What's On In International Ed?

Stay up to date with all the essential international education news from the past few weeks. Dirk Mulder (editor of The Koala News) and Rob Malicki (CEO of The Global Society) discuss the biggest stories, and are also joined by special guest Elissa Newall from Edified for a deep dive into Edified's Enquiry Experience Tracker project. The EET is a "mystery shopper" style project that tests how over 100 universities across the globe are doing in terms of their response to international student enquiries. Key Links from This Episode Rob Malicki: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robmalicki/ Dirk Mulder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkjmulder/ Elissa Newall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elissanewall/ The Koala News: www.thekoalanews.com Edified: www.edified.com Edified Experience Tracker Report: https://www.edified.com.au/eet Show Notes for This Episode Topics covered: Australian Minister Jason Clare's Visit to India: Australian Minister led a delegation to India. Coincided with the first meeting of the Australia India Education Skills Council. Deakin and Wollongong universities close to becoming the first foreign institutions in India. Approval of the Foreign Universities Act facilitates their entry. Deakin announced courses and tuition fees, impacting student recruitment and campus viability. Education Strategy for India: Minister unveiled "Partnership for the Future Australia's Education Strategy for India." Three pillars: strengthening institutional partnerships, research collaboration, and people-to-people links. Developments in Indonesia: Western Sydney University (WSU) plans to open a campus in Surabaya, Indonesia. Expecting a significant number of student enrollments. Other Australian universities, including Monash, expanding in Indonesia. Conferences and Industry News: ICEF Berlin conference with agency accreditation program expansion. QS Higher Ed conference in Kuala Lumpur marked the return of in-person conferences. Navitas Partner Conference celebrated partnerships The sale of StudyLink to Flywire. Pathways for Refugees: Australian National University (ANU) leads a consortium of universities. Goal: Create pathways for refugees to access higher education in Australia. Consortium designing education-focused resettlement pathways. Project Overview: Mystery shopping project evaluating international student inquiry responses. Evaluation Criteria: Criteria include inquiry channel accessibility, response times, communication quality, follow-up, and student sentiment. Global Average Score: Institutions' inquiry responses averaged a score of 51 out of 100. Performance Variations: Some institutions excelled with high scores, while others received lower ratings. Exemplary Institution: Notable example of an institution in New Zealand scoring 81 out of 100. Channel Diversity: Importance of engaging students through diverse communication channels, including social media. Communication Quality: Emphasis on delivering clear, persuasive, and tailored responses. Recommendations: Suggestions for improvement: enhancing social media communication, staff training, effective follow-up, and emphasising storytelling, personalisation, and context. Project Objective: Aims to help institutions enhance engagement with international students and improve conversion rates. Edified's Energiser Grants Initiative: A quick discussion of Edified's grants initiative supporting educational projects in various communities.