But students do not always know whether a higher education institution that promises “career-focused education” will truly deliver. David Pilsbury, Chief Development Officer at Oxford International Education Group, wrote for Universities UK on 3 October 2025 that argues that it is time to abandon “vague promises.” He writes about a TNE initiative in which he has been closely involved that bucks this trend: the University of Southampton’s new Delhi campus. Mr Pilsbury writes:

“This project 
 breaks the mould of ‘business as usual’ in transnational ventures. Instead of the usual rhetoric about employability, it hard-wires a commitment to real employment outcomes for students.”

Mr Pilsbury goes on to explain how the Southampton branch manifests this commitment:

“Thanks to partnerships with industry – for example an agreement with Deloitte India – students at the Delhi campus gain access to internships, placements and clear graduate job pipelines from day one. The campus is located in an innovation park amid major businesses, and curricula are specifically designed to prepare students for global careers. In practice, this means engaging industry experts in guest lectures and projects, and constantly updating programmes to match skills needed in the market 
. Crucially, Southampton’s venture doesn’t operate in isolation – it integrates a ‘triple helix’ of education, research and industry engagement at its core. Students benefit from links to leading firms with internship and placement schemes already in place.”

The University of Southampton’s commitment to employability is admirable, and there are other universities that are similarly impressive in accompanying promises with strategy and infrastructure.

We have highlighted a few great examples below.

Experience for the win

Northeastern University (US) is a pioneer of integrating workplace learning into academics. It is famous for its six-month co-op opportunities – mostly paid, and the university strongly encourages employers to compensate students – at the undergraduate and master’s levels. For example, business and law students can work with legal firms or multinationals including Deloitte and Microsoft to gain hands-on expertise. In fact, if you look at Northeastern’s , you’ll see that “Experience” leads the branding in the university’s carousel-styled banner, followed by “Research” and “Global.”

Leading with excellence in work placements

The landing page for says it all – and the message is directed right at students:

“Explore careers, earn money, and gain experience through the world’s leading co-op (paid internship) program.

As a Waterloo co-op student, you’ll typically alternate between four months in school and four months as a full-time employee of the organization you’re working for.

Open to Canadian and international students, Waterloo’s co-op program is an amazing way to learn to successfully interview for jobs, test drive up to six careers, graduate with up to two years of valuable experience – and make money!”

Skills-demand forecasting for relevant programmes

As reported by (in a fascinating article about preparing students for long-term success), (RMIT) “forecast the growth of digital jobs in Australia. The university then formed strategic partnerships with major employers to establish pathways and programs aimed at reskilling current students so that they can access these job opportunities.” This is an amazing example of following through on promises of academic–industry connections.

Beyond traditional career supports

Check out Korea-based Seoul National University’s and you’ll need to scroll to see all the career supports the university provides. From courses to internships to job fairs and career “concerts,” the list is extremely impressive. There are even options specifically for international students and one focused on jobs in the global economy, complete with English-language coaching for resumes, interviews, and presentations.

Make it personal

In France, the EDHEC Business School doesn’t just offer career services – it offers for students focusing on one sector or profession. Their website says:

“One of the unique strengths of EDHEC’s Career Centre is its specialised teams that focus on specific tracks and industries. Whether students are pursuing finance, marketing, consulting, or data, they receive expert support tailored to the demands of their chosen field. This ensures precise alignment between academic preparation and market needs.

The Career Booster programme offers sector-specific training, recruitment preparation, and networking opportunities. With 30 sectorial career boosters, students can focus on industries like luxury goods, fintech, consulting, entertainment, and more, ensuring they stand out in a competitive global job market.”

Within the Career Booster initiative is an Assessment Centre that “simulates real-world recruitment processes. Students participate in tests, group exercises, and case studies, receiving immediate feedback from industry experts. Each year, our students benefit from this immersive preparation, entering the job market with confidence.”

Lifelong career support

The University of Edinburgh (UK) recognises – and even after they get their first job. The university offers lifelong career support to its alumni through its Careers Service and the Alumni Services platform. This includes access to online resources and advice, careers events, networking opportunities, and individual counselling support.

Back it up

The five universities profiled here offer a glimpse of best practices in career services as well as a real commitment to graduate outcomes. Increasingly, developing more comprehensive, strategy-based, labour-market connected career supports represents a huge competitive edge – and one that should be surfaced not just on landing pages, but on the institutional homepage as per the Northeastern example. If they are the real deal – and not just a claim – experiential learning and graduate outcomes can be the strongest element of a brand.

