International Perspectives on Recruitment and Admissions
As competition for international admissions intensifies, institutions in top destination countries are expanding and diversifying their recruitment efforts to gain a larger portion of the same pool of mobile students. They face similar challenges as their U.S. counterparts: shifting demographics, changing and, at times, unstable markets, and increasingly high expectations about what their programs have to offer.
These changes have propelled institutions to rethink how to maintain or increase their market share.
“We must be adaptable in terms of recruitment, because world events can affect international education very quickly,” says Vianne Timmons, president of the University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. “If you can’t or won’t adapt, you will not be serving your students well and you will not be successful.”
Multiple factors inform recruitment strategies. Here, recruitment and admissions professionals in Canada, China, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom share insights into how their institutions adapt to an ever-changing enrollment landscape.
Government Involvement and Support
Many higher education institutions are funded or supported by their governments, and international recruiting efforts both inform and help execute governmental goals around international education.
“The United Kingdom is in the middle of a demographic dip, meaning there are fewer domestic students to recruit, and, as such, international students are becoming more important than ever across the sector,” says Jennifer Wilkinson, head of international development for London Metropolitan University. “Alongside this, there is a demonstrable increase in the number of European countries recruiting international students to degrees taught in English.”
This renewed
