Global Student Recruitment Advisors LTD

The advisors will be traveling to NAFSA in May for the 2013 NAFSA Conference. To schedule a private appointment with GSRA please contact info@gsra.org.uk

Over 100,000 Indian students come to the United States each year for higher education prospects. More than 50% of these students are in pursuit of Graduate programs, so much so that the number of applications received by American Universities far out numbers the programs and places available.

On the Undergraduate front, there are over 100 high schools in India offering a variety of International curricula (including the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program). The class size of graduating high school students from the abovementioned institutions ranges from 5-30 each year. That creates a total recruitment pool of less than 5000 prospective Undergraduate students for hundreds of Universities worldwide. There are an increasing number of private schools across the country developing their curricula in order to elevate their students’ capabilities to apply for an Undergraduate program in America. As enrollment at these schools is growing year-on-year, it is evident that Indian families are building towards their children’s Undergraduate education in the United States.

India being a massive country with some inherent barriers to recruitment still has huge regional socio-economic disparities. This creates complications in the overall recruitment strategy and brings about a need for constant ground presence. Year-round ground contact in India brings about constant vetting of high schools, students and families that are appropriate for each individual University. By following a University-specific recruitment strategy, most ground impediments can be alleviated. Since the full extent of Undergraduate recruitment potential in India is still largely unknown (as most communication and outreach to US Universities occurs from and within a small segment of the large high school community), there are opportunities for every type of varsity to utilize a scientific approach to recruitment that can facilitate long-term presence in South Asia.

By, Sindhuja Vasudevan

Mercurian Services

Bangalore, India

Mercurian Services is an enrollment support company located in Bangalore, India, and offers University-specific recruitment possibilities based on ground knowledge. The company is engaged in creating value-addition in the recruitment process by identifying viable recruiting grounds and building of a Ground Knowledge Database (GKD) to ensure long-term recruitment and brand presence in South Asia. For more information, e-mail: Sindhuja@mercurianservices.com

A new book written for college trustees has recently hit stores across the USA.  Chapters on college admissions and recruitment, tuition discounting and international student recruitment are especially worthy of a read. The “advisors” at GSRA have chosen the book as their book of the month and will be recommending it as a “must read” for April 2013. The book is available on Amazon.com. 

By MICHAEL CORKERY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (JANUARY 9, 2013)

The demand for four-year college degrees is softening, the result of a perfect storm of economic and demographic forces that is sapping pricing power at a growing number of U.S. colleges and universities, according to a new survey by Moody’s Investors Service.

Associated Press
Students at the University of Washington in Seattle. Gov. Chris Gregoire wants the Legislature to give college parents a break during the next two years by freezing tuition, but officials at Washington’s universities say that won’t help them solve their budget problems.

Facing stagnant family income, shaky job prospects for graduates and a smaller pool of high-school graduates, more schools are reining in tuition increases and giving out larger scholarships to attract students, Moody’s concluded in a report set to be released Thursday.

But the strategy is eating into net tuition revenue, which is the revenue that colleges collect from tuition minus scholarships and other aid. College officials said they need to increase net tuition revenue to keep up with rising expenses that include faculty benefits and salaries. But one-third of the 292 schools that responded to Moody’s survey anticipate that net revenue will climb in the current fiscal year by less than inflation.

For the fiscal year, which for most schools ends this June, 18% of 165 private universities and 15% of 127 public universities project a decline in net tuition revenue. That is a sharp rise from the estimated declines among 10% of the 152 private schools and 4% of the 105 public schools in fiscal 2012.

The financial pressures signal that many schools are starting to capitulate to complaints that college has become unaffordable to many American families, observers say. At least two dozen private colleges froze tuition this fall, roughly double the previous year’s total.

“It’s pretty clear that pricing power of colleges has reached an inflection point,” said John Nelson, a managing director at Moody’s who oversaw the survey team.

For colleges, the declines in net revenue could portend cuts to academic programs and a search for alternative sources of revenue such as more online courses and recruiting wealthy students from overseas who can pay full tuition.

Many smaller private schools that depend heavily on tuition revenue are under particular pressure. But even some public universities that have had success raising tuition recently told Moody’s that it will be increasingly hard to keep doing so. Highly selective and highly rated colleges still experience “healthy student demand,” according to Moody’s, and many have large endowments that can help pay for scholarships and boost revenue.

Wittenberg University, a roughly 1,730-student school in Springfield, Ohio, froze tuition at $37,230 for the 2013-14 academic year in an effort to make the private college more affordable. The school is also reviewing academic departments to make sure it is offering programs that have the greatest demand from students.

“If colleges do not adapt to shifting demographics and the weak economy making families more price sensitive, there will be fewer institutions,” Wittenberg President Laurie Joyner said in an interview.

Nearly half of the schools surveyed by Moody’s reported enrollment declines this fall, though overall median enrollment remained relatively flat from the previous year. A stagnant high-school graduate population, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest, is contributing to the declines at some schools.

Moody’s also attributed the enrollment decline at some public universities to a “heightened scrutiny of the value of higher education” after years of tuition increases and stagnating family income. The credit-rating firm said in its report that more students are “increasingly attending more affordable community colleges, studying part time, or electing to enter the workforce without the benefit of a college education.”

Private universities and colleges with lower credit ratings, as well as smaller public universities, reported the most enrollment pressure, according to Moody’s.

“We have a more informed class of college consumers,” said Bonnie Snyder, founder of Kerrigan College Planning in Lancaster, Pa. “Everyone today knows someone who went to college and ended up with a career that didn’t justify the cost. They see college as a more risky investment.”