For additional information, please see:

• “What students want: The top decision factors for study abroad”
• “Global student satisfaction survey highlights growing attention to career services”

The post Is your institution doing enough to boost career outcomes for students? appeared first on șÚÁÏčÙÍű Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

In the age of AI, are students still asking human beings for their advice? It depends. When prospective students get information from a platform such as ChatGPT, they can sometimes conclude that they have all the answers, which can diminish their likelihood of (1) going to the university website and pressing the “Contact us” button, and (2) visiting a local agent.

However, an AI response can also inspire prospects to take the next step to see what other people think about the university – especially people with first-hand experience: other students and alumni.

The importance of a student/alumni ambassador initiative is not diminished by AI. Instead, this investment can go a long way towards ensuring that AI may be the first word about your institution, but not the last word.

According to marketing guru Seth Godin, a brand is “a promise and a shorthand for the expectations, memories, stories, and relationships a consumer has with a product, service, or organisation.” That is a phenomenal description of the emotional relationship between brands and their avid fans. This kind of relationship is just not covered by AI. It needs humans.

Students engage with school and university brands on many levels, including by spending hours watching student-created videos about getting ready for school, decorating dorm rooms, cramming for exams, cheering for sports teams, and goofing around with friends. They are looking for a student perspective as much as a list of the objective benefits of an institution. They want to be sure that on top of receiving quality education and good career outcomes, they will belong on campus and have friends and fun.

Student ambassadors can provide accurate, current information about programmes, internships, costs of study, etc. and the subjective student experience. This is a superpower! Ambassadors provide the authenticity prospective students crave when deciding on where and what to study.

Why aren’t more universities using student ambassadors?

At this year’s șÚÁÏčÙÍű Monitor Global Summit in London, an expert panel – George Grainger, co-founder of Alumnify; Sanna Heikkinen, marketing designer at the University of Oulu in Finland; and George Olesen, CEO of The Ambassador Platform – explored the benefits and challenges of student ambassador programmes.

Mr Grainger started off by highlighting why institutions need to consider ambassadors as part of their branding and outreach, saying, “Prospective students are willing to make a huge investment in study abroad, but you need more than traditional marketing to have them choose your university over all the other options they might be considering. Students want to hear the real stories and opinions of other students 
 student ambassadors are a unique opportunity.”

The panelists also addressed a common worry that investing in an ambassador initiative could lead to unpredictable or unmeasurable ROI. For example, maybe one ambassador would prompt a conversion, while others would not, or maybe an ambassador could even damage the brand by providing inaccurate information by mistake or sharing a video that is too silly or even inappropriate.

The solution, agreed panelists, is to commit to a serious onboarding system and continuous support. Mr Grainger explained that you can’t just expect ambassadors to know how to represent your institution without preparing them:

“Training is so important for outcomes. We start with a four-hour bootcamp where we get ambassadors into the nuts and bolts of how to recruit. We explore how to communicate with different stakeholders. We do scenario training, where for example we take on the role of a difficult student or a difficult parent and then help ambassadors learn how best to handle the situation.”

Ms Heikkinen said that in her experience, involving ambassadors across marketing functions and activities is great for engagement and results:

“We connect all our marketing activities and design them to be complementary. So our ambassadors contribute to ideas for the website, they gather student testimonials and create videos. They play a role in webinars, open days, high school visits, social media, and more. They’re involved in agent cooperation and study fairs. They are integrated because they are part of our team.”

Treating ambassadors as valued, important professionals will encourage the results you are looking for. In addition to improved conversions, ROI will come from a strengthened position in key target markets and a reputation as a brand that students can trust.

Five key steps to driving ROI

1. Compensate your ambassadors. Paying them professionalises their job. By paying them fairly, you get to set tasks and responsibilities and require accountability. If ambassadors are simply asked to help out of the goodness of their hearts or for a bullet on their resume, they may deliver variable results. They could hit it out of the park here and there but then fade away when they are busy or distracted. If cost is an issue, start small – even 3-5 ambassadors for your top target markets can make a huge difference.

2. Commit to the relationship. Attach a contract to the work, with a start-and-end date and with regular performance and check-in meetings. Create a list of weekly/monthly tasks the ambassador is required to complete. As George Grainger said, “If you don’t build in regularity to the relationship, you run into situations like when all of a sudden, after not contacting an ambassador for months, you need them to attend an event. That’s probably not going to work.”

