InBrief: September + October 2017

In this issue: agent use for recruitment; the Innovative Research award, Japan's rising international student enrollment; incoming international students and scholars.

Agent Use and Recruitment Budgets Jump, Internationalization Gathers Momentum

In a benchmark survey of leaders and top international education officials at U.S. universities, 72 percent of respondents said internationalization had accelerated on their campuses in recent years, and 45 percent said they’re now working with overseas agents—a 28 percentage point increase over the last five years. International student recruitment budgets have also increased, with 30 percent of respondents ranking the focus on internationalization on their campuses as “high” or “very high” according to Mapping Internationalization on U.S. Campuses: 2017, released in June by the American Council on Education (ACE). The data are based on more than 1,100 responses from chief academic officers, provosts, senior international officers, institutional researchers, and presidents of U.S. institutions.

Additional key findings include:

• The top motivations for internationalization were “improving student preparedness for a global era,” “diversifying students, faculty, and staff at the home campus,” and “becoming more attractive to prospective students at home and overseas.” Revenue generation was identified as the fourth most important motivation, up from sixth in 2011.
• Forty-eight percent of respondents reported that they have an international student recruitment plan in place; of these, 80 percent had fixed student-quantity targets. China, India, and Vietnam were reported as the top three recruitment markets.
• The top three international priorities, in order, were “increasing study abroad for U.S. students,” “recruiting international students,” and “partnerships with