How should you set your fees to attract and retain international students in key international education markets – Australasia, Europe and North America?

Within this session, we will explore how institutions can set their fees to attract and retain international students. The session will draw upon findings from the i-graduate International Student Barometer, the largest survey of international students in the world, and the Price and Scholarship Study.

When recruiting internationally, the temptation may be to focus on the external challenges that we face everyday – the economic, social and political contexts within which we operate. Because these external pressures are complex and pressing, there is a tendency to place less emphasis on the internal marketing, processes and relationships that are so important in improving services.

An international office or division is often in a unique position, as its remit can extend to all corners of an institution. As such, international office staff can find themselves calling upon all their powers of persuasion, tact and diplomacy in order to communicate essential messages regarding international activity to both academics and administrators.

This session focuses on these internal relationships, networks, and processes. It aims to address the internal communication challenges commonly faced by international office staff and attempts to identify best practice solutions in improving relationships, networks and communication methods. Mike Gibbons and Tamsin Carey-Lang will be sharing their experiences of internal relations within their respective institutions and will look at the range of platforms and processes through which improvements may be achieved. The session will also consider the challenges of communicating internally within a large institution.

The University of Manchester and Cardiff University have contrasting internal structures with both presenting their own challenges in terms of internal communication. This session will draw upon examples from each institution.

This session will focus on the many opportunities British Council Brazil is creating for core and country Partnership members.

When your time and budget are stretched, you need to find creative ways of reaching the right students cost-effectively. The British Council Brazil team has recently refreshed its services to create alternatives for institutions that don't have the necessary budget to visit Brazil on a regular basis. In this session, we will look at how you can use new e-marketing tools and other creative solutions to target local students, get your brand messages across, and carry out marketing and recruitment activities that can often be implemented without leaving your office in the UK.

This session will outline the range of services being developed for members of the Partnership to support and develop their trans-national education (TNE) offer in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Following approval by the Board, a range of services are being developed for members of the Partnership who wish to develop their TNE offerings, promote their existing TNE portfolios and explore the potential of new partnerships. From a pilot stage in Malaysia, these services are now being launched across six key markets in South East Asia.

The various services include: dedicated staff in each country, marketing support, website provision to promote in key markets, third country marketing, and a subscribers’ service for local institutions offering TNE programmes.

The session will also explore the range of market research undertaken and the potential for future research in TNE student experience and employability. Preliminary findings from research into TNE opportunities in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia will also be highlighted. In addition, the session will discuss the potential for effective matchmaking or brokering and support for existing partnerships within the Partnership model. Practitioners from key sectors will explore their perspective on the growth and complexity of TNE and how institutions can access these key markets.

Delegates will be encouraged to explain how they see the Partnership’s role in the development of TNE and how it fits into their overall strategies of internationalisation.

Social networking is the new buzz in international student marketing and support, but how can you actually make it work for you in practice?

University College Falmouth has been operating mentor schemes for over ten years. All new students are given mentor support, from the time that they accept the offer of a place through the on-line HelpMe Forum, and through face-to-face and e-mail post-enrolment.

HelpMe is staffed by student mentors and is uncensored (though factual errors are corrected). Where possible, University College Falmouth try to ensure that international students can have a mentor from their own country. The scheme has been extended, with international students designing, writing and illustrating the on-line International Student Handbook. Peer-assisted learning is also being evaluated.

This year, HelpMe services will be offered to international students from their first contact with the College. These strategies have significantly increased retention and decreased pre-enrolment drop-out.

This session aims to give you an update on higher education management in China, focusing on the issues, challenges, and opportunities for development.

This session is suitable for those who are interested in understanding China’s Higher Education and government policy in order to better engage at a strategic level.

What are the key recent trends in the education market? Where will the new opportunities lie?

In this session, you can learn about our growing on-line education market intelligence (EMI) portfolio, which allows you to look at international student data from the past, present and future.

This beginners’ guide introduces how best to use our HESA data mining tool, HE student data early reporting system and student decision making tool to make enhanced predictions of emerging trends, and investigate how you can best tailor your marketing strategy to anticipate future market shifts.