3. Choose wisely. Career outcomes are crucial to prospective students. Choose students
excelling in programmes you want to promote overseas or alumni who have secured great jobs after graduating. In addition, choose:

• Students and alumni who are passionate about what going to your school has done for them. Those people are going to be the most engaging, authentic, and persuasive.
• Current students or recent alumni. Someone who graduated 5 years ago instead of 12 months ago won’t have the same fresh take on studying at your university or school.
• People who are good communicators and presenters.

4. Train and nurture. Develop a rigorous onboarding programme for your ambassadors,
since ideally, they will serve as an extension of your marketing team. Provide comprehensive training, have your staff welcome them, and make them feel valued. Consider ambassadors part of your 360-degree branding: show them how they can support all other functions (e.g., agents and in-country representatives, digital campaigns, social media posts, etc.).

5. Clarify and prepare. Clearly define what kind and tone of content the ambassador can create to represent your school, and delineate what they can and cannot say to students. Then, provide them with a set script so they can confidently direct sensitive questions (e.g., immigration-related) to appropriate staff members. For many activities such as fairs, online discussions, and events, ask your ambassadors to have their laptop open so they can easily and quickly pull up accurate information about a wide variety of programmes, tuition fees, accommodation, etc.

For additional background, please see:

• “How to build a better peer recruitment programme“
• “The peer-to-peer effect in international student recruitment“

The post Five key steps to driving ROI from your student ambassador programme appeared first on șÚÁÏčÙÍű Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

The programme – produced in partnership by Studyportals with Uni-Life and the British Council IELTS – relies entirely on student reviews, which this year amounted to 102,000 reviews from students across 3,059 universities and 124 countries. The reviews were submitted between January 2023 and July 2025, from current students or alumni who graduated after January 2022.

Overall student satisfaction remains high at 4.18/5.00, reflecting a marginal decrease from 2023’s rating of 4.21. Comparable to the 2023 survey, just under 96% of responding students rated their overall study experience at either four or five stars.

At a national level, the top-performing destinations – based on that overall satisfaction score – were the United States (4.32), Belgium (4.29), and Austria (4.28). The following figure highlights a wider selection of country ratings (for overall satisfaction), comparing destination performance on two dimensions: (i) positive or negative change relative to the 2023 rating and (ii) relative ranking compared to the global average of 4.18.

Aside from the US, Canada showed steady improvement over the last four years, climbing from a rating of 4.07 (2021) and 4.11 (2023) to reach the global average for first time. The United Kingdom has also shown steady, if more gradual improvement, rising from 4.1 (2021) and 4.18 (2023) to 4.23 this year. Australia, however, remains below the global benchmark, with ratings consistently around 4.13 over the past four years.

As we see in the following summary of other key indicators from the 2025 ratings, there is a little more variability sitting behind that overall score.

“These results show where universities are winning student trust, and where they risk losing it,” said Studyportals CEO Edwin van Rest. “Students are more confident about career prospects, but increasingly concerned about diversity and their quality of life. In today’s competitive environment, these student voices are critical signals for universities. Understanding these perspectives is crucial for shaping policies and programmes that genuinely meet students’ needs.”

Signals for improvement

The student rating for “Admissions Process” declined from 4.41 in 2023 to 4.24 this year. This parameter reflects student feedback with respect to ease of application, clarity of website information, and quality of staff assistance during the admission process.

Part of the issue here may lie in the premium that students place on ease of use and streamlined experience in other parts of their lives. “Students specifically appreciate when online applications are ‘easy and simple to operate’ and websites are user-friendly,” adds Studyportals. “Modern students expect admission processes to match the usability standards of consumer applications, with intuitive interfaces and straightforward procedures.”

Another notable change this year was in the area of “Student Diversity,” which reflects “how effectively universities foster welcoming environments for students from different countries, cultures, religions, age groups, gender identities, backgrounds, and those with special needs.”

Student satisfaction with respect to “Student Diversity” dropped from 4.37 (2023) to 4.15 this year, a change that the report summarises as, “Universities that intentionally create welcoming spaces for students from different backgrounds see higher satisfaction. Conversely, some students faced problems integrating into the campus community or feeling at home in a new country.”

The meaningful thing about both parameters is that they are largely within the control of each university, which highlights that they remain areas of opportunity and potential competitive advantage for most institutions.

The steady rise of career services

Students rated their satisfaction with “Career Development” at 4.13 this year, a small increase over the 4.08 rating from 2023 but an impressive gain over four years from the 3.86 rating from 2021. As the term suggests, this aspect of student experience is concerned with, “How well universities support students’ career development through extracurricular courses, workshops, conferences, internship assistance, and other employability-enhancing activities.”

