Mehrab Grewal is a tech-entrepreneur, and founder of a soon-to-launch edtech platform in the student recruitment industry. Previously, Mehrab has worked with leading banks and companies in the UK and in India. As an international student in the UK and Canada, and having worked abroad, Mehrab realised how inefficient and broken the overseas study recruitment process was. Mehrab is passionate about the power of technology in the international higher education sector.
The ongoing pandemic has brought to the forefront major concerns about studying overseas; Covid-19 has impacted study choices globally along with changing perceptions of online learning, recruitment and enrolment. While a lot of students are redesigning their plans, by deferring or in some cases even withdrawing their applications, there are several reports and surveys that suggest that students continue to remain largely optimistic about their overseas higher education ambitions. In this vein, institutions globally are gearing up for a surge in international student applications once travel restrictions are lifted, and the dust settles.
The Tide is Turning - New Emerging Trends
The tide is rapidly turning; Covid-19 has drastically impacted the overseas student recruitment industry and highlighted some of the industry’s most glaring problems, such as the need to enhance student experiences and create student-centric recruitment strategies focussed on increased engagement and digital interactions. Additionally, there is a need to deliver unbiased, authentic and updated information to challenge the current case of scattered and inaccurate information that results in delayed decision making; coupled with a need to streamline operations with a tech first approach to cater to the Gen-Z and millennial students with tools and platforms that offer increased transparency and deliver an overall enriching experience to make a well informed timely decision.
Overnight, institutions and industry aggregators have had to revamp and alter their strategies, to become more tech reliant in order to boost their international student recruitment initiatives.
New hybrid and blended models of teaching and learning have evolved as a mechanism to cope with the pandemic, students can now begin their education online and shift to in-person classes once the current situation stabilizes. Many institutes around the world seem to be focused on implementing such modules of teaching into their current curriculum to enhance their reach to prospective students, and remain competitive in the global education sector.
Student safety, effective emergency response protocols and on-arrival quarantine plans remain the center of focus for both educators and students globally. It also continues to remain an important deciding factor for most international students while deciding on a country, province and institute. First-aid medical response and healthcare facilities are now increasingly becoming an important factor in the decision making process for prospective students and their parents along with the quality of education, job and career outcomes.
“While we increasingly live in a virtual world, it is the personal connections which will make all the difference”
The ongoing pandemic is changing the way students choose to study, discover and interact with their preferred institutes. The entire recruitment, engagement and admissions funnel seems to be moving completely online rapidly and is being taken over by a tech-fuelled recruitment disruption. How college recruitment teams use technology to drive student engagement, and manage recruitment operations more effectively, while also maintaining a steady flow of inbound applications and outbound admissions, to timely complete the enrollment cycle - will determine the future of the industry.
Online aggregators, engagement tools powered by a suite of technology offerings are bringing increased transparency and reducing average time spent on applications to bring a frictionless and seamless digital experience for students.
The Role of Technology in a Changing Market
Travel restrictions and mobility barriers continue to pose a challenge for the industry. However, flexibility and innovation will be key when it comes to international student recruitment. Tech-powered tools are reshaping and forcing a system’s overhaul to drive recruitment 5.0 for digital natives looking to study abroad;
Alumni for the Win: Global, interconnected and interactive alumni community driven engagement forums and platforms are a must have in any recruitment team’s arsenal to be future ready. An active alumni community online can be leveraged to give real responses to questions that students may have regarding the culture on campus, teaching methodology, sports clubs, etc. Alumni can even help prospective students choose accommodation facilities and help understand life after program completion, creating a powerful digital bridge between life before and after graduation. Tapping into this powerful resource base for any institute would make them a more competitive and compelling choice for students around the world. Campus and alumni ambassadors can help widen participation of prospective students by effectively showcasing their Alma-mater to the world. Additionally, alumni driven online events can positively address issues relating to under representation on campus and lead to greater campus diversity.
Power of Analytics: With the use of predictive and sentiment analytics, institutions can gather insightful information on recruitment strategies aimed at certain markets, improve their faculty’s teaching methodology, alter their courses and program structures to meet the demands of the dynamic job markets, and aid with better on campus student management by predicting before-hand the problems a student might face on campus or in their respective programs. Analytics dashboards are crucial in helping recruitment and admissions teams identify the right candidates, create personalised campaigns and learning initiatives, identify patterns, gauge student interest via heatmaps and instant pulse surveys, thereby improving student engagement experiences and leading to better retention in the long-term. When it comes to catering to students, especially Gen-Z students, it is important to map their needs using journey-analytics which can be immensely valuable in improving results and ROI, enabling institutions to stand out.
Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence: AI-powered course and college recommendation engines are being built into college application platforms that match a student’s career aspirations and skills to programs and institutes that are the best match to their profile. These powerful tools help students discover the right programs in their desired geographic locations. Tech platforms are also increasingly experimenting with machine learning enabled data filtering capabilities to provide dynamic search results to help prospective student’s identify the right programs, this will also help reduce average time spent on the program shortlisting funnel. These technology driven education solutions are completely revolutionary in terms of helping student’s get started on their higher education journey in a seamless and transparent manner, allowing them to make reliable decisions.
The Rise of Gamification: The use of immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) along with gamification lends itself to exciting and interactive, experience-based application journeys for prospective students. With access to accommodation facilities, campus walk-throughs and virtual tours, from the comfort of their homes, the use of tools such as VR & AR has made the process a lot more engaging and future-ready. The use of gamified learning has further added a whole new layer of personalisation in the overseas student recruitment industry by improving recall, retention and learning outcomes.
Re-imagining Student Recruitment for the Long-Term
In today’s dynamic world, a tech first but hybrid omni-channel solution seems to be the future of international student recruitment. Effective decision making keeping all stakeholders at the center, while planning and devising strategies for student success is the only way forward.
While we increasingly live in a virtual world, it is the personal connections which will make all the difference. Personalised communications and teaching formats are proven strategies that recruiters and educators must rely on to yield greater results, for a successful global recruitment drive and greater learning outcomes.
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