As global education continues to evolve, the demand for international students remains strong. The OECD had projected that the number of international students worldwide would exceed 8 million by 2025, up from 5.6 million in 2020. However, to capitalize on this potential, higher education institutions must focus on how to recruit international students effectively. In the current landscape, it’s essential to have a robust plan that not only attracts international students but also optimizes resources efficiently to meet the increasing competition and demand in the global education market.”
Source: University of Victoria
With the increasing reliance on technology and growth in digitization, there is a growing understanding that emerging digital marketing techniques can deliver effective results in international student recruitment. If you’re wondering, “How do you attract international students?”, you can start by embracing digital marketing strategies, such as targeted social media campaigns, SEO, and content tailored to the needs of international students. By embracing these mediums and adopting new strategies for foreign student recruitment, schools can better control their communications and branding, reducing reliance on external agents while developing more flexible and customized management of the admissions process.
Implementing these initiatives successfully requires a willingness to adapt to rapidly shifting student engagement expectations and understanding the continuous advances in available technological tools and the cultural nuances of various target markets. No small challenge!
You may ask: how do I recruit students internationally? Going global takes more than just talking the talk – many higher education institutions passively court foreign students with little more than an international page on their website and perhaps some “one-size-fits-all” attempts at social media or PPC ads in other markets. For the vast majority of schools and universities, this isn’t enough. In fact, many of the schools with international enrollment increases cite active recruitment as the reason for their success.
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1. Fostering a Global Culture for Recruiting International Students
Making internationalization a true priority means taking a longer-term, bigger-picture view of its role in enhancing your institution. More and more universities publicly declare internationalization as a key component of future success, embedded in strategic plans or elaborated upon in high-level documents.
Example: The University of Leeds is one of many institutions that increasingly market themselves to international students. The university’s international admissions pages stress its institution’s diversity and global orientation and highlight the extensive range of services it offers for students from abroad.
Expanding strategic international partnerships, research collaborations, exchange and study abroad programs, and alumni relations can greatly enhance a university’s educational capabilities, student opportunities and participation, brand reputation, and more. For example, the University of Leeds advertises itself as one of the universities belonging to the World Universities Network, consisting of research-intensive institutions that work to address globally significant issues.
Schools can strive to improve the experiences of incoming international students, thus increasing valuable word-of-mouth referrals and other benefits, by broadening orientation services and retention tactics. Promoting internationalization means providing pathways for growth, including resources for increasingly culturally diverse students (and staff) on campus to learn from each other.
These are all long-term projects demanding visionary leadership – but what can schools do right now for more immediate results? You could begin, for instance, by creating a student recruitment plan. If, after reading this, you’re asking yourself, “How do I create a student recruitment plan?”, the process starts by identifying your key target markets and understanding what motivates prospective students. Next, define clear, measurable recruitment goals, and craft engaging, tailored messaging. Select the most effective channels for outreach, such as digital marketing, partnerships, or recruitment fairs.
2. Feeling out Markets with PPC for International Student Recruitment
As mentioned, an excellent international student recruitment campaign begins with establishing and communicating clear goals for the number and types of students desired and leveraging enrollment data to forecast trends and develop realistic targets.
Focus initial efforts by choosing markets with the best potential for your institution – likely typical leading countries of origin (China, India, South Korea) but sometimes smaller nations with an established presence at your school. Also consider focusing marketing efforts according to preferred academic discipline and degree type.
Unique cultural and language considerations add an extra layer of complexity when going global – choosing appropriate keywords is not simply a matter of direct translation. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a tremendously cost-effective method of revealing insights about potential markets since expense is only incurred when prospects actually click your link. As a result, it can be a great way to learn which search terms are popular and which ads convert better, letting you see which combinations of keywords and messaging are more effective in a particular market.
Google AdWords has a free Keyword Planner tool for searching keyword and ad group ideas, but remember that Google isn’t the most popular search engine in several important source countries. For instance, any school looking to utilize PPC for international student recruitment in China must conduct campaigns on Baidu, the country’s dominant search engine.
Before launching a PPC campaign, ad copy must fit the requirements for the applicable platform, landing pages must be created on your website, and analytics tracking must be established. Landing pages must meet expectations created by the ad copy and concisely convince prospects to take the following steps, such as completing an application or “request information” form.
Example: The University of Georgia has a custom Chinese landing page for its Intensive English Program to increase the likelihood of generating inquiries from prospective students from China.
3. Search and Mobile Trends for International Student Recruitment
Over the past decade, there has been a continuous increase in education-related search volumes, confirming that the student decision journey has indeed moved online. Non-branded search queries by prospective students uncertain of which school they wish to attend have also risen. Google’s internal tracking revealed that queries, including geo-specific keywords, generated strong click-through conversions. Increasing specificity by promoting particular degrees and academic programs in specific locations is recommended for better results.
Going mobile has been another top priority for higher education marketing in recent years. Still, with significant worldwide increases in mobile phone usage since the onset of the pandemic, it’s become even more critical. Optimizing for mobile-device use is even more crucial for international recruitment since most users in several source countries are mobile-exclusive. Given that a negative mobile experience on a website is enough to make users 62% less likely to make a purchase, ensuring that your school’s website is compatible with mobile devices can reduce the odds that your prospects leave your website and move on to the next potential college on their list. Ensure you have your most important bases covered when developing for task-driven mobile searchers – top selling points of your school, programs and admission info, videos, and application forms are among the most popular features to include. Shorter forms are far more likely to convert. International students will also want to know financial and study permit details.
4. Optimizing Your Website for Recruiting International Students
One of the biggest challenges of marketing to international students is developing your website to appeal to multiple markets and languages. You can design the international sections of your website in many ways, such as using a top-level folder on the same domain as your other content, a subdomain for specific languages, or developing a microsite for particular countries or regions. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and much will depend on the needs of your school. Check out our blog on International SEO for a good primer on the differences between the three.