Overall, “Career Development” is the most-improved category tracked in the programme, indicating the greater attention to student support and student outcomes in this respect. Given everything we are learning in recent years about the greater emphasis students now place on those outcomes, this is a particularly relevant finding in the 2025 ratings.

This year’s report also includes a series of related recommendations for institutions planning to further strengthen their career services for students.

• “Facilitate industry professional connections. Organise regular interactions with working professionals through guest lectures, networking events, and mentorship programmes. These direct industry connections often prove more valuable than theoretical career guidance, providing students with realistic insights and professional networks.

• Expand hands-on learning opportunities. Bridge the gap between academic learning and professional application through well-supported internships and real-world projects. Students need practical experience with current industry tools and challenges to feel prepared for their careers.

• Leverage faculty research connections. Ensure professors actively engaged in current research translate contemporary industry challenges into classroom content. This makes education feel immediately relevant and prepares students for the evolving problems they’ll encounter in their professional lives”.

For additional background, please see:

• “How likely are students to recommend your institution?“
• “Global survey says graduate outcomes the most important factor in students’ choice of institution abroad“
• “Better living and social environments for students linked to better mental health“
• “Is employability still the holy grail for the new generation of international students?“

The post Global student satisfaction survey highlights growing attention to career services appeared first on șÚÁÏčÙÍű Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

Research underlines the importance of parents for recruiters. A 2018 survey conducted by research firm EAB among 5,580 college-bound students found that more than three-quarters of students indicated that their parents were highly influential, second only to email from colleges and higher than the opinions of friends in college or current classmates. Another EAB study of 1,500 parents of college-bound students found that 74% felt that colleges should communicate with them directly.

Parents, adds the , “have a unique and compelling perspective that your marketing and admissions team cannot match. They understand and relate to prospective parents, providing organic insights and advice based on real-world experience
 Every parent who sends their child to your school is a valuable advocate in waiting. After all, they’re trusting you to look after the most important people in their lives. It’s hard to think of a better endorsement.”

The pandemic has amplified the need to reach out to parents

Acknowledging parents as key stakeholders whose needs must be considered during recruitment as well as during students’ time enrolled is more important than ever as a result of the pandemic. The ordeal has left some families less financially secure than before it began, and it has naturally increased parents’ concerns about how safe students will be – and how cared for by institutions, other students, and governments – if they travel to another country.

In short, parents need more assurances and ongoing communication than they might have pre-COVID. Ensuring that you have good, targeted information for parents on your website is a must. Better yet, add a personalised email marketing campaign to the mix so that parents feel especially engaged with your institution.

Social media is another channel to investigate, and there are influential parent-only groups to be found and engaged with, including Circle of Moms, which Higher Education Marketing (HEM) describes as “an influential WeChat group consisting mostly of mothers of Chinese students who are interested in sending their children to education institutions in the United States.”

Money matters

HEM points out that parents may be more concerned with financial considerations than students are, since they are often more responsible for funding students’ education than students themselves. They advise institutions to provide “a transparent breakdown of tuition, room and board, and other fees – clarify the specific rates for international students as well as typical payment options, budgeting advice, scholarship opportunities and other frequently asked questions.”

EAB research underlines how important transparency about costs – and advice about budgeting – is when communicating with parents. Their research found that more than a third of parents “aren’t sure at all about how much to pay for their students’ education—and 43% reported being unsure if they could afford any college at all.”

Harness the power of parents

Parents are also powerful brand advocates. When their children are experiencing success at an institution – not to mention being presented with amazing training opportunities and going on to good careers – parents will tell their friends, friends whose children may also be considering study abroad. What’s more, many of them will be happy to tell other parents they don’t know. Leveraging their excitement can be done in a number of ways, including:

• Creating an online forum for current and prospective parents to share information – The Ambassador Platform (TAP) notes some of the most powerful elements of Dulwich College Singapore’s forum ;
• Gathering written/video testimonials from happy parents that can be housed in a special section of the institutional website;
• Engaging parents in local recruitment activities (e.g., volunteering at events, speaking in schools).

Get sophisticated – consider segmentation

Not all parents of international students are alike, of course – their priorities, circumstances, culture, and language will differ greatly according to which country they are in. HEM advises,

“Developing multiple student and parent personas for your top source markets can be a good first step toward clarifying the unique cultural backgrounds, academic motivations and concerns influencing your diverse prospects’ study decisions. Start from your experience with your current students and common questions to your admissions advisors, then add emerging social, economic and political considerations affecting recruitment. The resulting profiles can help to customize marketing approaches and key messages for each market.”