During this session, we plan to discuss and demonstrate how UCAS’ enhanced application services may be used by its diverse and dynamic international customer base, highlighting how these services are being used by UK universities’ international offices, both domestically and at local offices, and through agents around the world. This session is therefore appropriate for attendees new to UCAS, as well as those who would like an update on how to make the most out of UCAS’ products and services.

The majority of UCAS services now operate through the web, providing fast and efficient on-line application services, as well as web-based communication interfaces with UK higher education providers. UCAS will provide advice and guidance on the many resources used by international audiences, including how to research courses and institutions, creating and submitting a UCAS application and tracking the progress of an application. They will give an overview and demonstration of UCAS’ web-link services – a web-based interface which enables international offices to access applicant information, make offers, etc., from anywhere in the world with Internet access. They will note the other resources and services imbedded in the UCAS website, as well as offerings such as professional development courses, conferences, international exhibition provision, statistics and more.

Finally, there will be a brief overview and discussion on future UCAS international activity, in many cases directly resulting from your feedback throughout the past year. They will also be seeking feedback and consultation on how UCAS can best respond to the needs of the international recruitment sector for the future.

Exhibitions are key to international student recruitment, and in a market that never stands still, we need to regularly refresh and adapt our services to make sure that they continue to meet your needs.

In addition to future developments and innovations planned for 2009, this session will provide a summary of the progress we have made following the strategic review of exhibitions, giving you the chance to feed back on what has been achieved to date. This session will also facilitate discussion on opportunities for holding future exhibitions in the UK.

In this session, you will receive a brief description of the IELTS test format, band scores and the methodology recommended by the IELTS partners for matching the right band score to the right course.

You will then have the chance to get first-hand experience grading sample candidate materials into appropriate band scores, a process known as standard setting. You will also receive a free copy of the DVD 'IELTS Scores Explained'.

The second part of the presentation will focus on IELTS security and anti-fraud features. You will be shown the global IELTS security procedures pre- and post-testing and will be able to undertake a practical task on checking the validity of IELTS certificates.

This presentation gives an insight into some of the challenges faced by FE colleges in securing new business while maintaining and strengthening core markets.

It covers investments in agent relationship building, cost-effective approaches to the development and distribution of marketing literature, getting the most from your corporate website and external subscription-based web course listings, and taking advantage of local technology solutions to enhance your college's marketing operations.

This session will look at the topic of partnerships from the point of view of three institutions:

• Keele University: Here we will look at establishing an overseas collaborative partnership from scratch and the process from writing policy, initial assessment of the overseas partner, arranging an institutional visit, etc., through to getting all the paperwork sorted and securing senior management and senate approval. We’ll examine both practical experience and quality assurance and management issues in such partnerships.
• FoundationCampus: An ever increasing proportion of overseas student recruitment into UK universities is being undertaken through partnerships. These can take many forms, including partnerships with overseas recruitment agents, UK-based recruitment agents, on-campus pathway partnerships (usually with private sector organisations), FE / HE partnerships, tutorial and EFL colleges, and with a wide range of overseas education providers. As would be expected, each of the above has particular advantages and disadvantages. The objective of this presentation is to highlight these – drawing upon experience and actual examples.
• Staffordshire University: Whilst some people see ‘internationalisation’ as a goal that UK institutions ought to aspire to, others see it as a strategy to maintain their long-term survival and growth within the increasingly competitive global educational market. There is no doubt that the promised reward of a steady supply of full-fee paying international students appears too attractive to ignore. Just how many UK institutions are equipped with the right skills, resources and infrastructure to meet the challenges of setting up an international partnership? How many institutions have learnt the hard way that projected student numbers are rarely turned into reality, that the projected income from a partnership seldom reaches the level expected and that it often takes a a long time for an international partnership to get off the ground? There are different ways of dividing up the process of establishing an international partnership. In this session, we broadly divide it into three key stages, namely initial contact, start up and ongoing operation. Hear the experiences of the key challenges in each stage and how these could be effectively tackled with cultural sensitivity.

Recently, British Council offices in Canada, Mexico and the United States have started to work together to deliver joint services and products that can help you make the most of your marketing and collaboration activities.

Through this session, we’d like to share with you our ideas and actions on how you can do this, for example, developing multi-country visits, market niches (both at individual and multi-country level), and approaching certain sectors of your target audience. We will also look at the work we are developing in these countries to benefit you as members of the Partnership.

