Armchair Recruitment in the Digital Age

Presentation at the 2010 CIS Forum in Monaco

I've wanted to share this presentation with my colleagues in international admissions circles who were unable to see it live in Monaco this November at the Council of International Schools Forum.  In the past two years in this position, as marketing coordinator for the EducationUSA network, I have had countless conversations with friends doing the increasingly difficult work of recruiting students from overseas with decreasing budgets, stronger competition from other institutions and other countries for that matter.

The greater majority of these colleagues know and use the popular outlets like Facebook and YouTube in their personal lives, but precious few have harnessed the truly revolutionary power of social media into their international recruitment, and fewer still have done so in a coherent and strategic way with proper planning, training, management, and evaluation.  

This presentation shares many free tools (at least monetarily) that can be used to reach out to international student audiences, as well as examples of how one institution, Roger Williams University, has made their social media outreach strategy the responsibility of all admissions staff.  I encourage all international admissions colleagues to review this presentation to see what tools and tips they can adapt to their own institutions to reach out to students & EducationUSA Advising Centers overseas.

Comments and questions are welcome!

Integrating International Students Into the Life of the University

courtesy of liblogs.albany.edu

Integrating International Students Into the Life of the University

This post over the weekend by Dori Kelsey at the University of Toledo, reminds us all involved in international education about the importance of the on-campus experience for international students as essential to the long-term success of an institution in their international enrollment management strategy. If you are already in the field, I realize I am preaching to the choir. But for those new to the field, or those who have administrators who don't get, I mean really get, international education, I hope this blog can help.

Far too often these days, international students are seen as cash cows by institutions around the world. Whether it's in Australia, UK, Canada, and, yes, the U.S. too many colleges and universities view these students as little more than dollars or pound signs. In the U.S. this struggle is particularly visible at public institutions that face increasingly tighter budgets and less funding coming from the state government. Pressures on upper administration officials to find new revenue streams can and do turn often to international students. Clearly, there are financial advantages of enrolling students who pay out-of-state tuition rates to attend state institutions, but for that to be the driving motivation for expanding international enrollment, is truly short-sighted.  In the end this drive can have long-term negative ramifications for colleges unprepared to meet the needs of these new students from abroad.

For those who have been in international education for more than a few minutes they will tell you, institutions that think the students from the Brazil, Burkina Faso, Belarus and Bangladesh have the same needs as U.S. students from Boston, Bismark, Beaverton, and Boca Raton are in for a very rude awakening. Whether it was the Libyan and Iranian students of the '70s and '80s, the Saudis of the '00s or the Chinese now, large concentrations of full fee-paying students can pose a myriad of challenges to even well-established colleges and universities. From the admissions process, orientation, academic advising, residence life, ESL, food services, campus ministry, career services, to, of course, the international student office the entire campus is impacted by expanded flows of overseas students. Staffing, space, time, and resources must be committed to ensure that these new students have a positive experience. The alternative for institutions which cannot commit to meeting the needs of their international students (or domestic for that matter) is a ruined reputation, and a long-term hole that will be very difficult to climb out of, and in the end, far more costly that what it would have taken to do it right the first time.

The true benefit for both international students and their U.S. counterparts on college & university campuses, long term, is to promote mutual understanding.

The truly successful institution is one that, as Dori Kelsey explains in her post, recognizes "its responsibility for the well-being of international students.... To this end, colleges and universities have sought to match international students with domestic students and have tailored programs to particular target groups to assist with the adaptation process." There are dozens of successful international student programs offices (and their institutions) around the U.S. that embrace these overseas students as an essential component of their colleges' success in meeting their various missions & goals.

Ms. Kelsey again hits the nail right on the head when she posts, "Assessing and addressing the problems that international students experience will impact many areas. It will aid not only in the internationalization of the campus—as stated in the mission and goals of most universities—but it will expose domestic students to the life styles, values, and culture of people throughout the world and thereby enrich their experience. It will also foster goodwill between nations and will help all students develop beneficial bonds for their personal lives and future careers."

Well said.

YouTube - GVSU LipDub 2010 *OFFICIAL*

How creative is this?

For U.S. colleges and universities looking for new ways to get the message about their campuses across in an innovative way, and very viral way, need look no further than Grand Valley State University's LibDub 2010. As of this morning, over 121,000 video views have been recorded for their video.

