Insights on changing recruitment strategies from top universities in the US and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shifts wrought by the pandemic in the higher education landscape are obvious, but how exactly have they affected universities\u2019 recruitment strategies? Cialfo recently conducted a global survey of close to 4,000 students to shed light on if and how student sentiment on pursuing an overseas education has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the basis of this, the PIE led a panel discussion with <\/strong>representatives from Brown University, Washington State University, the University of Toronto and Sheridan College, on how they\u2019ve shifted their recruitment and outreach strategies to better meet the needs of students and address their changing concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Felicja Syska, Vice President of University Engagement at Cialfo, notes that despite growing concerns related to the pandemic, students are still excited about pursuing their studies abroad. \u2018Without a doubt, students who were planning on studying overseas are still very interested \u2026 The desire is still there,\u2019 she remarks. \u2018But what we also found is that in the APAC region in particular \u2026 there are concerns \u2014 not just [on the part of] students, but their parents too, who are concerned about travelling internationally, attending school abroad, and for students in China and India, about things like safety and travel restrictions.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n These observations have been echoed by Daniel Saud, Director of Undergraduate International Admissions, Recruitment and Marketing at Washington State University (WSU): \u2018The pandemic\u2019s effect has been so vast and deeply personal \u2026 We\u2019ve seen increases in [applications from] areas like Northern Africa and Pakistan\u2026 we\u2019re always used to getting applications from India and China, but that has actually levelled out because they\u2019re concerned.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Without a doubt, students who were planning on studying overseas are still very interested \u2026 The desire is still there.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Felicja Syska, VP of University Engagement at Cialfo<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n These are concerns that universities on the panel not only understand, but have taken comprehensive steps to address. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In both the US and Canada, universities and government agencies have sought to accommodate international students arriving in the country. Gabriela Facchini, Regional Manager at Sheridan College, points out that \u2018Canada\u2019s always been open to international students, even before vaccinations; we\u2019ve never closed the border to international students, but they had to do a quarantine.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n The country\u2019s commitment to its international students is clear. As long as international students arrive with verified documentation proving that they are fully vaccinated with one of the four vaccines that Canada has recognized, they will not need to be quarantined. Facchini explains that \u2018if they\u2019re not fully vaccinated, they\u2019re still required to do quarantine, so all students are asked to have a quarantine plan ready just in case \u2026 But if you\u2019re fully vaccinated then you\u2019re not likely to have to do a quarantine, so that\u2019s great news for students coming in.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the University of Toronto, vaccinations are mandatory for students living in-residence, and international students who haven’t been vaccinated are able to access vaccinations upon their arrival in Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018We are supporting students wherever we can,\u2019 says Natasha Bijelich, Assistant Director, International Student Recruitment at the University of Toronto. \u2018In terms of students quarantining, we\u2019re supporting them with a quarantine program \u2014 students can register with us and either do a quarantine program with the University of Toronto if they\u2019re going into residence, or they can do a program at home if they\u2019re moving into their own private residence.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flights and visas have also proved to be concerns for international students heading to Canada. With the Canada Border Services Agency recommending that students only arrive four weeks prior to the start of their program, Facchini notes that ‘some students who have arrived early have been turned away, and there might be a potential shortage of flights as the start of term nears.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to what Bijelich describes as a \u2018delicate\u2019 situation are the closure of visa application centers in certain countries, which has resulted in some students not being able to complete their visa applications in time for the start of term. The University of Toronto is providing full support to affected students: \u2018We\u2019re in constant communication with students and we have a couple of resources online on our website where students know to go to find the most up-to-date information for UT when it comes to any policies or changes that are made for upcoming students,\u2019 Bijelich says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown University and Washington State University in the US are also accommodating these changing needs and concerns. In particular, they are doing all they can to ensure their students are vaccinated and safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Panetha Ott, Director of Admission, International Recruitment at Brown University, says, ‘We are going to work with all students to make sure that they\u2019re either vaccinated or that there\u2019s an exception. Right now, they have to either upload what they have, or if they don\u2019t have anything when they come, they will either be vaccinated, or if it\u2019s not clear whether they can be vaccinated, then there will be an exception.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n With regards to quarantines, Ott explains that they are prepared to replicate what happened last January, before vaccinations were available \u2014 international students had to be quarantined, and were accommodated with online classes until they could return to the campus. In addition, Ott says that \u2018We will be testing people every week if they\u2019re not vaccinated.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Washington State University transitioned to online learning in the previous academic year, but Saud explains that \u2018this fall, we\u2019re having a very robust in-person experience. \u2026 WSU is very proud to provide free vaccinations upon arrival for every student coming to WSU on all our campuses. We are also recognising all WHO-listed vaccinations for students so that if you have received a vaccine in China or the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, you can still travel [if] you show proof of vaccination.