Essential questions to answer

HEM provides a comprehensive list of essential information for parents that is especially relevant in a COVID era where governments’ and institutions’ policies have so drastically affected the lives of international students. They advise institutions :

• How policies impact international students;
• Any flexibility in study options “such as the opportunity for blended learning and multiple majors, effective teaching approaches and potential benefits of less expected career paths”;
• “Which immigration documents are needed – provide helpful links for accessing visas to study and work”’
• Practical information such as “orientation and pre-arrival programmes, registration and housing information, meal plans and food options, transportation concerns, and ongoing support services for international students 
 international parents will greatly appreciate campus maps, orientation videos, and advice for arriving from the airport.”

A parent strategy requires careful consideration

The research and examples provided here underline the tremendous potential of a parent-focused marketing strategy, as well as the hard work required to set it up and maintain it for best effect. As with students, the success of the strategy will hinge on how thoughtfully designed it is and how much commitment goes into maintaining it and ensuring that parents feel respected and valued – rather than simply marketed to.

For additional background, please see:

• “The crucial role of parents in international student recruitment and retention”
• “Global survey highlights increasing importance of student supports during pandemic”

The post Are you paying enough attention to parents in your recruitment marketing? appeared first on șÚÁÏčÙÍű Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

This means, however, that there are still significant numbers of institutions and schools in major destinations that are not currently engaging peer-recruiters. And this is in spite of the fact that the impact of peer recruiters is really well established in student surveys, where a strong majority of prospective students consistently say that contacts with student ambassadors were highly influential in the students’ choice of institution or school. “One of the earliest lessons I learned in college admissions was that our current students were our best recruiters,” said industry consultant during a recent webinar. “When I talk about recruiters, I’m talking about those who can sell your institution better than you can as an employee.”

Also on , Ellis Platt, a student recruitment officer for Manchester Metropolitan University, added, “[Prospective students] appreciate the ability to communicate with peers, and often don’t want to speak just to staff. They just want to gauge what their overall student experience will be like.”

A new whitepaper from (TAP) aims to demystify the process of building an effective peer recruitment effort, and sets out five key planning questions that educators can use to build or expand ambassador programmes.

• “What problem will a student ambassador program solve for us?” For many educators, the answer to this question will revolve around recruitment targets or conversion rates. But the underlying idea for any effective ambassador programme is simply that prospective students really value the chance to hear what current students (or alumni) have to say about the institution or school and the experience they have had.

• “How will we facilitate interaction between prospects and ambassadors?” For the most part, this will happen online via whatever channels students would normally use to talk with friends or other peers. But it probably starts with your inquiry process, and in creating opportunities for direct contact with peers for inquiring students. As Mr Platt points out, a lot of that contact will happen quite naturally. “Maybe the [prospective students] wouldn’t have the confidence or see the need to bother a member of staff. But if they feel like they are just talking to a student, it’s just like messaging a friend on WhatsApp or whatever. It’s no big deal.”

• “How much content will ambassadors be expected to produce, where will it go, and what form will it take?” This too will be student-led to a great extent, in the form of online chats and Q&As with prospective students. A recent TAP survey found that ambassadors are mostly asked about course details, admissions processes (and requirements), and housing. But ambassadors can also set down some foundation content as well, including published responses for frequently asked questions or even videos showing the campus, community, or (as in the example below) a typical day (or week) in the life at your institution or school.

• “Who will be responsible for managing the student ambassador team, the content they produce and the events they take part in?” While overall management of the peer programme will likely rest with recruitment managers or other international staff, senior ambassadors can also play a key role in supporting peer recruiters.

• “Does our budget allow for remuneration? If not, what can we offer?” A related survey of student ambassadors, also from TAP, offers some important insights on the question. As the following chart reflects, most ambassadors say they are motivated by the opportunity to assist students, boost the profile of their school, and gain work experience. Less than four in ten cited the chance “to earn extra money” as an important factor in their decision to become an ambassador. Just over half (56%) of ambassadors responding to the survey said they were paid by their institutions, the remaining 44% were not.

That finding again underscores the tremendous opportunity for every ambassador programme: prospects want to talk to current or former students and those same peers have a natural interest in assisting new students. Needless to say, that is a very strong foundation for starting or expanding an ambassador programme at any institution or school.

For additional background, please see:

• “The peer-to-peer effect in international student recruitment“

The post How to build a better peer recruitment programme appeared first on șÚÁÏčÙÍű Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

The report’s findings are based on a spring 2019 survey of international students who were accessed through 40 universities in the US and UK, as well as data drawn from 370,000+ peer-to-peer conversations within the Unibuddy platform. These conversations were between student ambassadors (that is, students already enrolled at a given university) and prospective students from over 217 different countries and territories.

