce a few terms and acronyms that are used widely in the digital advertising world:
Conversion rate – measurement for the rate of converting a user to take a specifically targeted action (e.g., download a product, pay for a product or service). CPA – cost per acquisition, amount paid for each completed “transaction.” CPC – cost per click, cost for number of times your ad gets clicked. CPM – cost per thousand (impressions), cost for number of times your ad is displayed.

57. Search Engine Optimization
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about your placement on a search engine site without paying the search engine provider. The search engine reads your page and decides how relevant your content is to the respective search. Many factors go into the algorithm making that determination. That’s the secret sauce for search engines. A whole cottage industry of SEO consultants has developed to guide you in steps you can take to improve your rankings. Your marketing department should be familiar with these methods. International recruiting throws a new challenge into the equation. Non-English searches many times rely on search engines using different algorithms and thus resulting in less predictable pulls on your website. We offer you an entire ebook on Global SEO implementation on our website: http://bit.ly/Global SEO. In the example shown here, the first search result is the website of the university. The second two are comments on the result and the Zinch University profile database.

58. Paid search options Paid search placements are available from all the major search engines around the world, led by Google, Baidu, Bing/Yahoo. You pay for each click on the link to The math would be as follows: your website or specifically 1,000 clicks x $5 per click to your website = designed landing page. How $5,000 → 10 percent register (aggressive expensive the click will be for you assumption) → 100 registrations → 6 percent depends on demand for the apply = 6 students keyword. The pricing is established Assume 50 percent are accepted = 3 students → by an auction process. But keep in and one-third enroll → 1 Student mind that the cost of the click is only one element; your actual return This program costs you $5,000 per enrolled student (not including all other costs of recruiting). on investment (ROI) depends on the conversion from that click to a prospect, and ultimately an enrolled student. So the actual cost of the click is relevant in the context of all your other conversion metrics; you may want to buy an expensive search term if you receive more qualified leads. Analysis includes looking at the conversion rate at each step of the marketing cycle above, from the initial registration to enrollment.
For example: You may pay $5 for a click that converts at 10 percent for a registration, and of those 10 prospective student registrations, 12 percent convert to enrollment.

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59. Create a Wikipedia page in local language You should consider international Wikipedia web pages as part of your marketing information. Wikipedia pages have broad reach, high credibility with search engines, and hence show up with high rankings in the search results.

Think of your domestic search experiences. It is a worthwhile investment to have a complete local language Wikipedia profile. It’s relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain since you can limit it to an annual review or update. Note that Wikipedia does have standards that seek to keep information “unbiased.” Be cognizant of the content you post and know that some material might be rejected.

60. iPad app for college fairs and other programs Reader alert: at Intead, we are biased in a number of ways. We consider the iPad (or tablets in general) the best conversation and presentation tool we’ve seen today. The iPad is an elegant, professional and highly flexible way to convey your information. You can present and share videos, photos and documents in the moment. You can capture meeting notes and email content during your conversations. So as a company, we provide custom iPad application development for university recruiting and other university needs (e.g., fund raising). If you are interested, visit http://bit.ly/iPad_apps.

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61. Create and maintain a blog by current students Starting and maintaining a blog sounds like a daunting task. The need for continuous updates and ongoing commitment to maintaining the blog is enough to frighten off even the most well staffed offices. However, consider turning a blog into an ongoing work study project. If you are fortunate to have international students working part time (or volunteering) in your office, consider creating a blog to be updated weekly or bimonthly. This is a terrific opportunity to give students the chance to write about their experiences at your college. What a great tool to market to prospective students as well. Potential students hear the real voice of a

student from your campus able to answer questions and provide perspective on campus life. Only a real campus tour would be better. Raghu Sukumar, editor of the Happy Schools Blog, a blog geared towards international students pursuing study in the United States, provided helpful information on the NAFSA International Enrollment Management Message Board in August 2010. A student blogger could establish a weekly or daily routine, depending on the content the student chooses to provide. Things to consider when using blogs to promote college admission

  

