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The competition to recruit international students has become ever more fiercely contested across the globe.
With many new university and private sector competitors from Europe and Asia joining established players from the UK, USA, Australia and Canada in the search for well qualified international students, the need for institutions to differentiate themselves clearly in a crowded market has never been more important.
Our global footprint gives us a unique opportunity to work together across key international markets. The University has recently embarked on a new 'Global Hub' approach to international student recruitment ensuring that each campus supports activities comprehensively for the whole Heriot- Watt group across Europe, the Middle-East and South-East Asia.
To reflect this strategic development, colleagues from across the University met at the Edinburgh campus in January to coordinate and review our international recruitment and marketing activities. Representatives from the UK, Dubai and Malaysia campuses were joined by team members from the University's in-country offices in China, India and Nigeria.
Recent development of the global student recruitment team has included an expansion of the China Office. With over 1,000 Chinese students now registered on Heriot-Watt programmes, the team of six based in Beijing has recently been re-structured to include dedicated posts for Marketing, Recruitment and Chinese University Partnerships. This new structure reflects the increasing reach of the University's activities in China. The new India team has seen immediate success in increasing Indian recruitment to UK campuses from 53 in 2018 to 220 in 2019. A newly appointed post in Nigeria gives new access opportunities to an important global market for all campuses.
Twelve colleagues attended the week-long programme last week and were welcomed by the Principal and other colleagues from Schools and the Marketing, Recuitment, Admissions and Communications team. The successful event included a team visit to the Scottish Borders Campus as well as portfolio training for new staff, sessions on optimising digital marketing platforms and strategy review and development.
For more information please contact Claire Hope.