Commenting on the study, Unibuddy CEO Diego Fanara said,

“Student-to-student connection has taken over as the most influential and helpful factor when deciding where to apply to university 
 even more influential than friends and family. This is a huge shift for universities and colleges. Students are the heart and soul of institutions so it’s no surprise that prospective students value the authenticity of their experience above all else.”

Part of an overall effort

The study found that student ambassadors have the most impact once students are already exploring the possibility of going to a university, and particularly during application and enrolment processes. “Peer-to-peer interactions do not work as an attraction tool but rather as a resource that students use to deepen their knowledge of institutions they are already aware of,” notes the report.

Influential ambassadors

More than half (57%) of surveyed students said that online conversations with student ambassadors were the most helpful resource for them when they were considering which university to apply to, compared with 47% who said friends and family were the most helpful. In particular, notes the report, students appreciate ambassadors’ “unique and honest perspectives on academics, student life and local culture.”

The report quoted one respondent as saying, “The admission representatives give honest information as well most of the time but the students provide a more realistic day-to-day life perspective. They know more about the practical issues.”

The quote highlights the essential advantage that student ambassadors can give to recruitment efforts: ambassadors – because they have direct, current experience of being students – understand what matters to other students. They speak the same “language” – the language of their generation and that generation’s priorities – and they know what can make or break a study abroad experience.

Interactions vary by region

Students from Africa and Europe, as well as undergraduate students, were the most likely to find student ambassadors to be even more helpful than family and friends.

The survey asked students what kind of information they most valued from student ambassadors. This is the list – in order of which was determined most helpful to the most students surveyed: academic information, general information, student life and campus culture information, application and procedures, unique student perspective, general helpful resource, personal encouragement, sense of belonging, clarity to specific questions, good general advice.

However, there were variances. In Asia and Europe, information on academics was considered the most helpful, while African students valued the personal encouragement that student ambassadors provide.

Graduate students are more specific

Undergraduate students appreciated the way student ambassadors can provide a sense of student life and also general information, whereas graduate students wanted more detailed knowledge, such as “academic information, ranking, curriculum, concentrations available and faculty, among other details that will help them evaluate their decisions based on career outcomes.”

This finding highlights the more specific focuses that graduate students often have compared with undergraduate students, information that can help to guide the selection of student ambassadors for different academic levels.

Pairing student ambassadors with students

When students use the Unibuddy system, they are able to choose student ambassadors based on a variety of considerations. By far the most important for students was that they were paired with someone who shared the same academic focus as them. Otherwise, African and Asian students were more likely than those from other regions to want to chat with ambassadors who shared their ethnicity or country of origin.

Applying and enrolling

Of the two-thirds (65%) of surveyed students who ended up applying to the universities that had made student ambassadors available to chat, 67% of those students had decided to use the chat system prior to applying for admission. That is, those students knew of the university but hadn’t yet decided to apply to it – which showcases the incredible value that student ambassadors can represent in recruiting. They may provide the final bit of encouragement that takes a student from indecision to action.

Naturally, not all surveyed students who applied went on to enrol, but the discrepancy was notably minor at the graduate level, where 74% of students applied after speaking with a student ambassador and 53% then enrolled.

For additional background, please visit:

• “Let them talk: the power of student reviews”
• “Five steps to a more active alumni programme”
• “Student testimonials are an untapped source of competitive advantage in recruitment marketing”

The post The peer-to-peer effect in international student recruitment appeared first on șÚÁÏčÙÍű Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

A new study highlights that high student satisfaction can also correlate to students and alumni recommending their institution to prospective students – a result that can be the difference between unpredictable international student enrolments over time and a relatively dependable stream that can be nurtured and grown.

But “student satisfaction” is a complex metric with several elements, and some of these elements are more influential than others in determining whether a student will recommend the institution to other students, according to a new study entitled

The quantitative study, based on i-graduate International Student Barometer (ISB) data from fall 2016, was conducted by Dr. Ravichandran Ammigan, University of Delaware’s Associate Deputy Provost for International Programmes and Assistant Professor of Education. It is based on a regression analysis of responses from 45,700 international undergraduate students from 96 institutions in Australia, the UK, and the US, and is designed to reveal “which aspects of the university experience are most significant on students’ propensity to recommend their institution to prospective applicants.”