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n To support this, companies such as Cialfo are working to help their university partners in disseminating accurate, relevant and up-to-date information with high school counselors, students and parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018At Cialfo, we\u2019re offering the opportunity to our university partners to get the word out. We have over 13,000 [university] partners listed in our database and students from around the world search it every day \u2026 [We\u2019re] potentially introducing the opportunity to put vaccination requirements as part of [a university\u2019s] profile within our database. Once those policies are in place or you have those specific pieces of content that you need to share with students, getting it out to the Cialfo network in particular is really important and we can certainly do that through some of our events, but definitely through the platform itself,’ Syska explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Even if we return to the in-person model \u2026 virtual recruitment is still going to be there, it\u2019s still going to exist, because it\u2019s been such a great year and we\u2019ve seen that it can work, so it\u2019s definitely not going to go away for the University of Toronto.\u2019 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Natasha Bijelich, Assistant Director, International Student Recruitment at the University of Toronto<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Representatives from all four universities acknowledged the new opportunities afforded by virtual recruitment strategies prompted by the pandemic, which they believe will be here to stay even as schools reopen and travelling resumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Pre-pandemic, the University of Toronto did very little to no recruitment virtually,\u2019 comments Bijelich. \u2018We had the traditional model of travelling to places, doing things in person, meeting with students in person, welcoming them to our campuses for tours and things like that. So for us, it was a really big shift to cut all of that out and switch to a more digital and virtual recruitment environment.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite this, the University of Toronto has successfully embraced virtual recruitment methods, and even found that in doing so, they\u2019ve enhanced certain aspects of the traditional recruitment process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bijelich shares that \u2018we\u2019ve enhanced our virtual campus tours so students have more options to have a better campus tour experience or have a tour led with a current student online. That\u2019s where we\u2019ve seen a really big advantage of doing online recruitment \u2014 we are able to incorporate current students into more opportunities to meet with prospective students, and that has been really beneficial as well.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n The on-demand nature of websites and videos has also increased accessibility for prospective students doing their research on the institution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n WSU\u2019s Saud foregrounds the importance of partners like Cialfo in formulating a recruitment strategy. \u2018We\u2019ve had to look at our partners like Cialfo \u2026 [and think about] how do we go into these communities, have these specific conversations with students and counselors to give them an opportunity to still see WSU as an affordable place for them to pursue their higher education, while also speaking to our teachers and professors here in the US to change the way they\u2019re teaching online for these students.’\u200d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For Brown University, the priority has been to keep as many of the positives of the in-person recruitment experience as possible while being virtual. While the university isn\u2019t a stranger to online recruitment, Ott observes that it was a big shift that \u2018in-person interactions went down to zero, replaced by Zoom interactions.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018We tried to reach kids personally to the extent that we can\u2026 Our desire was to make sure that kids felt comfortable; we wanted them to feel that they weren\u2019t losing out,\u2019 Ott explains. \u2018A lot of them felt they were never going to be able to get a college experience, so our concern was to make sure that they felt comfortable. To that end, we did a lot of this through Cialfo, anytime there was a fair \u2014 and we usually don\u2019t do college fairs \u2014 or the opportunity for a presentation, or any online option, we were there, because we wanted to give that to the kids.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Bijelich at the University of Toronto, Ott believes that these new methods of virtual recruitment will be here to stay: \u2018I think a lot of [this] will stay. It doesn\u2019t mean that we won\u2019t go back to in-person, I think a lot of people find that important, but we\u2019re going to incorporate the online opportunities as well, because even in a good year you can\u2019t reach everybody. You think you are, but you aren\u2019t.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Facchini of Sheridan College echos Ott\u2019s sentiment on trying to reach as many prospective students as possible, describing how virtual recruitment methods meant that \u2018we were able to reach out to regions we hadn\u2019t reached out to before \u2026 You don\u2019t normally go to tertiary markets as often or at all, so this allowed us to participate in fairs in markets like Albania and other smaller European markets and some of the stands that we weren\u2019t getting to normally. It allowed us to infiltrate new markets, so in that way it has been very helpful.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the numerous shifts, challenges and surprises that the pandemic has sprung on the higher education landscape, there can be no doubt that students and their education are at the heart of it all, and institutions that put their students first have it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown University\u2019s Panetha Ott sums it up best: \u2018The most important thing for me is that you want the reality of a US education to be at least in the realm of possibility for kids \u2014 you want them to feel that they\u2019re valued, they\u2019re good enough to go any place and do anything that they want to do. That<\/em><\/strong> is the value of it \u2026 They need to be aware that they are valued as students and as future leaders.\u2019 This webinar was hosted by the PIE Live, featuring Felicja Syska, VP of University Engagement at Cialfo, Panetha Ott, Director of Admission, International Recruitment at Brown University, Natasha Bijelich Assistant Director, International Student Recruitment at University of Toronto, Daniel Saud, Director of undergraduate international admissions, recruitment and marketing, Washington State University, and Gabriela Facchini, Regional Manager at Sheridan College<\/p>\n\n\n\n Image credits: <\/em>Brett Jordan<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Dylan Ferreira<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Insights on changing recruitment strategies from top universities in the US and Canada<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-recruitment"],"yoast_head":"\nVisas and vaccines: New worries as a result of Covid-19<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Supporting international students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Canada<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
United States<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Cialfo<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Students at the heart of a new recruitment strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Big, but worthwhile, shifts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Reaching a wider audience while maintaining a personal touch<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Want to watch the webinar in full? <\/em>Click here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n