Write to Michael Corkery at michael.corkery@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared January 10, 2013, on page A3 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Colleges Lose Pricing Power.

The GSRA Family would like to wish all of our friends in education a Happy Holiday Season and a prosperous 2013. We look forward to seeing you at the many upcoming conferences around the world and on campus.  Many thanks for your support in 2012 and we look forward to advancing your efforts in the New Year.

One of the more interesting discussions at NACAC this past month in Denver and in admissions offices around the globe is the future of the paper view book or as we call it in Europe the “prospectus”. For more than sixty years the view book has been a staple in admission representatives tool box as they tour the world and try to persuade prospective students to attend their institutions. In many admission shops, 2013 will mark the beginning of the end of the view book as we know it today. With the assistance of media companies like Big Choice Media of London, admissions and marketing professionals are turning the “old standard” paper model into an interactive promotional vechiel targeted at media savvy parents, grand parents and students. With Ipads and numerous other readers in the hands of more than 70 million people in North America alone, the paper classic is moving the way of the dinosaur. University media icon Mr. Giovanni Sanna explains that the cost benefit analysis of printing hundreds of thousands of prospectives, posting them around the globe and hoping people open the mail or take a copy with them from an exhibition does not make good business sense when you can develop the same book in a virtual format and place it in the hands of millions of people and attach it to your web site in a matter of minutes.

I is certainly scary to be the trend setter and do away with the paper version of the view book, however dozens institutions have made the move or in the case of Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg, Virginia have printed their last paper version of the view book while pushing their virtual view book to the four-front of their recruiting strategy by adding it to every page of their new web site and sending it to over 100,000 prospective students.

While the conversations will continue and some late to market responders will hold off on making a decision, the day of the paper perspective certainly looks numbered.

The team from GSRA has developed a financial aid matrix for institutional partners who are looking to leverage scholarship and other aid award products to enhance the yield rate of their international admits. This past years success with the model, for several partners, has prompted excitement in international recruiting circles and is certainly worth discussing with a GSRA advisor if one is looking for enhanced yield among their international students.

Contact kopenski@gsra.org.uk for more information.

Houston Texas played host to the NAFSA international conference on global education this June. Mark S. Kopenski was on hand to introduce the Young Scholars Inc. program which is a division of Fourth Dimension located in Dubai, UAE. Kopenski had the opportunity to address conference attendees on the new and exciting Young Scholars Inc. program which is the first global virtual internship in the world. The program is currently in its first full year and is in the processes of signing institutional partners and individual student scholars to join the YSI team. Kopenski also attended a number of sessions on trends in international education and served as host to several round table discussions and debates on the state of global higher education. While not at the conference hall creating new opportunities in higher education, President Kopenski was working the crowds at an endless stream of networking opportunities in the great city of Houston.

For follow-up interviews with Mr. Kopenski on the hot topics in global higher education today and for more on the Impending Higher Education Bubble – “A ballon ready to blow” please contact Mark S. Kopenski at GSRA headquarters in London.

The GSRA team will be hosting an invitation only reception during the NAFSA conference in Houston, Texas USA at the Marriott Hotel on Thursday evening the 31st of May. The event will focus on GSRA services and networking opportunities. For additional information and an invitation to the event please contact us at GSRA.

Info GSRA

More information on the NAFSA conference can be found at:http://www.nafsa.org/annualconference/default.aspx

GSRA will be offering a summer 2012 internship for an undergraduate or graduate student interested in higher education management.

Global Student Recruitment Advisors

GSRA LTD SUMMER INTERNSHIP 2012

• The Purpose of the Internship

GSRA LTD London is offering an undergraduate or graduate student the opportunity to work with a new and exciting consultancy, which works in the sector of Higher Education in the UK/USA and throughout the world. The internship will be focused on developing the GSRA database of clients, further developing social media strategies, on-line and off-line marketing activities, student focus groups, on-line student research, web enhancement and writing/publishing to the GSRA web site.

• Location

GSRA headquarters are based in Richmond, UK just to the west of central London. The internship however does not require the student to physically travel to the office as most of the work is done virtually on-line and throughout London and the world. The student will need a computer and access to the Internet. Because GSRA does not require the intern to be in a physical office environment it is possible for the intern to live anywhere in the world during the internship and to keep their own hours of work as long as project targets are being met on-time and done to a high standard. GSRA believes that the future of work with be primarily done in the virtual space and this internship will teach students to work to deadline and work independently while meeting client expectations.

• Duration of Internship

The internship runs from June 1 to September 1, 2012. The daily work expectation is six to eight hours.

• Student Benefits

The student will benefit from a fast paced working environment centered on the exciting and ever changing world of higher education. The exposure to the work of GSRA will be vast and will reach across as many areas of the business as possible or appropriate for the individual. Students will come away with a “real world” work portfolio some of which will be published to the GSRA web site and spread virtually to all corners of the world. The student will also have the opportunity for outstanding network opportunities to enhance their future job prospects and will be able to tap into the resources and connections of the GSRA community. GSRA will also provide a certification of completion and a professional recommendation to go along with the “work portfolio” the student produces. GSRA will work with the student’s university to provide credit or other recognition for the internship as needed or requested.

• Fees

GSRA will not charge the institution or the student for the internship opportunity. The internship is a non-binding summer experience, which is unpaid. GSRA may develop further commission based pay if or when new business is acquired as a result of the internships direct work on a project. Commission terms will be worked out with a separate agreement if warranted.

• Contact Details

For further information on the internship and to schedule an interview please contact Mr. Mark S. Kopenski at the address below. Interviews will be held over SKYPE the week of the 14^th of May.  For additional information please contact - Info GSRA