Example: The University of Michigan uses a subdomain for each language version of its website. Subdomains make it easier for search engines to index your content and allow you to have a local IP address. However, they require a separate SEO strategy from your leading site and may not be as trusted by local users as addresses in their region.
Remember that search engines won’t give your pages the same value if they think it’s only an auto-translation (or if the content is outdated). To avoid the issue of duplicate content, you must create the proper links between translated content to alert them if it’s a translation. Alternate hreflang link tags let search engines know how content should be prioritized.
Right-to-left languages like Arabic require the appropriate fonts and additional “rtl” tags at the top-level block element. Content using Chinese characters and other logographic languages presents the additional challenge of modifying the page layout and structure to accommodate the unique condensed properties. While providing content in multiple languages can be complex, it can go a long way to effectively communicating with foreign prospective students and, perhaps even more so, their parents. Ensure that users can easily navigate between available translations – the most precise way is to prominently display the language name written in that language at the top of the webpage:
Even if you have multiple international websites, avoid auto-directing based on a user’s IP address, as it will irritate prospects and inhibit Google’s crawlers from discovering your sites.
5. Content and Social Media Considerations for International Student Recruitment
When developing content for international audiences, especially when recruiting foreign students, it is vital to understand your target market as much as possible, including the local language (in how prospects speak), cultural norms and expectations, and priorities in education search. Try using student assistants to help develop or translate content, and always test with various groups to ensure that messaging is clear.
Social media can be a valuable tool for discovering more about prospect groups through online conversations, informal surveys, and the types of posts that receive more significant interaction. Communication on these networks can filter unqualified prospects and reveal insights about language proficiency, interests, and brand perception. It is an opportunity to showcase different sides of your institution and reinforce alumni successes.
Additionally, it’s essential to tailor your content and social media strategy to reflect the current climate, where students confined to their home countries during the pandemic are seeking new opportunities across borders once again. Research shows that during the pandemic, the amount of social media usage by students from many target countries has increased significantly. Thus, higher education institutions must formulate content and messages that attract these students, as they’ll be more likely to engage with it.
Remember that the social media landscapes of many international countries are drastically different. For instance, schools recruiting international students in China need to establish a presence on the country’s hugely popular domestic social networks, such as WeChat and Sina Weibo, to connect with prospective students.
6. Lead Conversion Tactics for Recruiting International Students
It is important that inquiries from all prospects, domestic or international, are addressed effectively and promptly. Students expect a quick email response, even if it is initially an auto-response with some helpful links – Hotcourses Abroad found that if given two similar universities, students from China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore would choose the one that responded fastest. Prospects prefer personalized responses signed by a staff member with whom they can continue correspondence.
Best practices:
- Address the student by name
- Answer the question personally and in detail
- Provide helpful additional information, including social media and relevant links
Email drip marketing campaigns can efficiently track and manage large quantities of inquiries for the entire student life cycle, automatically triggering customized messages based on specific conditions that provide adequate resources while minimizing staff requirements. Instead of leaving it up to prospects to continue correspondence as many institutions do, be persistent in your responses, varying the types of follow-up messaging and addressing potential concerns with multimedia supplemental information to increase the odds of making a connection.
7. Using Virtual Campus Tours and Zoom as Part of Your International Student Recruitment Strategy
A campus tour is a big part of most students’ decision processes, providing the opportunity for them to envision if they can really spend their next four years there. International students rarely have the luxury of visiting a prospective campus before enrollment, but virtual tours can help bridge the gap, emphasizing a school’s most robust features and providing a glimpse of campus life. Many US-based universities, such as the University of Miami and the University of North Carolina, have already developed 360-degree tours using virtual reality technology, while Google Maps Street view also offers interior virtual tours of some schools.
To get better personalized interaction despite the distance, more institutions and universities are adopting web conferencing via easily accessible tools like Zoom. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions have invested in the use of digital face-to-face tools to deliver virtual courses and more, and these tools can also be used to engage directly with international students. Admissions counsellors can use this equipment to clarify solutions using whiteboards, share documents or slide shares, and guide prospects through relevant web pages via co-browsing. To make the most of these opportunities, school personnel should develop and rehearse a script to work from and test all equipment many times beforehand.
More International Recruitment Ideas
Digital marketing constantly advances, providing new tools for schools seeking a competitive edge in reaching global prospects. Here are some innovative ideas for institutions and universities looking to access the world:
- List with international portal sites
- Develop apps featuring application tips, sample lectures, campus videos/pictures
- English-language training (online modules and collaborations with other training facilities) or online language exchange
- Reach out to international alumni (through internal networks or tools like LinkedIn) to support recruitment activities
Whichever initiatives you pursue, improving your international student recruitment strategies can best be accomplished with a thorough and accurate picture of your web activity. When managing several social media and other student marketing channels covering various markets, it becomes even more essential to have a transparent system to reveal what is working where and monitor your ongoing reputation – software and student assistants can help. Google Analytics can help you understand your student mix and top source countries to track and monitor your progress while effectively segmenting and customizing communications.
How well does your school’s online presence recruit international students?
Our Inbound Marketing team can help you generate more leads!
*Editor’s note: This blog was originally published on 9th January 2017 but has been updated to reflect current trends
FAQs:
How do I create a student recruitment plan?”
the process starts by identifying your key target markets and understanding what motivates prospective students. Next, define clear, measurable recruitment goals, and craft engaging, tailored messaging.
How do you attract international students?
you can start by embracing digital marketing strategies, such as targeted social media campaigns, SEO, and content tailored to the needs of international students.