We saw a similar, Glee-like version of the campus video tour in last year's "That's Why I Chose Yale" which has surpassed 750,000 views. These kind of video will get a response, and while perhaps a mammoth undertaking logistically, can certainly raise the visibility of lesser-known institutions.

Kudos to the GVSU team for the incredible effort in putting together this viral campus tour video. Well done!

Grand Valley State University's LibDub 2010

International Education Week and the Student Visa Landscape

Each year, in mid-November, the Institute of International Education, funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs, releases the Open Doors Report.  There will be some fairly eye-catching numbers released next Monday, November 15 at the National Press Club in Washington DC.  Open Doors represents a look back at the previous academic year, in this case 2009-10, for its survey of international student numbers.  

What will perhaps be a surprise to many U.S. higher education colleagues, and would certainly be to the general public, and, more importantly, to student audiences abroad, are some remarks made by Assistant Secretary Janice Jacobs with the Bureau of Consular Affairs.  A/S Jacobs' Bureau oversees the various U.S. consular officers at U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide that conduct all visa interviews.  

Here's a snippet of a recent statement Assistant Secretary Jacobs made related to International Education Week:

"Our consular sections overseas also work actively to promote study and exchange programs, to demystify the visa application process, and to encourage students to consider educational possibilities in the United States. Foreign students can now apply for their visas 120 days before their U.S. studies begin. At our embassies and consulates around the world, we assign a high priority to student visa appointments, resulting in reduced wait times, shorter lines, and faster issuance of visas. We issued over 450,000 student visas in the last fiscal year, which accounts for 82 percent of the student visa applicants worldwide. That’s an increase of 13 percent from the previous year and exceeds the number of student visas we were issuing immediately before the September 11 attack."

Three key points I believe are critical to know for U.S. college and university representatives working with prospective international students:

1. Students can now apply for their visas 120 days before their U.S. studies begin. 
2. Worldwide last year, 82% of all student visa applicants were approved! 
3. The number of approvals was 13% higher than FY09,  higher than pre-9/11 levels.

Those who have been working in international admissions for any length of time will have stories of admitted students who were denied visas, and having been on that side of the desk for years, it was a constant struggle to advocate for our students.  Post-9/11, many of us had to work even harder to make the case for students. Those bad old days (and yes, they were bad) are becoming a memory now.  The facts are certainly baring out the changes on the ground.  

The key is understanding the public relations battle to overcome the bad visa experiences of certain students, and the resulting public perceptions in a number of countries is not won easily.  It will take a concerted effort by every embassy & consulate, our EducationUSA advisers, your current international students, and each of you to help spread the word that the visa process while fairly intense, is not a bridge too far for students. 

While we would like to see the approval percentage continue to grow, and while we know we'll continue to have stories of students who experience difficulties in the process, please know that if your prospective students are working with our EducationUSA Advising Centers, they will be much better prepared and informed about that visa process before having that brief interview with a consular officer.  While our advisers can't guarantee every student that walks through their doors, you will likely find the approval rates for EducationUSA-advised students significantly higher than the averages in the most difficult countries.  

Please join us in getting the good news out to your prospective students.  There is hope!

New Scholarships for Students from the Baltic States

Here's a quick head's up to my colleagues in international admissions positions at U.S. colleges and universities looking to recruit students from the Baltics.  This foundation scholarship provides up to $25,000 per year for graduate studies in the U.S.

Baltic-American Freedom Foundation Scholarships

The Baltic-American Freedom Foundation (BAFF) mission is "to enrich the ties between the United States and Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, through programs of education and exchange centering on economic growth and democratic processes. Visibly strengthening U.S.-Baltic ties is a core goal."

BAFF offers various scholarship opportunities in the U.S. to residents of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Current American scholarship opportunities include:

• The Professional Internship Program for university students and recent graduates.
• The Graduate Scholarship Program for post graduate students.
• The Research Scholarship Program for professors and others in academia

More information on our website: www.BalticAmericanFreedomFoundation.org .

Please advise graduate programs applicants from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania about grants for graduate studies in US universities.

Deadline - two times per year.  Closest call for applications OCTOBER 30th 2010. 

One Student's Journey: Bernard Londoni

Here's a great example of how one student's dream became reality through his incredible determination, the commitment and perseverance of an EducationUSA Adviser, and the willingness of a U.S. institution to take a chance on a student with such incredible potential and heart.

Meet Bernard Londoni.

