Attracting Government Funded Scholars and J1 Sponsored Students to your campus

Posted on February 18, 2012 by admin

A growing consideration in today’s international student attraction planning is how U.S. schools can gain a share of foreign government scholars and J-1 scholars sponsored by the U.S. government. If one examines the most recent SEVIS Quarterly Report , it is no surprise that Saudi students are now the 4^thleading source of international students in the United States, exceeding 43% grow in 2010-2011. The break neck rise of Saudi scholars in the U.S. directly corresponds with the edict of the King Abdullah in 2004 to increase the number of Saudis, particularly women, studying in Western countries.

Government funding of overseas study to the U.S. is not isolated to Saudi Arabia, in fact in the past several years several other Gulf States, newly liberated Arab countries and even developed countries have announced or launched well coordinated scholarship programs. Countries actively supporting and funding overseas scholarships include:

Bahrain
Chile
Iraq
Finland
Kuwait
Libya
Norway
Oman
Sweden
UAE

In addition to the tapping the largess of foreign governments, the U.S. government sponsors thousands of students each year under J1 programs managed by the State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. One such program, Community College Initiative, was launched in 2008 and brings students from more than 15 countries for 1 year academic study and cultural enrichment. California ETEC served as co-administrator of the California CCI Egypt program from 2009-2011 that brought 200 Egyptian students to 15 different host community colleges. For many of the host campuses, this was their first experience having Egyptian students on campus and hosting J1 students.

While the point of this post is not to dwell on the challenges that funded scholars bring to campus, it is important to note that government funded students are more than likely going to require more support than the typical F-1 student who is self-funded.

Below are a few lessons learned hosting funded scholars from the Egypt/Middle East

a) be prepared to provide high-touch support

b) pre-arrival academic counseling and placement test evaluation a must

c) address housing, meal and other lifestyle matters prior to student

arrival

d) establish a clear line of communication with funded scholars and designate

and acknowledge contact points for all aspects of academic and student life

on campus

e) Good Luck!

How to start the process to identify opportunities to host funded scholars?

We suggest you consider a visit to Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission and other Gulf States equivalents in Washington DC. You will also find representatives from all Middle East and Gulf States sponsoring students at the annual NAFSA Conference. A number of panels at NAFSA detail specific steps to get listed with the appropriate educational consulates in order to qualify as a host college in the U.S. Finally, we suggest you speak with colleges or universities that are currently hosting foreign government or U.S. funded J1 scholars.

A Word to the Wise- How to Idenfity Accredited Schools in the United States

Posted on February 14, 2012 by admin

2011 will be well remembered for the surprising number of schools with SEVIS status exposed for illegally issuing F-1 Visas to students that either did not attend the school or were merely enrolled to a shell campus – a location that neither had a campus nor any meaningful delivery of academic programming. Who is to blame for the proliferation of such “sham” universities? It seems that a confluence of circumstances including lack of information, greed and outsized demand for study visas in China, India and Vietnam have been the main drivers for this emerging problem.

Tri-Valley University in Pleasanton, California and North Virigina University located in Annandale, Virigina were two of the more egregious cases that surfaced last year. In the case of Tri-Valley, nearly 1500 students from India were registered to school being run out of a modest office building with a made up list of faculty and no students actually attending classes. Northern Virginia University a non-accredited, for profit- university was authorized by SEVIS to enroll 50 students, but US Embassy and State Department officials found more than 2400 students, 90 percent from a single region in India, registered to the school.

As a record number of would-be international students consider study in the U.S., it is important that these students are steered toward credible programs that are accredited by the appropriate governing authorities.

What a prospective international student or international student advisor should know?

There are six regional accreditors of U.S. Higher Education- Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; New England Association of Schools and Colleges; North Central Association of Collegs and Schools; Northwest Accreditation Commission; Western Association of Schools and Colleges; Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. www.chea.org
Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools(ACICS) governs independent colleges and schools of higher learning. www.acics.org
A list of unaccredited institutions of higher education can be found doing a simple Wikipedia search
Accreditation of English Language Training Programs Act was signed in to law on December 10, 20120. This new law requires all English Language Training Schools seeking to enroll F-1 Non immigrant students to receive accreditation by a regional or national accrediting agency recognized by the Secretary of the Department of Education. www.accet.org; www.cea-accredit.org

How to avoid being scammed by a fraudulent school?

Schedule an appointment with your in-country EducationUSA Office to identify accredited schools in the United States. EducationUSA staff will be able to provide no-cost, unbiased student advising services.
Request proof of accreditation from the language school or academic institution you are planning to seek admission
If you are working with a study agent, ask that the agency to provide information about the accreditation council which approved the school in question.
Verify with your local government that the academic credits you will receive from the U.S. institution will be recognized in-country.
Finally, please contact info@californiaetec.com if you have any questions about accreditation or would like a referral to a local resource who can assist you answering questions about U.S. institutions.