Do you want to promote materials from college or have students write based on their experience on campus? Which countries do you plan to target? Students from those countries will be able to speak the same language to prospective students. Set up a publishing plan with clear editorial policies about appropriate content and publishing schedule. What topics do you want them to blog about:  Admission procedure, requirements  Cost of living  Life on campus  Job opportunities  Pictures of campus, events, etc. How to market the blog (display on home page or on admissions page)? Do you plan to integrate Facebook, YouTube and Twitter along with blogging?
http://www.happyschoolsblog.com/ 49

 

"Through my blog I reach out to several thousand students in India (mostly). Since I went through the process of application, visa and attended school in the US, it’s easier for me to write to prospective students from India. I have observed differences in how students from China apply and I will not be able to write for them. Blog will definitely help to convert students combined with Facebook Page, Twitter, .... It provides another way for prospective students to reach out and learn about the college." Raghu Sukumar

62. Digital orientations Digital orientation is a broad term that can define many types of programs. We distinguish two broad categories: (1) orientations serving students up to enrollment and (2) post-enrollment. Within the university environment, multiple groups tend to organize orientations and pursue different primary objectives. Initially, admissions and marketing departments work to attract, recruit and convert students from prospects to applicants to enrolled students. Subsequently, student services aim to prepare students prior to arrival and create a welcoming and smooth transition to campus. Digital orientations in the marketing and pre-enrollment phase should focus on engaging students and enticing them to learn more about your institution and programs. You want to get them excited, familiar and comfortable with the idea of studying at your college. In our view, digital orientations are also an important tool to reach parents, assuming you provide multi-language solutions, since most parents do not speak English. Parents are a critical decision maker, as we have repeatedly pointed out and your marketing content should address their informational and emotional needs. For enrolled students the focus shifts to providing visa, travel, course enrollment and transition information. A well designed digital orientation can acclimate students to university life several weeks or months prior to arrival, thus paving the way for a smoother transition to campus life. Here are examples of site orientations and mentoring programs.
Multi-language

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For full disclosure, we offer a fully customizable and fully university branded international orientation solution in multiple languages. Intead and Hobson both offer digital orientation solutions.
http://www.hobsons.com http://www.intead.com

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63. QR coding In the Fall of 2011 Hamilton College, a small liberal arts college in picturesque Clinton, NY, merged standard marketing materials with cutting edge technology. In an effort to stand out from the crowd of posters that are sent to college counseling offices across the world, Hamilton simply enlarged a QR code. Rather than highlighting the beauty of the campus or showing yet another autumn stock photo, Hamilton connected with the high school generation by creating a poster that spoke to them, while baffling many adults. The QR code could be easily scanned by high school students immediately taking http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/c them to Hamilton’s website. The QR code is trendy ollege-inc/post/hamilton-college-puts-qrand graphically engaging. Other uses for this type of code-on-admissionsposter/2011/09/27/gIQArj5T4K_blog.html marketing are endless.

If you plan to use QR codes today, we find having a clear and compelling offer is a far better motivator than simply saying, “Hey, scan this to learn more.” In other words, make it worth the prospect’s efforts to access your content. http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/08/26/18-cool-ways-colleges-areusing-qr-codes/

64. Virtual tour It is well accepted that international students are unable to travel to the US campuses their American counterparts visit. For international students to gain a perspective on various American universities, the virtual tour becomes an invaluable option for presenting information. A recent article in the New York Times highlights the growing importance of virtual tours. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/us/06iht-educside06.html?_r=2&src=recg Virtual tours can be executed in a number of ways, depending upon your human and financial resources. One suggestion we received is to film a tour guide walking around campus and then broadcast that tour to international students. This will give the students a much better view of the campus. Barbara Carletta Chen suggested, “How about having ACTUAL tours of campus (not virtual tours) via Skype. How simple would it be to equip a tour guide with an iPhone (Skype enabled or iChat enabled) so an international student can follow along a real tour in real time. You'll bridge the distance, and be able to see which applicants are taking the initiative. Rather than another mass marketing blitz to the Chinese, this will draw in curious applicants.

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Kudos to the University of Cincinnati for a well done virtual tour, highlighting international students presenting their campus in their native language. http://magazine.uc.edu/explore/video/fre nch.html/ Another interesting example comes from Indiana University at South Bend. They created a video tour with English subtitles and they overlay the same video with various languages. You then only have to record a script in multiple languages. https://www.iusb.edu/admissions/visit/iutour.php/

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65. Contests on local social media sites Contests are a great way to engage students and encourage brand recognition. By hosting a contest through a social media site you can develop buzz and create interest around your brand.

