Dear colleague,
The Education UK Partnership has created a range of services specifically for UK boarding schools to help you recruit international students cost-effectively and successfully.
In this newsletter, you can find out more about what these services are and how you can access them. In this issue:
- International agents' fair, Leeds and Bristol, May 2009
- Access agent contact listings
- Schools mission to Korea is a step in the right direction
- Get the latest market intelligence
- International marketing and agents workshops
- UK boarding schools practitioners' panel
- Ruthin school uses British Council's network to launch scholarship scheme
We hope you find this useful. For more information, please visit our website. Alternatively, if you'd like to discuss your needs in more detail, please call us on +44 (0)161 957 7069. We'd be happy to hear from you.
Kind regards,
Peter Shelley
Education UK Partnership
T: +44 (0)161 957 7069
E: educationuk.partnership@britishcouncil.org
P.S. If any of your colleagues would like to sign up to receive this quarterly newsletter, they can do so by subscribing on our website.
The Education UK Partnership is the British Council's membership organisation for UK schools, colleges and universities interested in international student recruitment and education. To find out more, please visit our website.
Agents can be a valuable partner in helping you to recruit international students. We are pleased to invite you to a unique event specifically for UK boarding schools where you can meet agents from more than 15 countries – all outside Europe.
The event includes an agent fair, a seminar on developing opportunities overseas, and a networking dinner. It is designed to help you:
- build valuable relationships with quality agents from around the world
- gain in-country contacts and market knowledge
- network and share ideas with other UK boarding schools.
There will be over 25 agents attending from India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, Uganda, Brazil, Bahrain, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong. For further details, please visit our website.
To book your place, please use the on-line booking form. The deadline for applications is 1 May 2009. Please note, there are only two places left for Bristol. Members of the Partnership receive a discount and priority booking. For any questions, please contact Peter Shelley.
Looking for agents to represent your school can be a laborious task. On joining the Education UK Partnership, you can access contact listings for agents from countries outside Europe, helping you find quality agents quickly and easily.
All agents listed are engaged or interested in representing boarding schools and receive regular updates from the British Council about studying in the UK. Find out more on our website.
British Council Korea organised the first UK boarding schools mission to Korea on 20 to 22 March 2009. Six UK boarding schools participated: Cambridge Centre for Sixth-Form Studies, Concorde College, International College Sherborne School, Moira House Girls School, Stover School and Trinity School.
The event incorporated a range of activities. Firstly, to help the UK schools understand the Korean school system, they visited a local secondary school where they were able to meet students and teachers, plus received a briefing on local market opportunities from the British Council.
They then had a chance to build relationships with agents interested in representing UK boarding schools via individual meetings, which schools rated 'superb' or 'excellent'.
Next was an exclusive parents' seminar. Held jointly with PCA Life for its VIP customers considering sending their children overseas for study, this gave schools the chance to meet with parents one-to-one and find out what they are looking for from a UK boarding school education.
Finally, each participating school had a stand within the UK-section of the Korea Student Fair at the COEX Korea Exhibition Centre. The largest student recruitment fair of its kind in Korea, this was aimed at parents and families of children interested in an overseas education.
Feedback from participating schools about the mission has been very positive. Mr Philip Hardaker, Vice Principal of International College, Sherborne School said, 'I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your hard work and stimulating approach to our visit. It is clearly evident that this new British Council approach to schools will be far more successful.'
The British Council organises over 50 education exhibitions around the world each year. Some exhibitions can attract over 30,000 visitors, bringing representatives from UK education providers face to face with prospective international students. To find out more, visit the exhibitions section of our website.
On joining the Education UK Partnership, you gain access to a range of reports focusing on the market for boarding schools in key non-EU countries. The reports are designed to help you evaluate market opportunities and plan where to focus your recruitment and marketing activities for the best results.
Reports on China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea are now available. Reports on Russia, Malaysia and Thailand will be posted on-line next week.
The British Council has also produced a range of other education market intelligence reports you may find useful.
If you have any questions, please contact Michael Peak and Liz Shepherd.
The Education UK Partnership runs a range of general training courses to support you in international recruitment and education. Upcoming courses include:
- Working effectively with agents: 14 May 2009, London and 15 October 2009, Manchester
- E-Marketing workshop: 22 May 2009, Manchester and 2 November 2009, London
- Developing and implementing effective international marketing plans: 8 October 2009, Manchester
To find out more and to book your place, please visit the training and professional development section of our website or contact the Training and Professional Development team.
The Education UK Partnership Boarding Schools' Practitioners' Panel met on 24 February 2009 to offer advice on the services that the Partnership offers.
With 11 school representatives at the meeting, the discussions were rich and constructive. The panel had extensive discussions on overseas student recruitment exhibitions and missions for schools and agreed that:
- the success of these missions depended on advertising dates at least six months in advance
- the potential market in India should be explored through market research and the options for a mission should be explored
- the opportunities in Africa, and particularly in Nigeria and Kenya, should be explored further.
The advisory panel are your direct link to the British Council and the Education UK Partnership. They will be happy to receive your comments and ideas and bring them forward to future meetings. To contact the panel, please contact the Partnership helpdesk.
Members of the Partnership can read the full minutes of the meeting. A progress report will be available from 1 May 2009 and will be updated quarterly.
Operating in over 100 countries worldwide, the British Council is the UK's organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. Working in education, the arts, science, sport and governance, last year we reached over 128 million people worldwide.
For UK schools, our network and contacts can offer valuable support, as Ruthin School found out when they wanted help finding ten bright students to join their sixth form.
The school was offering the places as scholarships, however they knew it would be difficult to organise. Toby Belfield, Bursar for Ruthin contacted the Education UK Partnership team to ask if they could help.
He explains, 'The Partnership team in Manchester sent information about the scholarships to British Council offices in 25 countries, who contacted local schools and organised scholarship entrance exams at British Council offices. The exam papers were passed directly to us so we could select the students and award the scholarships. The British Council staff in the UK and overseas were incredibly helpful and keen to promote UK education. We would have found it very difficult to manage without their network and infrastructure.'
So was it a worthwhile exercise? Toby continues, 'It was great for raising our profile in each country. Over 300 students applied for the scheme and it generated a lot of positive publicity. As a result, this year, we have seen a big increase in applications, and the number of international students at the school has almost doubled. The calibre of the overseas students has injected a healthy spirit of competition into the school, and everybody gains from the cultural diversity.'
This year, the school is looking to increase the number of international students further. Toby explains how the new services for boarding schools will help them achieve this goal. 'We have been members of the Education UK Partnership for some time now and I am delighted about the new services specifically for school members. We are already reaping the benefits. We are keen to enter new markets - including Thailand and Singapore. The market intelligence report for Singapore focuses on school age children and the potential for UK boarding schools in this market, helping us in our planning. We are now approaching agents in both these countries with an interest in representing schools.'
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