Inaugural EducationUSA Forum 2010 Slideshow

EducationUSA at NAFSA 2010 Conference in Kansas City, MO

Qik - EducationUSA Forum-Rebecca Zeigler-Mano from Zimbabwe talks by Marty Bennett

Qik - Juan Camilo Tamayo from Lynn U. shares his experience w/ Bernard by Marty Bennett

EducationUSA Pavilion at NAFSA 2010 Expo Hall

Next week will be a banner time for EducationUSA.  After years of being confined by a 10 x 10 booth in a sea of exhibitors at the annual NAFSA conference Expo Hall, EducationUSA will now have its own pavilion and room to breath.

With nearly 80 EducationUSA advisers representing 55 countries, there will be significant traffic in and around the booth.  We've put together a schedule of what will be occurring at the pavilion throughout the open hours of the Expo Hall.  We encourage any of our higher education colleagues who will be at the NAFSA conference to stop by to pick up the latest resources on EducationUSA, sign up for secure login access to our new site, meet advisers and REACs from around the world, hear presentations on relevant topics about our services for the higher ed community, the Opportunity program, how our centers can assist in study abroad, and our new EdUSA Connects platform for web meetings.

Of course, there will be about two dozen sessions our advisers will be presenting at during the conference, so do bookmark any of the sessions that may be of interest to you.

And last but not least there is the always popular EducationUSA - Embassy Dialogue Committee Country Fair on Wednesday from 3-5pm where every advisers will be present.  Do stop by to pick up center-country fact sheets that will give you the necessaries on each of the centers present.

See you in K.C.!

Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh)

Don't think Social Media is fundamentally changing the way we communicate?  Feel free to comment after reviewing this video--some eye popping numbers and statements on here.

Establishing Trust in the World of Social Media -- Relevance for U.S. Higher Education

The social media gurus over at Mashable.com are one of the best resources out there for those looking to keep their finger on the pulse of new media.  If you aren't a regular visitor to their site, I encourage you to do so.  At the very least, subscribe to their RSS feed. 

Greg Ferenstein wrote a fantastic blog today that I feel is so compelling that it is worth repeating in this forum.  His post entitled The Science of  Building Trust with Social Media cites the need to understand the "psychology of trust," the importance of responsiveness in the digital age, and understanding the hierarchical value people attribute to various forms of communication--text v. email v. typed "emotion-free" messages v. audio clips v. personal video--as well as the judgments people make when viewing material online without necessarily knowing all the relevant information.  The examples Mr. Ferenstein explains center on some of the more effective uses of social media to build or rebuild trust centered on video responses to calls to action or, in the case of Domino's, apologies.  

Implications of Building Trust through Social Media for Higher Education

My message today for my colleagues in higher education, particularly those involved in international student recruitment, is to be cognizant of how social media can be used to help not only get your message out, but also how you can use it to reestablish trust if things go south in a hurry.  At a previous institution of mine, the decision was made four years ago to not simply use social media (student blogs on our website) but to take the risk of embracing the uncensored, unfiltered reality that these students let loose into the wide world about their experiences on our campus.  The authenticity of those students' posts, vod/podcasts, and conversations online was consistently rated by incoming students, and, surprisingly, parents as one of the most attractive features about the school. These students spoke honestly and openly about their experiences, and our prospective student audiences valued that significantly.  Applications and the quality of enrolled students increased as a direct result of these efforts.

Examples of Institutional Efforts

Today, student blogs, iTunes podcast (iTunesU), YouTube.edu, as well as Facebook fan pages & groups are increasingly seen as must haves in any admissions office's arsenal of reaching their prospective student audiences.  I'll share a couple of stories from our friends at MIT.  Last spring, some of the newly admitted students to this prestigious institution decided to create a Facebook group on their own, and within a few weeks over 80% of the incoming class of 2013 had signed up as members of this group.  MIT's admissions office has also turned its main site into student blogger central.  These are paid student employees who tell their daily stories about life at MIT to all visitors to the institutional admissions site.  Other institutions rely more on video content, photo slideshows, or audio podcasts (or combinations of these) to help get their messages out from their websites.  It is essential to have visually appealing information available on these sites, and to use these tools to provide an online community for your audiences.  