"Despite being established in 1924, Misericordia University in Pennsylvania is still battling for awareness in its region, says Jim Roberts, director of marketing communications—so it turned to Facebook. To engage with incoming freshmen and reach prospective students, the school offered university bookstore gift certificates as prizes to incoming freshmen who replaced their Facebook profile pictures with the university logo.” (Source: 5 New Ways Colleges Are Reaching High School Students, by Ryan Lytle – US News and World Report, October 17, 2011)

66. Video-based English instruction We learned about a Canadian company offering an online language-teaching platform, which can be used to attract and convert international students for your programs. The idea is to invite qualified students for additional online study sessions with your staff or students. This will create engagement and connection with potential students.

Intead has developed an incentive program with Weblishpal (www.weblishpal.com) that can be used to attract applicants and offer free sessions with native English speakers. Contact us

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67. Ning social network We learned about one university deploying Ning for accepted international students. Ning is a private US turn-key solution for setting up an individualized social network. In this case, the school encouraged current international students to correspond with newly accepted students. This is a terrific idea. As with all social media, you have to establish certain ground rules for communication, but you will not be able to control the message completely and you may not even understand the conversations taken place if you allow native language use. We believe the authenticity and credibility will help you if your current students are satisfied with their experience.

VI. Partnerships and relationships

68. Building relationships with embassies, governments and others who influence international student markets Relationships with the education sections of embassies can be very useful for specific countries. Saudi Arabia is probably the best example. The Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, DC, maintains an education division. For institutions that want to recruit Saudi students, it is critical to be included on the approved school list for government scholarships. We believe this effort can be limited to a small number of countries. If you are pursuing exchange programs, the group could be larger and include many European countries with specialized offices, such as Germany with the DAAD (the German Academic Exchange service, www.daad.org).
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69. Getting to know visa officers and embassy officials One of the challenges international students face in coming to the US to study is the visa process. In the past, community colleges faced particular challenges because visa officers have been misinformed about the educational opportunities offered by these institutions. Informing more visa officers of the value community colleges provide for pursuit of higher education would facilitate granting of visas, thereby easing the process for international students to pursue study in the US and improve US competitiveness in attracting these students. Taking steps to familiarize the US embassy or consulate with your institution can smooth the way for future student applicants. Your focus will depend on your target market, your local partnerships, the size of your programs and the number of international students applying from a certain area. Embassy staff is usually very knowledgeable of the local conditions, but in many locations they may not be willing or able to take the time to meet with you. The number of US schools recruiting students is numerous, and there are often few visa officers. But our experience shows it’s worth reaching out, and in smaller embassy locations, you will make valuable and useful contacts.

70. Creating university partnerships with international high schools/universities Creating deeper institutional ties with academic institutions is an important and complex initiative. The scope of creating such partnerships exceeds the purpose of this book, which is focused on specific hands-on advice for marketing and admissions staff. Partnerships require the commitment of many stakeholders, sometimes involving accrediting bodies if you aim to establish dual degree programs for students. Suffice it to say, these partnership clearly make your university more visible and accessible to a greater number of international students. Richard Ferrin, President and CEO of the World Education Group, offered the following comments on collaborative programs at the NAFSA International Enrollment Management Discussion Forum, January 14, 2011.
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Our organization, World Education Group, is actively engaged in assisting US and non-US higher education institutions develop these kinds of collaborative programs. They aren't easy, nor will they proceed from a signed agreement to actual consistent student flow without a champion on your campus and someone committed to encountering and overcoming the inevitable program, process and personnel obstacles. The biggest early issues relate to getting the sending institution's course syllabi in English, getting the US faculty's attention to reviewing those syllabi and developing articulation agreements, and assuring that each student in the collaborative program in fact has successfully completed the same courses as identified in the articulation agreement. Done right these programs can be not only culturally enriching for an institution but also financially appealing, because typically these are tuition-paying students who help to fill upper-division course enrollments. Once student flow has started, concerns turn to sustaining the relationship and making sure the program becomes woven into your institution's fabric. By the way, while 2+2 programs are the best-known format, new models that bridge undergraduate and graduate study hold much promise. If we can be helpful to anyone, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. Richard W. Ferrin, President & CEO, Belmont, NC

