One of the biggest challenges schools have faced over the past few years is the need to evolve strategies and tactics to boost international admissions. To gain insight into current practices among admissions professionals, Study in the USA and TOEFL created a webinar where three admissions professionals shared valuable insights into their current enrollment tactics. What challenges are schools facing? New applicant pools
There was an expectation that when the pandemic ends, things would go back to “normal,” but what schools have come to realize is that normal looks different in a post-pandemic world. “The raw numbers of applicants have recovered over past years, but it’s a different-looking applicant pool. How are they going to complete the application process? How are they going to decide whether to come to our university?” --Aaron Bixler, Senior Associate Director of International Enrollment, Miami University Given the changes for students and institutions, the question then becomes, how can your school make the application process more accessible for every student? Streamlining processes Understanding the need for a streamlined process is an important step, but finding the means to create easier processes is an entirely different beast. Oftentimes, the requirements that schools implement are out of their control; it comes back to the companies that create, for example, standardized tests or visa applications. If those processes do exist, however, it’s the school's responsibility to implement those tools into their repertoire. Communication Gone are the days when you’d mail a physical envelope to international students about in-person fairs or application forms. Digital is the new normal, and adapting to new forms of communication is critical to meet the needs of this new pool of students. What are schools doing to face these challenges? Transparency If the state of international student enrollment is up in the air, that doesn’t mean you have to be too. Be transparent. Keep prospects up to date on any changes your school is going through. Students connect most with the schools that show effort in getting to know their unique situations. “Steps we’ve taken, I guess, are really to be as accessible as possible to the students and their families, to be as transparent as possible with the application process, the financial aid process, being available through one-on-one calls, being available through WhatsApp or other channels to get answers to these students’ questions.” --Aaron Bixler, Senior Associate Director of International Enrollment, Miami University Creating options Give your students multiple options. It’s not the overabundance of options that staggers a student’s application process; some students simply don’t have access to the necessary resources to meet the demands of schools. One such demand for international students was taking an English language test. Some students are forced travel to entirely different countries just to take a test — that inconvenience itself stops many in their tracks. Noting this barrier to entry, TOEFL created an abundance of options with ease of access at the forefront. “Luckily, partnering up with ETS and having [TOEFL] Essentials was definitely another option the students would be able to have. Not only is this test so accessible, and they're able to take it at home, and it’s really short. It’s not as long as the other tests which is a great plus, so it was really good to see the testing companies were out there making these changes happen.” --Georgina Antillon, Director of Student Testing, The University of Texas at El Paso Use the opportunity that partner companies are making to create simpler and more accessible experiences for international students. Flexibility “For us, it’s communication and opening new ways of communicating — now we have a Zoom room… we’re able to go ahead and use really great applications like Unibuddy to have another way of communicating with our students. We have an online application now, which it’s crazy to think we didn’t even have that before COVID.” —Darren Grosch, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Los Angeles City College (LACC) The pandemic has brought on new mediums of communication, and schools like LACC have found ways to make those experiences personal. It’s important that as we move toward a digital-first era, that we don’t lose sight of that human touch. And even though LACC has implemented more digital communication, it understands that some students still rely on traditional applications. How can you create a better enrollment process? Most schools don’t have large budgets for international student enrollment. That being the case, there are still ways to maximize your budget to create an accessible experience for your students. Darren Grosch from LACC is a great example of making the most of your resources. LACC’s Blueprint
Darren at LACC has created a sustainable strategy that provides students with personalized experiences at every stage of their journey. In case you missed it… You can rewatch our informative webinar with TOEFL to hear more tips and tools for how you can boost your international student enrollment. https://bit.ly/TOEFLxSUSA-B2B |