|
|
|
US colleges & universities
|
|
|
Despite budgetary constraints restricting overseas marketing at some US institutions, international student numbers are on the rise. Gillian Evans reports.
|
|
|
Higher education is one of the USA’s most significant education sector exports, with international students contributing over US$15.5 billion to the US economy through tuition and living expenses. And, by all accounts, the market is thriving. According to the Open Doors report, published by the Institute of International Education (IIE), the number of international students at colleges and universities in the USA rose by seven per cent in the 2007/08 academic year to reach a record high of 623,805.
From anecdotal evidence from US colleges and universities, the 2008/09 academic year appears to have been fruitful too. Katrin Krieger, Director of International Relations, Europe & Middle East, at Johnson & Wales University (JWU) in Providence, RI, says their international student numbers were up by 10 per cent for the second consecutive year. She puts their strong performance down to increased enrolments from China, in particular. This is consistent with the IIE statistics which revealed that China made up the second largest nationality group at US colleges and universities in the 2007/08 academic year, with 81,127 Chinese student enrolments, up by 20 per cent on the previous academic year.
Chow Lee, Dean of International Admissions at DeVry University in Fremont, CA, puts their recent growth of five per cent down to swelling Chinese numbers. According to Lee, their success in China is thanks to the network of agents they have developed there.
Another burgeoning market for US colleges and universities is Saudi Arabia. At JWU, Saudi Arabian students feature in their top five international student nationalities thanks to the full tuition fee scholarships provided by the Saudi government since 2005. On a national level this has boosted the number of Saudi students in the USA by 25 per cent, putting them in the top 10 nationalities in 2007/08 for the first time since 1982/83, according to the IIE. But as Krieger points out, “Markets change constantly”.
Gwendolyne Guzman, Marketing Manager at UC San Diego Extension International Programs in San Diego, CA, emphasises the importance of overseas marketing in manipulating some changes in their international enrolment. “We see more diversity in our programmes due to marketing efforts,” she says. “Our strategy is to maintain our strong markets, while building up other markets for the sake of diversity in the classroom.” Meanwhile, Krieger forecasts that the Internet will play an increasingly important role in marketing in the future. “More students will be driven to the website,” she asserts. “Social networking sites and virtual fairs will be of greater importance in student recruitment. In other words, armchair recruiting will be a helpful tool in times of having to cut back on several weeks of travel time because of budget concerns.”
External factors have also affected student numbers from some areas. Lee reports that the global financial crisis has suppressed numbers from some countries, while Guzman pinpoints South Korea as the major casualty for them. “This year our South Korean population has gone down due to their economy and the swine flu [outbreak],” she says, adding that, on the positive side, “Our Norwegian population has gone up due to our university credit programmes and our university’s area of expertise which is compatible with many of the Norwegian universities.”
|
|
|
Education Travel Magazine
11-15 Emerald Street
WC1N 3QL
London, England
T: +44 (0)20 7440 4020
F: +44 (0)20 7440 4033
Pacific Office
T/F: +61 (0)8 9341 1820 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
