Finessing the digital marketing campaign

“International universities are pushing boundaries in a bid to keep students, the public and educators interested”

Digital engagement has become the number one priority in international education. A dynamic, and rapidly expanding sector, #intled has moved from a humble advert in a newspaper to daily hashtags and ed tech galore.

International universities and organisations no longer feel the need to toe the line of conventional marketing; they are pushing the boundaries of the new, in a bid to keep students, the public and educators interested.

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The climate clock is ticking – is the international education sector listening?

“Travel-related carbon emissions originating from international education are a sustainability problem that cannot be ignored”

Climate change is the defining challenge of our time; we need rapid action to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. To reduce carbon-related emission we need action from governments, industries and individuals across the globe.

Towards this backdrop, the travel-related carbon emissions originating from international education are a sustainability problem that cannot be ignored. However, hitherto, the international education industry has been a laggard when it comes to discussing and tackling the issue of climate change. For instance, many international education strategies and key industry conferences have either overlooked or marginalised this topic.

Improved awareness of the carbon footprint of this industry would be the first step. After that, institutions need to start measuring their international education related carbon footprints and start taking actions to reduce their emissions.

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What do international parents really want from UK boarding schools?

“”School rankings still matter, but ‘safety’ has also started to be mentioned more often”

It is so often assumed that international parents are only focused on one thing when it comes to selecting a boarding school for their child-rankings. So, if a school or college has outstanding A level results, then that school will go to the top of the list of possible schools parents and their children are considering.

However, things seem to be changing…

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How Schools Can Make Volunteering an International Currency

“Almost 50% of our volunteers decided to study language with us after applying to volunteer with us”

The number of people travelling internationally per year has more than doubled since 1996. If you’re in international education, you’re probably well aware of this reality- and it’s likely benefited your institution greatly. But the questions is: are you truly leveraging the potential of this influx of travellers?

I work at a language school located in a tourist hotspot in China. Founding our English school here was a originally a clever idea because the beautiful surrounding environment has proven to be just as attractive to students as is the quality of our English courses. Later, we opened a Chinese school next door for internationals learning Chinese. As most of these Chinese learners were native English speakers, it created a wonderful language exchange environment for both our English learners and Chinese learners.

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Creating paid internships in Japan for students

“Japan is looking outward to meet this rising demand, thus offering fresh job and career opportunities to international graduates”

HR departments across corporate Japan are introducing unprecedented global outreach strategies into their short and long-term recruitment plans.

Where previously Japanese companies would limit their graduate schemes to domestic hires, they are now travelling to the UK, US, China, India and other countries with more frequency to hold on-campus information sessions or attend large-scale career fairs organised by Japanese recruitment agencies.

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Winnie Eley, University of Southampton, Vice-President (International)

“International partnerships at their best would see appreciation, reciprocity, effective flow of communication and rigorous debate as and when required”

Winnie Eley joined the University of Southampton as Vice-President (International) in October 2018. She moved to the UK from Australia where she spent five years as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Advancement) at The University of Newcastle. This followed roles at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and with the British Council in Nigeria and Hong Kong.

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What we learned from conducting a virtual exchange

“Virtual exchange is a valuable tool for preparing young people for the workforce of tomorrow”

Virtual exchange has been gaining traction as a mode of international education. By connecting students online across borders, virtual exchange is a “third space” of international education, blurring the lines between traditional incoming and outgoing student mobility programming.

Even so, virtual exchange complements rather than replaces traditional programs. As Mohamed Abdel-Kader, the Executive Director of the Stevens Initiative at the Aspen Institute recently noted, there is a large unmet need for U.S. college students to have international experiences.

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How Sustainable Development Goals can mobilise collaboration

“University teaching and learning will shape generations of graduates who will go on to tackle these challenges in their professional lives”

In just a few months’ time, a very different sort of university league table will make its debut on the world stage. This new global ranking will be the first to measure universities’ success, not by reputation or research output, but by their contribution to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a set of global targets aiming to end poverty, protect the planet, and promote peace and prosperity for all.

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The world is flat, and all the best universities are at the top edge

“The recognition of institutions of higher learning in the global South as equally desirable as those in the North would be a positive first step in redressing imbalances”

The world is flat, and all the best universities are at the top edge. Between virtually every university prospectus promising to prepare students for a “globalised, interconnected” world, and any recent international league tables, this – intentionally or not – is the message being produced in many quarters of higher education.

As a Canadian who went to Tanzania for a Masters degree, I can happily report that neither of these is the case. The world we live in today is not inevitably converging into a single reality whose ways can be learned at any one institution, and some of the very best educational experiences are to be had at the universities of the global South.

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Dealing with overseas classrooms and a cauldron of cultures

“With a smorgasbord of cultures, the task of teaching a room of students from around the world requires extra steps”

Teaching the next generation can be a tricky proposition in any situation, no two students are exactly alike and techniques that work well in one classroom may fall flat in another.

For the most part, though, you know roughly what you’re trying to achieve and have designed a roadmap to reach the end. But what about truly diverse classrooms?  Travelling around the world as an international educator is immensely rewarding but also presents unique challenges, how exactly should you deal with a classroom in a different country containing a mix of students?

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