For any student to study abroad, it is most crucial to research on the college programs offered by any university. While there are many options for college students to look out for, it is the job of the colleges to set their preferences straight on the type of candidates they are open to admit. This being said, it is also the college’s responsibility to recruit the best-fit international students for the institution.
But to attract these exclusive students, colleges need to promote the institution in a way such that international students can see themselves at home for the next few years. Hence, it is important to consider the right program for these international students, as ultimately they are the one sending the deposit checks.
Balancing Gibberish and Clarity
One place where flaunting your jargonistic proficiency can help is on marketing collateral for graduate programs. Students and faculty from a particular field tends to use SEO-friendly words and phrases, which makes any prospect immediately at home. A caution for colleges while addressing an international audience is to make sure that they know both British and American English. While it is also important not to use words so dense that it will scare away students who may still have to learn some discipline-specific terms in English.
Looking for Discipline-Specific Funding
Most international graduate students coming to US has either full or partial funding from their home country, a fact not gone unnoticed by the US institutions. Many programs sponsored by international governments, foundations, and companies may grow or shrink for a particular field, which makes it critical to keep ears open at the program level as well as the institutional one. If you have a great program in a particular field and you notice an international scholarship program in the same field from a country, you can create content on your website that specifically talks to the needs of these future scholarship holders.
Use the Advantage of Your Location and the Country
Few countries and even cities are known for excellence in a particular field. Germany and engineering is one such pair, with the country having done an incredible job at drawing international students in the STEM fields with their higher education offerings. It may help to ask your current international students not only why they chose to come to your program, but also why they came to the US. The answers from students may give a larger picture to the overall reputation of the particular discipline in the US. If you are in the lucky position of having any location-based advantages, it will greatly help you craft marketing messages that are much more powerful and specific for international prospects.
It’s also about the Money
The Next level of international recruitment would include information about how/if international students completing a particular program do internships or practical training in the US. You will have to show hard evidence of how international students from a particular program, fair in getting good jobs back home (at least in key recruitment markets) or in the US following graduation. Doesn’t matter how well-known you are domestically, it is important to show the value of your degree by international employers.
Apart from these you will have to consider other factors like living situation and its costs, cultural aspects and a healthy educational environment, which are must for any international student coming to US.
