What should international student recruitment and enrollment look like in the future. As we wipe away the residue of the pandemic, what are the essential elements of successful SIEM moving forward.

1. THE 6 P’S OF
STRATEGIC
INTERNATIONAL
ENROLLMENT
MANAGEMENT
Marty Bennett, SMIE Consulting, LLC

2. WHAT WE’LL COVER…
• Perspective
• Planning
• Platforms
• Partnerships
• Personalization
• Peers

3. NEW 6PS OF STRATEGIC INTL ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT
1. Perspective 3. Platforms
6. Peers
5. Personalization
GLOBAL
COMPETITION
Institutional
advantages
Profiles, stories
Personae
development
Multi-channel
LIVE WHERE YOUR
STUDENTS LIVE
Develop
relationships
Focus on target
countries
Messaging
reflects
awareness
Chats, emails,
blogs, videos
Digital first approach,
multi-use content across
channels
WHAT
WOULD YOU
WANT?
2. Planning
MULTI-
YEAR
Multi-Level
Semi-annual
review
4. Partnerships
Agencies
EducationUSA
COMMERCE
Consortia
MULTI-
LINGUAL
Service providers
COUNTRY
LEVEL PLANS

4. #1 PERSPECTIVE
• Institutional
commitment
• Global awareness
• Application of
internal and
external
perspective to
messaging

5. PROJECT
ATLAS
• Top 5 source countries
for each top destination
market
• China #1 in 5 of top 17
host nations

6. PROJECT ATLAS
How saturated are most leading
destinations with international
students?
Where is the greatest
capacity/tolerance for growth in
overseas student populations?

7. OTHER COUNTRIES APPROACHES
• UK
• Australia
• Canada
• China
• New Zealand
• Agent networks
• Direct travel for recruitment
• Armchair / digital advertising
• Scholarships
• Institutional/governmental partnerships
• Trans-National Education

8. IIE OPEN DOORS
FALL SNAPSHOT
SURVEY
• 700 institutions surveyed
• New intl enrollments down 43%
• Overall intl enrollments drop 16%
• 90% of institutions reported large
# of intl student deferrals (40,000)
• 20% of enrolled intl students
studying online from abroad

9. WHAT WILL A NEW
ADMINISTRATION
MEAN FOR INTL ED?
• Travel ban revocations
• DREAMers protected
• Reversal of H1B changes
• Protection of OPT/STEM
• Throw out D/S elimination
• Green card for PhD grads
• Welcoming messages

10. #2 PLANNING
• Multi-year
strategy
• Multi-level
approach
• Country-level
planning
• Semi-annual
review process

11. IIE OPEN DOORS
• Top places of origin for intl
students in OD 2020
• Only 7 of top 20 saw
increases year on year: China,
Taiwan, Brazil, Nigeria,
Germany, Bangladesh, and
Spain.
• Biggest % drop: Saudi Arabia,
Venezuela, Malaysia

12. TARGET REALISTIC
TOP 10 COUNTRIES
• Different countries for different levels of
study
• Your top 10 may not be the same as the
national list
• Work to your strengths based on:
• current students
• Alumni
• institutional partners abroad

13. FOCUS ON
DOMESTIC
MARKETS
• High schools
• Community colleges
• ESL programs

14. IIE STUDY:
INTL
SECONDARY
STUDENTS IN
THE US

15. HIGH SCHOOLS

16. INTENSIVE ENGLISH
PROGRAMS
• Current challenges in IEP
• ESL only I-20s
• Consulate issues in awarding ESL visas
• Reductions in govt. scholarships

17. COMMUNITY COLLEGES
• 2+2s
• Articulation agreements

18. #3 PLATFORMS
• Live where your
audiences live
• Take a digital first
approach
• Utilize multi-
channel
communications

19. PLATFORM CHOICES
• Different platforms for different
audiences
• Content can and should vary
depending on target audience and
platform
• Ads should be at the heart of interest-
generating exercises, promotional
events, and significant calls-to-action

20. VIRTUAL EVENT
PLATFORMS
• Self-guided campus tours
• On-campus event replacement
• Paint the picture live

21. #4 PARTNERSHIPS
• EducationUSA
• Commerce
• Agencies
• Counselor networks
• Overseas uni partners
• Consortia
• Service providers
• On-campus allies

22. FACTORS
AFFECTING YOUR
PARTNERS
•Budget
•Bandwidth
•Balance

23. ON-CAMPUS SUCCESS INFORMS RECRUITMENT
• Make the case to administration
• Collaborate among key offices
• Admissions/ISSS
• Financial Aid
• Residence Life/Housing
• Student Employment
• Professional Development/Career Services
• Alumni
• Coordinate communications
Image courtesy of Inside Higher Ed

24. #5 PERSONALIZATION
• Ask what would you
want?
• Use humor
• Provide multi-lingual
content
• Develop key student
personae
• Leverage storytelling

25. MULTI-LINGUAL
CONTENT
• Digital formats key (email,
pdfs, websites, microsites)
• in house or outsource?
• Targeted countries/regions
• Personalizes content to key
audiences
• Students
• Parents
• Counselors
• Agents

26. PERSONAS
• Identify general types
of students you wish
to or currently attract
• Tailor messaging to
needs of individual
student types
• Provide opportunities
to connect to similar
types before arrival

27. FOUR PERSONAE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
• Original research from Dr. Rahul
Choudaha: Not all intl stude nts
have the same ne e ds !
• 4 main segments of international
students
• Tailor messaging to needs of
different students

28. STORYTELLING
• Why? Paints the picture of what life might be like
• Identify what are your institutional stories
• Practice stories on current students
• Make connections for prospective students to …
• Your institution
• Your current students
• Your faculty and staff
• Your alumni

29. # 6 PEERS
• Develop a team of students, alums,
parents, faculty
• Host country-specific chats
• Involve peers at all points in the
recruitment process
• AMA chats
• Admitted student events
• parent to parent chats
• pre-departure orientations

30. PERSPECTIVE ON
PEERS
• UK – 2/3rd of universities
• Australia/New Zealand – 75%
• USA – only 250-300 institutions <10%

31. IN HOUSE OR
OUTSOURCE?
• Established student ambassador program, current live chat
options
• Outside providers
• The Access Platform
• UniBuddy

32. IIE OPEN DOORS
FALL SNAPSHOT
SURVEY
• 68% now using current
students – PEERS
• 56% now using social
media outreach –
PLATFORMS
• 53% using EdUSA --
PARTNERSHIPS

33. THANK YOU /QUESTIONS
Marty Bennett
SMIE Consulting LLC
Marty.Bennett@SMIEConsulting.org
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