We would like to refer you to a few highly professional services, such as NAFSA and IIE. NAFSA has a few relevant publications, while IIE offers a specific professional service. Get the download of the entire service description: http://www.iie.org/en/WhatWe-Do/InternationalEducation-Services/Centerfor-International-Partnerships. See Section 87 for more about NAFSA and other relevant industry associations.
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71. Creating exchange agreements Exchange agreements can be a beneficial way to increase brand recognition while developing opportunities for your current students and potential international students. Exchange programs are another way to increase the diversity of your student pool. Short-term exchange students create a different student dynamic since they cannot easily develop longer term relationships on campus. You also have to accept the lower revenue impact of that activity, which is not the focus of exchange students. Our company and this publication are focused on developing successful international student recruitments on par with, or exceeding, the revenue generated by domestic students. Most universities and colleges already have established relationships with a multitude of organizations to support student exchange programs for study abroad.

72. Mutual recognition of credits We know that facilitating the recognition of credits from other institutions will make it easier to attract students. We refer you back to section 70 to review the complexity of steps required to develop this kind of program. We view the process as a sequence of activities that develop the necessary partnership, beginning with exchanging students, tightening and deepening the relationship with mutual acceptance of credits, and then moving towards joint degree programs. The number of relationships is usually limited due to the administrative efforts involved. Choose your partners appropriately to fit your overall strategic objectives. 73. Joint degree programs Joint and double degrees seem to make sense for students and universities. We will present a few highlights and data points and refer you to a couple of comprehensive studies on the topic, in particular from the Institute of International Education (IIE) from the Fall of 2011. You can download the IIE Survey on International Joint and Double Degree Programs in the Global Context 2011 at
http://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Publications/Publications-and-Reports/IIE-Bookstore/JointDegree-Survey-Report-2011.

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Impact of joint or double degree programs

Most frequently cited partner countries

We also realize that joint degree programs are a medium- and long-term value proposition requiring years of development. Admissions departments tend to play a smaller role in the creation, support and development of such joint programs. Organizational commitment is required by both partners. Curricula have to be structured and accreditation standards met. Faculty involvement is a prerequisite for a successful joint-degree program.

74. Bridge/pathway programs Bridge or pathway programs have been highly successful and popular in Australia and the UK for many years, but as a structured entry point for international students to the US, they are a more recent phenomenon on campus. These programs prepare students for entry into regular universities by providing English and other basic academic instruction. Their limited track record in the US doesn’t give us enough data to determine whether they will contribute as significantly in the US. Universities have signed long-term agreements, providing their brand, and private for-profit entities are willing to invest in development of these programs. The distinction from ESL programs is sometimes blurry since both ESL and pathway programs focus on providing students language training to help them meet the language capability requirement for university admissions. Here are the key providers of bridge programs in the US.

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75. ESL programs – university provided ESL programs are a vital part of attracting international students to universities. Your need for ESL programs will diminish the higher ranked and more selective your institution. The majority of schools want and need to expand their pools of applicants. ESL serves multiple purposes. It permits you to attract students who have not met certain English test requirements such as TOEFL, ITEP or IELTS and provides conditional admission, which is practically and psychologically very important for many students and parents. As of this writing, December 2012, there is some question about US immigration law and conditional admission. You need to monitor whether the latest US government rules will have an impact on your ability to provide conditional admissions offers. ESL is also Undeclared 3% important for Other Fields of Study 11% improving English Business and Management 21% conversation Agriculture 1% Humanities 2% capabilities. In Education 2% particular, Chinese Intensive English Language 5% students who prepare and pass Health Professions 4% standardized tests Engineering 19% will require Fine and Applied Arts 5% additional oral practice. This is no Social Sciences 9% surprise since Physical and Life Sciences 9% Math and Computer Science 9% language classes in China tend to be Open Doors data: international students by field of study, 2011. large (60-100 students) and don’t offer much time and opportunity to practice and hone oral skills. Internal language programs are a great asset if you have existing institutional capabilities. The Institute of International Education provides data on international student enrollment in the US by field of study in its Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, “International Students by Field of Study, 2009/2010 - 2010/2011,” retrievable at http:/www.iie.org/opendoors.