Importance of Trust for International Students

Internationally, this last point rings truer than ever.  For the lion's share of international students considering colleges and universities in the United States, they have to trust, sight unseen, the institutions they choose to enroll in.  Think for a moment about the implications of that decision.  The financial ramifications alone of choosing a school that will have a final price tag of anywhere from $32,000 to $250,000 or more over a four-year period without physically visiting campus are staggering.  How many of us would buy cars or homes without ever taking them out for a test drive or having them inspected?  International students trust their advisers and counselors in their countries that they are getting the most accurate information about the schools they are considering, but are also taking a huge leap of faith that what the college they select is telling them is what they will experience.  That trust is an extremely valuable, yet fragile commodity.

Rebuilding Trust, a Hopeful Wish

Each year, particularly in wintertime, after reading season is done at U.S. institutions, there are inevitably one or two stories that pop up where a university admissions offices mistakenly send acceptance letters to a pool of candidates who have been denied.  With this year's news of two well-known institutions (one in Tennessee, one in DC) encountering this regrettable faux pas, wouldn't it be interesting and refreshing to see, not just a quote in a newspaper saying that the individuals affected were being contacted to clear up any misunderstanding, to actually see a YouTube clip of an institution's dean of admissions accepting responsibility and apologizing for this embarrassing incident?  Maybe next year.

Marketing U.S. Higher Education Abroad in the Social Media Milleu

Rare moments of lucidity and inspiration we have in life where the light bulb truly goes on should always be shared.  


A year ago when I was just getting my feet under me as marketing coordinator for EducationUSA, I knew social media would be an integral part of what I needed to do--but how exactly I'd go about that task wasn't quite clear. We are a network of 400+ centers in 170 countries under the EducationUSA umbrella.  We share a common mission to be the official source on U.S. higher education for millions of students and their families each year.  We also knew that our continued success would be largely dependent on providing our advisers, some of the hardest working individuals I've ever met, the tools they needed to better connect with their students and with our friends in the U.S. higher education community that are so vital to our success.  How to use social media was one of those lights for me.


A year ago, the extent to which most (not all) of our advisers were using social media began and ended with Skype and other IM tools. In our entire network, we had only about 4 active Facebook profiles/groups/pages  while Twitter was not even in our vocabulary.  Some intrepid, forward-thinking centers had undertaken video projects they made available out in cyberspace, but there was no central collection point for this content.


Today, we have 80 different EducationUSA Facebook fan pages, profiles and groups, 35 Twitter feeds, and over 70 videos on our YouTube channel.  Over 900 higher education members in the U.S. now subscribe to our HEI eNews (now published bi-weekly). Most significantly, we have a new vehicle for getting the word out about EducationUSA - our new website which brings all of these tools together and makes them shareable in the new world of social media.


Ultimately, these new tools, or new media allow us to reach out in more interactive ways to key audiences.  Moreover, 2009 will certainly be remembered as the year "Social Media" became key buzzwords for institutions looking to counteract shrinking recruitment budgets, as well as global networks to share their message.  The real rub here is how U.S. higher education and EducationUSA can work together to utilize these tools to encourage more and better qualified international students to come to America for their studies.


Over the last twelve months, I've compiled a list of 5 guiding principles for how we are approaching our task in this new and ever-changing world of social media:

1. Get Connected, Be Relevant, Stay Involved.
2. Live Where Your Audiences Live.
3. Keep Them Coming Back for More.
4. Listen, Listen, Listen.
5. Your Name Matters.

Get Connected, Be Relevant, Stay Involved


When just starting out in your use of social media, the best advice is always to start small with one maybe two different tools.  That first step really is the most important -- to commit to using one or more new media.  That being said, all the commitment in the world does you no good if your content, your posts, your comments are not relevant to your intended audience.  Make an effort to use any market intelligence you have to create content that resonates with your audiences.  As much as I love the film, Field of Dreams, social media is not a "if you build it, they will come" environment.  To be successful in this medium you must dedicated time and personnel to monitor, post, and respond to questions and comments received.


Live Where Your Audience Lives


Part of a successful social media strategy is to be present where your audiences -- e.g. your prospective students -- spend their time.  If you're targeting students in Japan or Korea, do you have your information available on mobile sites?  For the first time in 2008, worldwide, the internet was accessed more from mobile phones than from computers.*  Those mobile numbers will only grow larger.  If 2009 was the year of social media, 2010 will mark the rise of mobile social media.  Believe me when I say that "there's an app for that" could not be a more appropriate for the future of mobile social media in many countries.


That being said, if your goal is to enhance your outreach to African students, mobile is as important but more along the lines of SMS text messaging as opposed to the wide world of social media accessible through smartphones and other similar devices.


