A panel of university international recruitment experts discuss how one develops and implements sustainable recruitment strategies, how recruitment budgets evolve and shape with time, how a recruiter uses data and institutional priorities to maximize a budget and the key components that make up an international recruitment strategy.

1. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
OACAC WEBINAR WEDNESDAY
Developing Recruitment Strategies and Budgets
November 11 2015

2. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
DEVELOPING RECRUITMENT
STRATEGIES & BUDGETS
PANELISTS:
John Eriksen Bryant University, USA
Janice Heitsenrether Johns Hopkins University, USA
Leanne Stillman University of Guelph, Canada
Alex Bari (AM) Modul University, Austria
Colin Johnston (AM) Heriot Watt University, Scotland
Aly Stewart (PM) Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland
FACILITATORS:
Tim Munnerlyn (PM) American School of Warsaw, Poland
Aaron Andersen (AM) University of British Columbia, Canada

3. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
• Consider both short and long term institutional goals
• Research global trends
• Assess the status of your international applicant pool
o Prospect/inquiry numbers
o Application growth
o Quality of applicants
o Application conversion rate
o Yield
Developing an
international recruitment strategy

4. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Effectively implementing an
international recruitment budget
• Consider international recruitment goals in the context of
broader recruitment goals
• Make the most of a limited budget: group travel, conferences
and subsequent bus tours, in-country counselor programs,
social media/webinars/videos/virtual college fairs
• Develop a short and long term plan to ensure continued
institutional support for international recruitment

5. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Case Study: Making the most of a
limited budget with Group Travel
• Reach more students: get in front of more and different
students than you would if travelling solo
• Connect with more schools
• Keep costs low: plan the trip yourselves and share resources

6. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Recruitment budget’s major factors
• Travel $$$$
• Flying in counselors $$$
• Attending conferences $$
• Social media and e-mail $
• Mailing letters and I-20s $
• EducationUSA $
• Working with alumni $
• Agency development $$$
Building relationships Effectiveness
• Meeting directly with
students and stakeholders
• Professional development
and meeting with
counselors
• Yield and some relationship
• Support USA education
• Powerful in market support
• Per student commission

7. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Regional Analysis and Effectiveness
• Geographic regions
• Data must be part of planning (Past, Present, Future)
• Consistency and when to change spending
• Advocating for increased budget or changes
• Developing new markets and time
• Consider US market for reduced spending
• Regional alumni networks and current students

8. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Cost Cutting
• Loyalty programs for travel
• Produce lightweight brochures and no shipping
• Solo or small group travel
• Alumni dinners and meetings
• Bulk shipping or e-mail acceptance letters
• Always negotiate and refine recruitment
• Have fun and get creative

9. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Regional Consortia:
Connecting to make an impact
 Scottish Universities International Group (SUIG)
 Scottish Government
 Universities Scotland
 The Scottish universities (Head of Int’l Offices)
 Regional Sub-Groups
North America (NARG)
South Asia (SARG)
Latin America (LARG)

10. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Case Study: NARG
NAFSA (May – 10,000 delegates)
 Study in Scotland Stand
 Study in Scotland Reception attended by 300 study abroad partners & stakeholders
 Focus on global partnerships and student mobility (visiting and exchange students)
 NACAC Conference (October– 5,000 delegates)
 9 universities involved
 College Counsellors Lunch
 Pre conference event attended by c.130 college counsellors
 Study in Scotland presentation
 Focus on full UG recruitment
Canada Roadshow (October)
 Graduate Fairs and High School Visits
 10 cities in Canada, 15 universities involved
 Each university committed to at least one week of activity
 Intern employed to coordinate logistics and publicity
 Focus on PGT and UG recruitment

11. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
SARG & LARG
Virtual group of International Office staff from across Scotland’s
universities with an interest in student recruitment in South Asia and
LATAM
Share data and market intelligence
Plan collaborative activity and funding bids
Use the Study in Scotland brand at events
Feed into British Council and Scottish Government engagement plans in
the region
Share relevant messages quickly amongst interested parties

12. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Maximizing Output vs. Minimizing Costs
• Join forces!
Besides travelling as a group, joining forces with similar institutions
can substantially lower costs!!!
• Examples:
Regional marketing efforts to promote a study region (destination)
eg. European University Consortium www.european-universities.com
Joint counselor fly-ins
Joint summer programs
Co-organized events such as press conferences and/or mini fairs
in designated target markets

13. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Regional Recruitment Offices
Rationale
- Rather than sending team members once a year into a particular region a regional
office might be much more efficient in terms of yield and ROI
Advantages
- Designated target markets can be penetrated
- Better service of students, parents and counselors with people on the spot
- Admission process can partly be done on the spot (e.g. personal interviews,
admissions tests etc.)
- Building up networks with local stakeholders and local alumni
Challenges
- Staffing … finding the right people with the right skills (intercultural knowledge,
responsible and self organized with language skills)
- Legal issues setting up a company abroad

14. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
STEP 1: Define goals & success
What is Success?• Increases – What is enough and by when?
• Cost per student – What are you willing to pay?
• Know how your internal data fits within
country-wide visa statistics – What percentage
of the market share you have and want?
• Where and why are you going? – What’s your
justification?
Why is your institution recruiting “int’l students?”
• Semester 1 students
• Student Diversity – through exchange
•Student Diversity through regional, country, language
or other specifications
• Government sponsored scholars
•Transfer students
• Visiting students
• Internal Scholarship funded candidates – what % of
tuition for how many years
• Another one of the myriad of reasons that present
themselves year over year

15. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
STEP 2: Eliminate In-House Barriers to
International Recruitment
Eliminate In-house Barriers•long application or document processing times
•domestic practices that do not fit international norms or timelines
•unanswered or long wait times for phone or email responses
•not enough front-line staff with international admission knowledge
•no English Language Program for those without TOEFL/IELTS
•no customer relationship databases
•no active social media presence that meets the needs of international students
•too many students for the number of ISAs which will impact retention
•websites with too little information
•grumpy or bored front line or other staff - easier said than done
•outdated images in publications and online
•lack of an upload mechanism for documents

16. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
STEP 3: Low or No Cost Solutions for
International Recruitment
Low or No Cost Solutions
• Maximize Current Resources – provide training to domestic recruiters
• Analysis Data – dig deep on true location of third culture kids
• Invest in CIS Tours or other Organized tour - Initially to build your database
•
• Cut out Markets – Don’t be afraid to move on after 3 years
• Know what is going on – subscribe to different news channels

17. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
STEP 4: Expand Data Sources
for new development
External Data Sources
• Government websites – eg. EducationUSA, British Council, DFATD
Canada, Open Doors, trade offices, provincial ministries
• Other universities’ internationalization strategies
• Study Permit/Visa stats, number of universities in a country
• GDP growth or other economic indicators
Internal Data Sources
• Enrolment numbers – by country – by source country
• Applicant numbers – by country – by source country
• Programs of interest - by country/region/culture group
• Inquiry numbers – by country

18. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
STEP 5: Create Justification for
New Region Development
• growth expected in the youth population
• parents traditionally invest in education
• in-country private university costs similar to your international
student fees
• support in country for advertising, promotion & internal
market knowledge
• schools open to ISVs
• students fit with admission standards
• visas are forthcoming
• enough students want a campus experience and are
comfortable with a medium-size v.s. large urban campus
• student growth has been consistent

19. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
STEP 6: Calculate Key Budget Components
•Staffing
•Printing and International Shipping or materials printing and shipping out of country
– brochure v.s. country specific hand flyer
•Reply cards or tablet to collect leads
•Flights – excess baggage fees (pre-paid or enroute)
•Visas
•Hotels
•Phone and Phone Plan or unlocked phone and local SIMs
•Over-time – if not managerial type roles
•In-office coverage ie. Work Study or other staff
•Transportation in country – driver, car rental, local or hotel taxis, buses, free shuttles
•Luggage replacement
•Banner stands
•Advertising and promotions – huge variances
•Fair or Tour costs

20. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
QUESTIONS?
John Eriksen, USA jeriksen@bryant.edu
Janice Heitsenrether, USA jheitse1@jhu.edu
Leanne Stillman, Canada lstillma@uoguelph.ca
Alex Bari, Austria (AM) alexander.bari@modul.ac.at
Colin Johnston, Scotland (AM) Colin.Johnston@hw.ac.uk
Aly Stewart, Scotland (PM) A.Stewart@napier.ac.uk

21. Developing Recruitment
Strategies and Budgets
Upcoming webinars … mark your calendars!
• Wednesday December 2nd
• Student Athletic Recruitment
(for high school counselors)
• Wednesday January 6th
• Admissions Practices & SPGP
(for high school counselors + admissions officers)