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76. ESL programs – for-profit third party providers within agent networks There are advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of a third party provider, whether for-profit or non-profit. Advantages Disadvantages

  

Reduced investment for the college and university to set up, maintain and market an ESL program Reduced administrative responsibilities for ESL program, including hiring of teachers Increased ability to recruit students. All for-profit ESL providers have a large network of agents, marketing channels to attract students to their programs

  

Less independent control of your program Need for capable, financially and operationally strong partner to attract students Your brand used by independent third party to recruit students
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We have published podcasts on this topic that can be found on our website www.intead.com or in the iTunes store under Intead.

77. ESL programs – non-profit third party ESL providers Non-profit third party providers don’t differ from for-profit providers with the exception that there are fewer of them and that for-profit programs tend to have stronger recruitment networks. The Associates in Cultural Exchange is an example of an non-profit provider: www.cultural.org.

VII. US government support or US government funded activities

78. EducationUSA EducationUSA is part of the Department of State and, in conjunction with IIE, the most visible marketing program for US education around the world. Here is a summary from the 2012 NACAC conference on ways in which the program assists US colleges.

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We think of EducationUSA as a brand-building opportunity. EducationUSA has made significant efforts to enhance their reach around the world. Each university can submit content and information to be posted on the site. The site informs students directly about study opportunities in the US. Fairs and webinars provide opportunity for more direct interaction with students.

The “EducationUSA Global Guide” is an informative document on higher education trends around the world and ideas how and where to use EducationUSA resources: http://bit.ly/EduUSA_Guide https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6an0zur1lh49g21/7VRDIJbFjg/Ed ucationUSA%20Global%20Guide.pdf http://www.educationusa.info/highered.php

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Source: EducationUSA Global Guide 2012

It’s easy for universities to get started. EducationUSA divides the world into thirteen regions, each with a regional director. The best way to make inroads in a new region is by contacting the regional director who can provide advice on successful recruitment strategies and help you to connect with any of the 400 individual EducationUSA centers. EducationUSA can assist you with travel planning, meeting scheduling, attending college fairs, meeting with alumni and scheduling

How EducationUSA interacts with its customers.

participation in group advising sessions. EducationUSA’s webinars allow universities to continue to connect with students as they are all saved and made available as podcasts. The EducationUSA Forum held in Washington, DC on a yearly basis is an opportunity to further connect with advisors and regional directors. Have you used EducationUSA in different countries? Share your experience here.

79. American Corners Program The American Corners Program is a United States Department of State-sponsored initiative inaugurated worldwide more than 10 years ago. Since 2000, the US has launched almost 400 American Corners in approximately 60 countries. American Corners serve as regional resource centers for information and programs highlighting American culture, history, current events, and government. The program typically hosts discussion groups, seminars, digital video conferencing (DVCs), poster exhibits, and meetings with US and local specialists on a wide range of American-focused topics. These worldwide offices act as a regional repository for the use of American-themed books, videos, DVDs, and CD-ROMs and provide free internet access and educational materials. Operated as partnerships, the US provides equipment and materials, while host institutions provide staffing and the free use of space. (Information courtesy of the American Corners Program website.)
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80. Department of Commerce – Commercial Service The Department of Commerce’s (DOC) Commercial Service appears to be underutilized by colleges and universities. We call it the best kept secret in international recruitment. Many other US industries use the commerce service as a “door opener” and on-theground support organization around the world. In contrast to EducationUSA, the Commercial Service specializes in servicing and promoting individual companies and institutions directly. The “Gold Key Service” described below is a cost-efficient paid service, providing support when making your local country arrangements, including meeting with potential partner schools and recruitment agents. In contrast to EducationUSA, the Department of Commerce considers recruitment agents a legitimate marketing channel for universities. The Commerce Department is even able to arrange local receptions, and the invitation will come from the US embassy or consulate, elevating your local standing immediately. We also strongly recommend DOC research reports that provide information on local education markets. The Commercial Service organizes country missions, which create inroads and facilitate contacts. 81. Education newsletters Tap into existing resources that allow you to connect with international students. Eileen Bai, author of the China Education Newsletter can help you to arrange student fairs, briefings and meetings during your trips to China. Her newsletter also provides a great deal of useful information for international educators.

