Third-party education management service providers will play a significant role in the current foreign student enrollment rebound in the United States and other top host countries. This was the general insight that international education thought leaders expressed during a webinar hosted by MSM.
The Think-In event titled, “Understanding the Enrollment Rebound: Steps You Should Take.” was held on Dec. 2, 2021, at 1:00-2:00 pm (ET) and featured a discussion on recommendations and action plans amid the international student enrollment rebound.
The webinar was moderated by May Arthur, MSM Global-US Vice President. Joining her as guest speakers were Fred Siegel, Admissions & Enrollment Management and Student Services professional at three major national universities and a member of the MSM US Advisory Board; George F. Kacenga Ph.D., MSM Assistant Vice President for University Partnerships.
“In this Think-In webinar, we will start by again examining what has happened and how we are going to prepare for the rebound of enrollment that some of our institutions are seeing,” May explained.
George shared five points to consider in preparing for the enrollment rebound, which includes auditing the impact that the pandemic had on the new and continuing enrollment in colleges and universities; revisiting institution strategy; revisiting international enrollment strategy while aligning that with institutional strategy; engage with the professional community; and, most importantly, look for partners or third-party vendors that will help in expanding recruitment capacity.
Another interesting point that George emphasized is how to work around the persisting disruption caused by the pandemic. He added, “Our best COVID Proof approach is to be communicating with our university leaders about what we think enrollment forecasts are going to be and how they change based on variances and the closing of borders.”
Meanwhile, Fred supported George’s five-step pronouncements and underscored the importance of revisiting and recalibrating strategies. He said, “If there was ever an important time for an institution to rethink its strategy, this is the time to do it. COVID only makes it much more, much more evident,”
Fred also elaborated that international student recruitment agents have to make sure that global learners and their parents are aware that institutions are welcoming and doing everything they can to make campuses comfortable despite highly restrictive government policies.
This Think-In is the last of its series for this year. More of these insightful events will happen in 2022 as the international education scene continues to bounce back amid the challenges and the possible disruption that new coronavirus variants may cause. For an on-demand recording of this session, watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zPOFIurITQ