Four key elements of student satisfaction

Student satisfaction is dependent on four main factors, according to Dr. Ammigan (and the substantial body of research he cites in his report):

1. The experience students have upon arrival;
2. The experience they have as they learn;
3. Their experience of living on/off-campus and in a community while they study;
4. Their ability to access helpful support services.

His analysis found that:

“Of the four dimensions, the learning experience was the most influential. Students also indicated that their first night stay (i.e., arrival), the quality of accommodation, the quality of lectures, and services provided by their International Office were the most significant satisfaction variables within each dimension of experience.”

More on these essential drivers of satisfaction

First-night stay (i.e., arrival)

“Universities must be intentional in setting up adequate support services, such as orientation programmes, airport pick up, and social activities, that can ease the transition to campus and meet the expectations of incoming students,” says Dr. Ammigan. Also important is introducing international students early to campus resources and providing excellent pre-arrival information detailing all students need to know about visa applications, housing, health insurance, and class registration.

Learning experience

While research has shown that international students tend to be more serious about their studies in their first year than domestic students are, many issues can derail their ability to learn, and if this happens, their distress can be profound. Issues include challenges with group work, uncertainty with how to approach faculty, and language barriers. If institutions want international students to make up a significant proportion of their student population, they need faculty and support staff ready to apply inclusive teaching philosophies and to respond to international students’ unique circumstances (e.g., language issues, nervousness about group work, etc.)

International students and their families pour significant effort and resources into study abroad and if their learning environment is subpar there is a good chance that they will speak negatively about the institution to others.

Living experience

What contributes to an optimal living experience for international students? “Affordable housing, transportation options, dining services, safety and security, Internet and technology, and opportunities to meet other students locally,” says Dr. Ammigan. He emphasises the need for well-trained counsellors to help students navigate these areas and student associations, leadership and volunteer programmes, and social activities on campus.

Support services

Here, the goal must be two-fold:

• Ensuring that tutoring, study skills, career advice, library resources and well-designed physical spaces for learning are sufficiently resourced and abundant;
• Ensuring that international students (a) know of the existence of these supports, (b) feel comfortable making use of them.

 Dr. Ammigan notes,

“Because of the unique needs often experienced by new international students, such as financial stability, adapting to local customs, establishing a network of support, and overcoming language barriers, university support services must be equipped to address emotional or psychological concerns possibly caused by adjustment issues 
. Institutions [must] have a sufficient amount of expertise and staffing to handle new challenges faced by this community.”

Which measures of satisfaction are linked to recommendation?

Dr. Ammigan used multiple linear regression analyses to assess the degree to which 80 satisfaction variables influenced students’ likelihood of recommending an institution to prospective students.

The results from the analysis highlight the fact that when international students feel they have experienced a high quality of education with strong support services available to them, they are more likely to recommend their institution.

Dr. Ammigan writes,

“Of the four dimensions of experience, ‘overall satisfaction with learning’ impacted recommendation the most, followed by ‘overall satisfaction with support services’ and ‘overall satisfaction with arrival.’ ‘Overall satisfaction with living’ had the least influence on student recommendation.”

In addition, the analysis showed that a positive experience with the accommodation office made students more likely to recommend their institution.

Support services underpin the enterprise

Commenting on the results of the analysis, Dr. Ammigan keyed on the role of support services that run through the whole of the institution:

“It is important that institutions capitalise on their existing campus support services and resources as they create strategic and collaborative engagement opportunities, both in and out of the classroom. Staff from student affairs, residence life and housing, dining services, the orientation office, career services, counseling centres, transportation services, academic departments, etc., must work together to support the positive experiences of students as well as the educational mission of the institution as a global community.”

As we reported last year, the role of support services in strategies around student satisfaction and employment outcomes is increasingly being recognised. If international students face stress in their learning environment caused simply by the fact that they are new to a culture, language, or instruction style, it is a sign that their institution needs to do more to adapt its philosophies and resourcing of key support areas.

The analysis clearly shows that inclusive, supportive learning environments for international students are really the foundation for successful and sustainable recruitment.

For additional background, please see:

• “What makes international students happy? Research shows the answer depends in part on country of origin”
• “Irish study calls for expanded destination marketing and student supports”
• “Global survey compares student decision factors across study destinations”
• “New Zealand puts the emphasis on student experience”
• “France awards first ‘Bienvenue en France’ quality designations”
• “Let them talk: the power of student reviews”

The post Strong support services help to drive recommendations from international students appeared first on șÚÁÏčÙÍű Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

Stakes are high for parents

The EAB research reinforces that have shown that in recruiting, schools should give greater weight to messaging and outreach for parents. This is especially true when it comes to international students, for whom the risks and rewards of higher education are amplified because of cost, distance, and in many cases, an overarching goal of seeing a foreign education lead to a good job. Parents often shoulder the bulk of the costs for self-funded international students and participate actively as well in applications for scholarships. points out that parental involvement is notably intense in Asia:

“[Parents are particularly likely to assume the leading role in decision-making in] Asian countries that comprise the majority of international student recruitment, especially traditional Confucian cultures like China that value respect and obedience to family authority.”