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82. The Institute of International Education The Institute of International Education (IIE) is one of the most visible and established players in the international education field with a wide array of services. IIE is a non-profit organization and not a US government entity, although they rely largely on funding from various US and other government departments to

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implement and maintain their programs. The academic community and we at Intead rely on IIE data collection for such information as the number of international students in the US. They also provide a number of specialized services, such as partnership searches (see section 70) and college fairs (see section 38). The chart below shows that IIE depends mostly on funding from the US government (two-thirds) and foundations (one-fifth).

IIE, an independent non-profit organization founded in 1919, is a world leader in the exchange of people and ideas. IIE administers over 200 programs serving more than 20,000 individuals each year. IIE provides a wide range of services to and manages or administers programs for many corporations, foundations, government partners, and international agencies. http://www.iie.org/What-We-Do

VIII. Independent counselors and agents We are going to cover here the most controversial topic of international student recruitment. It’s almost a religious battle that exists between supporters and detractors of commission-based agents. We consider agents a legitimate recruiting method, and admission departments need to manage and control commission-based agents as they do other aspects of their recruiting process. One additional dimension to be considered is that two types of agents exist, differentiated by their forms of compensation. In contrast to the United States, some of the other markets have developed large corporate entities that employ hundreds of advisors. The use of independent counselors is most established in the Chinese market, followed by India and Vietnam. These counselors have numerous clients and provide material explaining programs, requirements, and facilities. From our experience, the US News & World Report rankings matter a great deal in the decision making process – in particular in China – and counselors use the report as an indication of an institution's quality.
Resources for the agent debate http://www.nafsa.org/Ex plore_International_Educ ation/Trends/TI/Moving_ Past_the_Agent_Debate/

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83. Agencies/counselors hired by students and parents directly The majority of in-country counselors, much the same as independent counselors in the United States, are hired and paid by parents to assist in research, selection and application to an international university. No compensation is paid by the universities.

Here are some examples of such counselors used by US students (found through a Google search):

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84. Agencies/counselors receiving exclusive or additional compensation from universities or colleges In general, commission-based agents are not a panacea. They require significant support and management. You will also find varying quality among these professionals. Agents are used widely around the world. The majority of Australian, British and Canadian universities use them as part of their extended marketing reach. We haven’t seen any official estimates of universities in the United States working with agents. Our own research among 100 NAFSA members indicates 40 percent were using commission-based agents. The American International Recruitment Council (AIRC - http://airc-education.org) has 160 academic members which in principle will at least consider, if not actively use, agents. This data shows widespread use of commission-based recruiters. Anecdotally, we believe that many more colleges and universities use agents than will admit to their use. NACAC (National Association for College Admission

Counseling) currently has a working group reviewing the use of agents for their members. NACAC membership is divided between institutional members and their broad-based high school counselor membership. More than 20 years ago, NACAC had an intense debate about the membership admission of paid US independent college advisors. The debate continues today. High school counselors appear uncomfortable with the commercial aspect of the advice provided. The tension between commercial activities and the non-profit nature of academic institutions is a recurring theme. Ultimately, each academic institution makes its own decision on policies for responsibly managing the admissions process. There are thousands of agents around the world. To our knowledge, no comprehensive agent directory exists. Many admissions officers rely on word-of-mouth referrals.

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Large international networks of agents are present in many different countries. Large local companies also exist with a focus on a particular country of presence. EduGlobal is an example in the Chinese markets. IDP has global reach but a strong emphasis on India. Here is an example of a global commission-based recruitment agency: IDP from Australia. We counted over 100 academic institutions on the IDP website. IDP is one of the largest commission-based recruiters. For the list of partner institutions, go to http://www.usa.idp.com/partner-institutions.aspx. The company is jointly owned by Australian universities and a private company. Story taken from http://www.marketwatch.com/st ory/idp-education-appointedby-the-state-university-of-newyork-to-assist-with-itsambitious-international-studentgrowth-plan-2012-08-27