If you are targeting a particular country through social media, let's say Brazil, recently identified as one of the, if not the #1, most social networked country in the world, Facebook might not be the only place you want to have a presence--Orkut has been top dog there for some time (though Facebook has expanded over 1000% in the last year there).


Keep Them Coming Back for More


Part of the success of social media is the viral nature of sharing content that reminds me of an old shampoo commercial--where someone has a great experience, loves the product, and then he/she tells two friends and so on and so on--as the old word of mouth concept takes exponential growth to a whole new level.  Success is not only in spreading your good news, but also keeping that audience connected to you.  How do you do that?  Send updates to fans, followers, or contacts that directs them back to new content on your website, or on your social media presences or both.  Repeat customers, just as in the real world, are what sustains your success.  Ideally, social media allows you to create and maintain an online community of supporters to keep your message out there and understood.


Listen, Listen, Listen


Many marketing professionals have experienced a rude awakening with the rise of social media.  No longer can a college or university (or any business for that matter) rely on their control of message.  Colleges have perhaps learned this lesson in the past few years better than most with the rise of various student-driven blogs like College Confidential.  There are simply too many places online that students can get information about what they are looking for that are completely out of the hands of those who have a product or an institution to promote.  Just as we all hate spam emails, those business that throw out their tired sales pitches using these new media are committing the same cardinal sin:  not listening to what their customers want.  Customers, or students in our realm, can control the message and the conversation.  In social media terms, success will be earned by those who listen first, second and third, before responding.  This is the customer service taken to the virtual world.  Marketing success in the use of social media is dependent more than ever to how service-oriented and responsive you are to the needs of your audiences.


Your Name Matters


Identity in the marketplace of ideas is everything.  Knowing who you are first is important, no question.  Everyone who is involved in promoting your brand must have buy-in to this identity.  Additionally, to be remembered you must protect your name and be consistent with your name as much as possible.  As marketing guru, Al Ries, indicated recently, "If you don't think names matter, yours may be forgotten."  In the end, you want your name to be associated with a positive idea or concept in the eyes of your audiences.


Bottom line, the brave new world of social media is out there for the taking.  Are you taking advantage of these new media in your work?  Comment here or email me to continue this conversation.


* The source for this statistic is a book called “Mobile Advertising” by Chetan Sharma, Joe Herzog, and Victor Melfi.

U.S. Colleges & Universities: Join EducationUSA on YouTube

 If there has been an important social media lesson learned over the past year, it would be that one size does not fit all.  With EducationUSA we realize that there are many different audiences that we attract to our website, to our different Twitter feeds, our Facebook fan pages, this blog, and our YouTube presence wanting different information in a variety of formats. Information, particularly for our prospective students, needs to be of an interactive nature and visual oriented wherever possible.

To that end, we have been collecting a series of videos produced by our advising centers abroad and others that would be attractive to potential students looking to come to the United States for study.  As we grow our EducationUSA YouTube channel, and hope to work more closely with all accredited U.S. colleges and universities looking to reach out to international students, we are offering a free opportunity to partner with EducationUSA to enhance your international recruitment efforts.

For your institutions to have either existing or future campus videos displayed as "Favorites" on our EducationUSA YouTube Channel, you are welcome to email Marty Bennett, EducationUSA Marketing Coordinator, the url address (from YouTube) for institutional promotional videos, interviews with international students, international office personnel, or other related videos.  If you have videos but have not created a channel on or made use of YouTube, it is a free service.  The only requirements for posting videos to YouTube is that they be less than 10 minutes long, and smaller than 100MB in size.  In submitting these url addresses to us for linking to our YouTube channel, we would ask that you provide in the email, a statement that consent rights of the individuals highlighted in the clip for use on your institution's behalf online have been secured, and could be made available should the need arise.

As more and more U.S. colleges and universities get their heads around how best to use various social media outlets to reach international (as well as domestic) audiences, we hope you can join us in this effort.  Many campuses now have either their own YouTube channel or have taken advantage of YouTube.edu options that allow their institutions to showcase all sorts of related videos on campus life, lectures, events, as well as admissions-related content.  By partnering with us, your institution will be able to reach a larger audience of potential students that may be attracted by what your campus has to offer them.

Deadline for Submissions:  January 29, 2010.  We hope that with enough submissions by that date, we can go live with this Playlist on our YouTube Channel by early February.