The Vietnam Education and Training Center(VETEC™) Advantage

Posted on February 10, 2012 by admin

California ETEC’s first contact with the Vietnam Education Market was in 2006. After coordinating a series of in-country events( customized student fairs, agent matchmaking receptions, school visits), we concluded the best way to support the growing interest of U.S. schools in Vietnam was to get closer to the market. The first step in this process was CA ETEC being selected to coordinate the Meet Vietnam Education Forum in San Francisco, November 2009. This event was sponsored by the Vietnam Government with the express purpose of enhancing institutional linkages between Vietnamese and U.S. colleges and universities. As a by-product, we established useful contacts at the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training(MOET). Follow on events were also conducted in 2010-2011 in Vietnam to encourage U.S. schools to pursue more pro-active education exchange with local high schools and universities. While these events yielded modest outcomes- J1 scholar exchange, teacher exchanges and student placements at U.S. institutions, the distance of the Vietnam market and its’ growing importance required a more permanent commitment. In 2011, California ETEC proposed establishing a stand-alone center in Ho Chi Minh City- VETEC™ – for funding support from the U.S. Department of Commerce( Market Development Cooperator Program). On September 12^th, 2011, California ETEC received notice that the VETEC ™ project was selected to receive federal funding support- the first such initiative ever funded with a focus on the Vietnam market.

VETEC™ Opening in Summer 2012

VETEC™ will be located in a prime location in Ho Chi Minh City, maintain a bi-lingual staff, offer year-round student advising services and ongoing assistance and support colleges and universities seeking to start or expand student recruitment and exchange activities in Vietnam.

Why VETEC™?

Future student recruitment success in the highly competitive Vietnam market will require a strategic approach that can only be gained through having an ongoing presence in-country. VETEC™ will offer U.S. schools a viable alternative and/or supplement to working through study agents or participating in high-cost, low yield study fairs that are multiplying in Vietnam.

Visit our dedicated website ( www.vetecausa.com) to learn more how your school can leverage VETEC™ and succeed in the Vietnam market

A competitive landscape calls for new international student recruitment strategies

Posted on February 7, 2012 by admin

In earlier posts we have discussed that a growing number of schools are seeking to expand their international student recruitment activities. While some schools are going about this objective through passive or arm chair means other schools are deploying dedicated recruiters around the global to seek out students. What is becoming more clear, however, just participating in student fairs or selecting study agents to represent your school does not guarantee recruitment success. Unlike a few years ago, your school is now likely to encounter 50 or more U.S. schools at major study fairs in Asia and find agents are already top heavy representing like schools. Unfortunately, Woody Allen’s quote that just showing up was 80% of success, is no longer valid.

So how does a school cope with the ever growing competition for qualified students in Asia? California ETEC fields this specific question from schools on nearly a weekly basis. CA ETEC has responded by developing new, innovative recruitment models that can help schools successfully compete in these crowded markets. Our customized recruitment services offer alternatives to the high-cost, low-yield study fair participation or settling with an agent(s) based strategy.

What a custom recruitment program consists of:

A dedicated staff person, managed in CA ETEC local country office, exclusively promotes your school
Continuous branding and marketing of your program in-country
Develop market specific collateral materials and local website presence
Coordinate and launch digital marketing campaign
Expanding from recruitment to internationalization™ program

The above program is now being offered in China and will soon be launched in Vietnam ( www.vetecusa.com) and an expected rolled out in Korea is planned later in the year. Please contact California ETEC to learn how your school can adopt customized recruitment strategies in these important countries.

Debunking the myth of the Arm Chair International Student Recruiter

Posted on February 2, 2012 by admin

Does international student recruitment success require huge capital investments? Well, if you survey the marketing and recruitment budgets of the leading host schools for international students- SMC, UC Extensions, USC, NYU, Purdue, etc., I am pretty sure you would be staggered by their investments to grow and maintain their international student enrollments. No question, in this arena it does take money to achieve big-time recruitment success. That being said, it does not mean spending money insures outcomes. It also raises the question whether or not schools with limited marketing budgets can succeed through “arm chair” marketing. That is, using passive marketing tools such as buying leads, print ads, catalog shows, direct marketing, and participating in regional agent matchmaking events. We are repeatedly asked by schools seeking to expand their international student recruitment if they should participate in some random arm-chair promotion. In fact, we reviewed one email marketing offer that circulated before Christmas, “ Still considering how to spend your Spring recruitment budget….an offer for the Armchair recruiter who has everything. “ Our experience has shown that sporadic, one-off marketing activities rarely generate tangible outcomes. What is more troubling to paraphrase Senator Everett Dirksen, “A thousand here and a thousand there and pretty soon you’re talking a real investment !”