At a Studyportals “Embracing Change” Academy event held in 2018 in Amsterdam, one university delegate attested to the importance of parents in recruiting when they commented that, “In US fairs, sometimes just the parents turn up.” Others at the event said they saw this in India and China as well, “with parents talking in plural about their children’s options – as in ‘We want to go the States or Germany to study.’”

Parents have unique concerns

Recruiters who have the most success in communicating with parents understand that parents are a distinct segment – one whose concerns and priorities are sometimes different from those of their children. They will want to know all about financial details and possibilities for assistance, about safety and security, and return on investment for graduates from an institution or specific programmes. Graduate success stories and outcomes can go a long way, especially if those stories and proof points involve international students from the same sending country.

When considering messaging to parents, talk with current students about their parents’ mindsets during the research phase of where to study abroad, and ask admissions officers about the main questions that parents had in discussions with them. You may find that the answers you get are quite dependent on which country they are from, which is a good argument for segmenting parent groups and tailoring messaging to these groups accordingly. Sometimes mothers are the most influential, and sometimes fathers are, as illustrated in this article from which draws in part on results from an i-graduate survey conducted among 8,500 postgraduate and undergraduate students planning to go abroad to study in an English-taught programme.

The University of Melbourne signals to Vietnamese parents that they will get personalised attention from the regional manager for .

Different markets, different approaches

Knowledge of your target markets’ unique characteristics is another helpful layer to add in when developing parent profiles. For example, in Vietnam, study abroad is becoming more and more of a trend, thanks to an expanding middle class as well as persistent quality concerns in higher education. Parents have witnessed many young Vietnamese graduates struggle to find jobs despite university degrees.

Another example is Indonesia, where the most pressing barrier for students considering study abroad is safety and security. Financial concerns also loom large: nearly half (45%) of recently surveyed Indonesian students say they can go abroad for study only if they get some .

Every market will have its pressing issues for parents and knowing these is the key to showing how your institution can help to solve problems and encourage the best outcomes for students.

Beyond recruitment and into retention

It is more than good manners to prioritise regular outreach to international parents after their students are enrolled in your school and attending classes. As Julie L. Bryant, associate vice president of retention solutions at Ruffalo Noel Levitz, explains,

“[Their] guiding role does not end when students enter their college experience. Parents can have tremendous influence on student retention as well, something that institutions need to keep in mind. Colleges have an opportunity to use parental influence to their advantage—if parents are given the right information.”

The fact is, the parents of international students are very invested in seeing their children complete their foreign degrees. They have often played a key role in convincing their children to attend a particular institution and are often financing the study abroad. But degrees take time, and as parents, they want to see their children enjoying their experience – being happy and successful, making friends and taking part in activities. So the best thing to do is to really let them in on the experience, so they can talk about it with their children, reducing homesickness and providing encouragement for students to get as involved as possible.

For starters, devote space for parents on the institutional web site. Parents should see a callout to them on the homepage, ideally in the navigation bar or via a very prominent call out button. When they click there, they should find a wealth of resources and opportunities just for them. It should be abundantly clear that there is room for them to connect to their children’s experience. Higher Education Marketing notes that the University of Colorado Boulder does a great job of:

“Giving a sense of an inclusive community, welcoming parents to their “family” and offering a wealth of clearly laid out resources and opportunities to get involved. This includes submitting favourite family recipes, contributing to the “Parent Fund,” and supporting recruitment of other students by writing notes, making calls or volunteering at college fairs.”

At the University of Colorado Boulder, families are prioritised in the navigation bar.

Notice that last bit there – that one way parents can participate is by “supporting recruitment of other students by writing notes, making calls or volunteering at college fairs.” We’ve written at length about the potential inherent in alumni, but proud parents are at least as likely to tell their friends about the amazing experience their successful children are having abroad.

For additional background, please see:

• “Five winning ways to reach students”
• “Global parents’ survey: three quarters would consider university abroad”
• “Part 1: How to engage students’ parents during recruitment and study abroad”

The post The crucial role of parents in international student recruitment and retention appeared first on șÚÁÏčÙÍű Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.