- 56 -
International students, however, often choose an institution sight unseen. Without the benet of an immersive
visit to campus, they typically must cobble together various types of information from multiple sources to
form an overall impression of the institution. A recent study of international students (hailing from a range of
countries, but studying in the U.K.) found, for example, the most often-accessed source of information about
international study was the institutional website and/or school representatives (32 percent) followed by educa-
tional counselor/agent (27 percent) (Dillon 2019).
Social media also plays a critical role. With good reason, 85 percent of international students use it to research
and compare universities (QS 2019). Social media allows communication in a prospective student’s preferred
language, can adapt to students’ communication styles, and enables faster interaction across geographic bound-
aries (Sleeman, Lang, and Lemon 2016). Research conducted by Gai, Xu, and Pelton (2016) indicates that
many Chinese international students, for example, use ChaseDream, a social forum popular among students
who plan to apply for business programs in U.S. institutions. ey use the platform as a resource hub for
preparing applications, studying for exams, and sharing experiences related to housing and job searches. e
forum is an online community that links applicant peers, current students in the programs, and alumni.
Relying on multiple sources of information, however, may mean that prospective international students do not
have the comprehensive details needed to assess t. As they plan recruitment strategies, institutions can assuage
this challenge by using an intentional, human-centered Internet-rst strategy. Surveys show, for example, that
live videos from faculty, sta, alumni, and students are especially inuential in international students’ decision
process. Social media is not just a way to share information, manage inquiries, and build a brand; it is also a
powerful tool to listen and engage in conversations with prospective students. International sta can listen for
and start conversations around issues of safety, program quality, aordability, and internship opportunities. An
Internet-rst strategy can be used to help prospective students and their families experience campus life and
assess t without ever stepping foot on the campus.
International sta should also keep abreast of the third-party websites international students are using to eval-
uate and compare universities. ey can monitor organic word-of-mouth recommendations of alumni through
Net Promoter Score and other aggregators to understand what graduates are sharing about their university’s
safety, program quality, aordability, and pathways to employment.
Third-party informed
International education has become a big business. It is part of a worldwide migration industry composed of
a sprawling set of third-party educational intermediaries. ese include traditional information providers like
EducationUSA, but also recruitment agents and for-prot companies that host online search platforms.
Ideally, agents act as cultural mediators who provide and lter information and facilitate ethical decision-making
processes (Robinson-Pant and Magyar 2018). However, concerns have been raised about their eectiveness,
communication, ethics, and quality (Huang, Raimo, and Humfrey 2016). For example, Dillon (2019) reports
that 62 percent of international students receive unreliable advice from international student agents; simulta-
neously, prospective students often lack information to determine whether the agent has provided appropriate
services (Zhang and Hagedorn 2011).
Even when agents have contact with institution representatives (e.g., recruiting sta), the information they
relay to prospective international students may be generic and untailored to the specic needs and priorities of
dierent audiences. is may mean that international students lack access to information about the institutional
characteristics that are most important to them. For instance, respondents to a World Education Services survey