85. Hiring commission based agents AIRC approved agents. AIRC has a list of agents who have undergone a professional review by academic staff. You could loosely compare their work to an accreditation process for academic institutions. The process is time intensive and expensive, so only a certain size of agency will be able and willing to undergo their review. We believe these agency reviews show a distinct level of expertise and professionalism. These agencies have gained a large number of clients and colleges. As a result, not all universities can receive the level of attention or number of students desired. Agents will make commercial assessments as to which universities offer the most promising placement opportunities using various factors including rankings, type of institution and location. (Note: Intead is a corporate sponsor of AIRC.) Agent meetings. There are a number of routes to meeting agents. The two largest conferences we have found are ICEF and WEBA. Agents and admissions officers meet at these events. The tongue-in-cheek comparison would be to speed dating events. ICEF and WEBA offer conferences for school admissions officers and recruiting agents to meet and discuss their respective needs. It’s equivalent to a trade fair for student recruitment. The organizers emphasize that they screen recruiters for quality.
http://www.airc-education.org/agency_finder.html

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Traveling. As we stated previously, agents may represent many different universities and as a university, you have to maintain contact, provide information and market yourself to the agent to be presented appropriately. Depending on your university’s travel budget, you could meet several recruiters at fairs in the US or choose to travel to each country to select your agents. Here is a useful perspective from a webinar sponsored by ICEF in October 2012.

http://bit.ly/ICEF_webinar

86. Promoting agent activities on university website Australian and British universities have a longer tradition of using commissionbased agencies as extensions of their marketing functions.

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They list appointed agents on their websites and direct students to their offices. See examples from The University of Sydney. This university also has an agent portal, providing documents and managing the relationship with agents. Here is an example showing the University of Cincinnati listing a large group of approved agents in various countries. Cincinnati was an early proponent of using commission-based agents and is a founding member of AIRC (see section 85).

The advantages are that these agent offices are the frontline processors and reviewers of an applicant. They provide initial screening and inform a university whether a student:

  

Meets the qualifications Fits the university student profile in general Has the financial means to attend the chosen institution

The disadvantages are also relatively clear. The agency will only get compensated if the student is placed at the university. In contrast to a salaried admission officer, the agency has a direct financial stake in placing students. However, final admission of a student to the university lies with university staff.

87. Joining professional organizations – NAFSA, AIRC, NACAC, OACAC
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Joining professional organizations and participating in their regional and national conferences provides a means for engaging with higher education colleagues, exchanging ideas and learning cutting edge advances in recruitment practices. Membership also provides access to websites, professional literature and webinars.
The logos below are clickable hyperlinks to each organization’s website.

88. We encourage collaboration. Send us your 88th method for international student recruitment Now it’s your turn. We loved the idea of providing 88 ways to recruit international students since the number 8 is considered lucky in China just as the number 7 is considered lucky in the West. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the Olympic games in China opened on August 8, 2008 or 08/08/08. In China you have to pay extra to have the number 8 in your phone number or license plate. In addition, home and business owners seek to have the number 8 in their addresses. So why is the number 8 considered lucky in the minds of Chinese people? The main reason is that the pronunciation of the word 8 in Chinese is "ba," which sounds like the word for prosperity, pronounced "fa." Another attraction to the number 8 is its perfect symmetry. You can cut the number 8 in half vertically or horizontally, and both halves mirror themselves perfectly. Perfect symmetry lends itself to perfect balance. In Chinese astrology, perfect balance is considered the ideal. We reserved section 88 for your ideas and suggestions of services that should be included in our compendium. Fortunately, in the digital world and in the ondemand print environment, we’ll be able to update our compendium and publish version 2.0 to include this additional method. We appreciate your comments and suggestions. Please email us at [email protected], find us on Twitter @intead, friend us on Facebook www.facebook.com/intead or Google plus.

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Appendix A: More Digital Marketing Resources

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Click here to download e-book

Click here to download e-book

Appendix B: Holistic Digital Marketing Platform Overview - Hubspot

Intead value-added inbound marketing services using Hubspot software as service platform

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Click here or on image to register for free consultation. We can help you develop and implement a holistic digital strategy for international student recruitment.

Appendix C: Intead Services – International Branding for Academic Institutions

The Intead Approach to Implementing a Holistic International Recruiting Strategy

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Intead Services Available to Our Clients

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