At CA ETEC we have concluded the only certain formula for long-term success recruiting international students must follow these protocols:

1) Organic growth of an international student program takes patience, administrative support, creativity and perseverance- (We suggest you look at Ohlone College in Fremont, California)

2) The most effective promotions are ones that will be sustained with ongoing personal touch. The practice of “helicopter marketing” dropping in for a few days, dropping off literature and leaving to return back a year or so later is not effective.

3) Focus recruitment efforts on a few markets where your school can leverage staff and faculty resources and differentiate program strengths.

4) Develop a strategy to stay actively engaged in those priority countries that your school plans to target. California ETEC offers in-country support in China and Vietnam and many other credible organizations offer similar support in other high priority recruitment markets.

The LAND of Smiles for some U.S. Schools- A snapshot of the Thai Education Market

Posted on January 30, 2012 by admin

California ETEC has had a long association with the Thailand Office of Civil Service and the annual student fair they sponsor. In the past seven years, we have coordinated the exhibits of more than 40 U.S. schools at the annual OCSC Student Fair and an adjoining reception with TIECA Study Agents. Literally we stumbled upon the OCSC Fair in 2004 and have made this event a staple of our S.E. Asia marketing campaign ever since. While the OCSC Fair annually draws 25,000-30,000 students and is the primary platform by which the Thai Office of Civil Service connects more than 300 full-ride scholars with overseas institutions, marketing in Thailand is not without challenges. In 2008 the OCSC Fair coincided political upheaval that shut Suvarnabhumi Airport and last October the event was postponed due to unprecedented flooding in Thailand. Despite these unconventional obstacles, a small core of U.S. schools continue to promote in Thailand and such perseverance has led to recruitment success. The latest Open Doors Reports indicated more than 10,000 Thai students are currently studying in the U.S. and this number has been remarkably consistent the past decade.

Thailand Education Market Summary

Thai students offer diversity to already large and growing student populations from China, India and Korea.
Thais generally do not choose to attend U.S. Community Colleges, but the trend may be changing.
Demand for U.S. boarding schools is growing, but English speaking competitors are highly targeted in this market space.
Opportunities avail for schools who pay commissions to agents or can design marketing contracts in lieu of commissions. The Thai Overseas Education market is very mature and most successful recruitment campaigns are done with the aid of agents.

* If you are seeking introduction to vetted agents, please contact info@studycalifornia.org for a list of agents who attended the January 20^th ETEC-TIECA Reception.

Speed Dating with Great Expectations! ( Recap of 2011 ICEF North America Workshop)

Posted on January 28, 2012 by admin

CA ETEC forged an alliance with ICEF back in 2009 to provide lower cost access for California schools at one of the premier study agent matchmaking events. The ICEF North America Workshop is held annually in Miami the first week of December and matches more than 250+ schools( a mixture of boarding schools, colleges and universities) with about the equivalent amount of study agents attending from all parts of the globe. ICEF offers a time efficient forum for schools and agents to schedule as many as 30 meetings in 20 minute increments over a 2 day period. Without getting into the merits of working with study agents, I will simply provide reflections of the recent 2011 ICEF Miami Workshop below:

1^st time exhibitors at ICEF increasing, particularly boarding schools
A heavy concentration of study agents attending from China, India and Nepal
Some schools expecting to significantly grow international student populations-some as much as 10 times in the next 3 years!

Perhaps the most surprising take-away from this year’s ICEF was the “outsized” expectations of 1^st time participants. Several schools that I met revealed that they had spent their entire recruitment budget( roughly 5K) to participate in ICEF and expected fairly significant enrollment gains simply from participating in ICEF Workshop. Don’t get me wrong, ICEF operates a well managed event and most agents appear to be properly vetted, but agent matchmaking events aka “speed dating”, are a numbers game that take a lot of follow up effort and rarely yield outcomes in the short-term.

Re: California ETEC enters the blogosphere!

Posted on January 26, 2012 by admin

California ETEC has decided to start an ongoing blog to help stimulate discussion that will assist U.S. student exchange and recruitment efforts globally. California ETEC( formerly Education and Training Export Consortium) was started with the intent to maximize branding and marketing efforts of California and U.S. institutions in Asia. As our organization has grown, we have continuously learned from both our marketing successes and mistakes. We hope to use this forum to share our insights and those of our stakeholders in an effort to help schools identify ways to establish or expand student recruitment efforts with limited resources. In future blog posts we will identify ways that California ETEC is meeting this challenge and country specific information that might help schools new to international exchange and student recruitment succeed, too.