Data. The solution to international student recruitment. Right?

At the British Universities' International Liaison Association (BUILA) conference, Shamim Ghani chaired a panel discussion with Trina Everall from stori, Gareth Topp at EduCo Accelerate and Oliver Quinn-Palmer from IDP Connect on: Adapting to an Evolving Digital International Office: Using Insights and Data to Tell your Story.

Sham got the ball rolling by suggesting that some people view international student recruitment as a science, some as an art. What does the panel think? 

Ollie thinks it’s somewhere in between. “Being able to have access to information that’s intuitive and can become a shared language enables you to share a truth from third-party data. We can’t replace your knowledge on the ground. There are data analysts on one side and recruiters on the other.  Relying on third parties to really put forward data and help to tell a powerful story. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

Gareth’s of the opinion that data's great but someone needs to have the time and expertise to interpret it, “International teams do need to work with data to inform what they do. Ten years ago there was less data available it was often, ‘Where’s the next British Council fair and who wants to go?’. 

“Many of us were attracted to international recruitment careers by opportunities to travel. There is still travel but I think when Heads and Directors are hiring it’s already a lot less about, ‘do you have experience of travelling? They’re looking for a much broader skill set’.” 

Sham has had academic colleagues come to him suggesting (because the data says so) that Fiji (for example) is where they should recruit from because it is good for a particular course, “I’ve had to say look, that’s not a viable option, it’s not going to happen as we don’t have any footprint in Fiji.” He thinks all of us at some point have faced that and errs on the side of art. He said, “For all of us here, card swaps, handshakes are often what recruitment is all about and it’s the strength and depth of those relationships that will get you the business - irrespective of the product you have.”

When it comes to storytelling, Trina’s advice is to use the data you have to identify student groups or personas that reflect the audiences you’re trying to reach. She says, “A way you can illustrate your personas is by linking your data with internal student surveys and interviewing existing students to bring that data to life. Prospective students want to be able to see themselves (or the person they aspire to be) within your university. Goldsmiths do this really well by creating student stories in multiple formats. If it’s the conversion you’re struggling with then real student stories are even more important - it’s a clear way to differentiate yourself from the university you’re sitting next to.”

What will the future data-led international student recruitment team look like? Gareth concluded, “Over time it’s shifting toward those who can analyse data, can build a strategy and work in a more complex recruitment ecosystem including more complex agency networks. It’s a big shift which means there’s work to do around training existing staff.”

Need some help with your storytelling? Get in touch for content support: content@stori.works