We will then focus in more detail on how British Council USA has worked with members of their country Partnership to create and implement a best practice process for communicating with applicants. This includes a communication plan that features personal e-mail, phone calls, postcards and even web chats to remain in contact with applicants. Through the communications, the applicants engage with current students, learn details of the university, receive information regarding costs and financial aid, and have opportunities to reply and respond with questions.

This session will give you a brief overview of the role of the Sponsor Management Unit and the schedule for the implementation of the new points-based managed migration system. The rationale for the points-based system will be explained, as well as how an international student will make an application. The session will also explain the ramifications for your establishment of the role of the sponsor and will look at how to get on the register and your responsibilities once on the register.

In this session, you will also have the opportunity to hear about good case studies where UKBA and the British Council in China are working together closely to market the UK’s education proposition holistically.

When Heather joined Kingston University, there were no financial incentives for international students. Scholarships, bursaries and fee waivers were not permitted. This was at a time when surveys carried out with international students in the UK and at Kingston revealed serious concerns about expense and value for money. Also, the Kingston postgraduate decliners’ survey that year showed that scholarship availability was the fourth most important factor in a postgraduate applicant’s choice of university, after ranking, reputation and course content. Conversations with agents also indicated that Kingston was at a perceived disadvantage, as the University offered nothing back to its international student population.

The presentation will address the issues of:

• how to overcome resistance from senior management for a scholarship scheme
• how the scheme is perceived in the international HE market and ensuring that it is working as a promotional  tool
• devising criteria for scholarships and bursaries and implementing the scheme
• ensuring that academic colleagues have a stake in the scheme
• agent involvement
• results of the scheme, such as higher conversion rates from all scholarship applicants, first year examination results for undergraduate scholars and graduation of Masters scholars
• problems such as application volume and how we are addressing these
• costs, staffing and time taken to devise, implement and evaluate the scheme so far
• who we needed ‘on side’ internally
• unexpected bonuses, such as faculties now offering additional scholarships themselves
• maximising the potential of scholars as ambassadors for Kingston; setting up a global scholars alumni club
• other benefits for the University
• next steps; increasing the budget, considering benefactors and alumni groups.

Ruthin School recently ran a successful scholarship drive in a number of countries overseas and will look at the issue of scholarships and bursaries within the boarding school market.

The British Council has been involved in the administration (and sometimes creation) of a number of scholarship and fellowship schemes over many years and will discuss the current trend in government sponsored programmes.

The hosting of the 2012 Games in the UK for the first time in 64 years represents an exciting opportunity for the nation’s schools, colleges and universities. Over the next four years, our educational institutions will be illuminated by a global spotlight that offers new opportunities and the potential to enhance existing activity.

Five thousand schools and colleges recently took part in the ‘Paralympics Handover’ programme and this session will outline further opportunities, including the 'GetSet' and 'International Inspiration Education' programmes. Alongside the direct educational opportunities, many institutions will also play a role in the Games by hosting Pre-Games Training Camps, providing accommodation and engagement with the Cultural Olympiad and the Inspire Mark.

The Japan Higher Education market has been very stable for over a decade, but, for a number of reasons – largely demographic – the overall market size for study abroad has begun to shrink. At the same time, with new policy and funding initiatives from Japan to drive student mobility, international research and internationalise university programmes, the climate for developing new international collaboration in Higher Education is increasingly positive.

A small number of UK institutions are beginning to build strategic level partnerships with strong Vice-Chancellor or Pro Vice-Chancellor involvement leading to substantial and long-term links with Japan.

This session will focus on the changing landscape for international higher education in Japan and the wide range of opportunities for UK institutions. It will highlight a few of the initiatives that British Council Japan is taking to respond to the changing environment.

Two case studies will explore two very different but successful strategies for building successful collaboration with Japanese universities.

Dr Sue Piggott will outline how Oxford Brookes University has developed a marketing-led strategy to increase the number of Japanese students studying in the UK, and Colin Monk will describe how the University of Brighton has developed strong strategic partnerships with Japanese universities. Both will describe the critical success factors and offer advice on setting up good collaborations in Japan.