5 Ways to Support International Students Abroad
Faced with unpredictable challenges, enrollment teams are finding it harder than ever to attract international students to colleges and universities – particularly in North America.
Growing costs have left many enrollment teams scrambling to do more with less and connect authentically with international students while operating efficiently and hitting targets.
How can higher ed enrollment teams expand their reach, shape the narrative, and highlight the advantages of studying in North America while offering the unwavering support that’s so important to the higher ed student journey?
It’s not impossible – here are five ways to offer better international student support using higher ed enrollment tools.
1. Be the first point of contact
Leaving anything to chance is simply not an option when it comes to supporting international students – which is why you have to control the narrative and manage expectations by being the first point of contact.
How else will you ensure they know they belong at your school, what it’s like to actually live and study there, or what reality looks like beyond newspaper headlines?
When you offer avenues of direct contact with the right people across your branded assets, you allow international students to come straight to you when they need help or guidance.
Not only will this reassure them that they matter, but it also keeps them from turning to doom scrolling or, worse, the news, which could lead them to draw incorrect conclusions. For example, who better to explain that in Canada, visa caps don’t apply to graduate students than a grad school enrollment team?
Not only will this reassure them that they matter, but it will also keep them from turning to doom scrolling or the general news, which might lead them to draw incorrect conclusions about your school’s specific situation. For example, who better to explain that in Canada, incoming visa caps don’t apply to graduate students than your graduate enrollment team?
It’s crucial that you’re the first point of contact for prospective students to avoid them looking elsewhere for information, including your higher ed competitors.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) edtech engagement solutions, like Unibuddy Chat, also bridge the gap between question and answer for international students by instantly connecting them to your enrollment team or student ambassadors.
And with AI matching, they’ll be directed to just the right person, whether it’s a student from their home region who can offer firsthand insights and support or a department head who can tell them about the program.
Don’t worry if those people aren’t available 24/7 – they’re only human, after all. That’s where an AI-powered enrollment assistant like Unibuddy’s Assistant comes in.
Regardless of a student’s location or time zone, Assistant will be there to act as a triaging service by offering immediate responses to even the most nuanced questions and connecting them to the right resources and people every time.
Disclaimer: Unibuddy’s Assistant is currently only available to pilot customers in the US and UK.
2. Help international students find their people
For many international students, studying abroad in North America is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that’s as exciting as it is intimidating.
That’s why helping international students find a community of people just like them is so important.
But don’t take our word for it – 61% of international students have said they want to connect with existing international students.
Beyond showcasing international students, P2P enrollment tools like Unibuddy Community and Unibuddy Chat are great ways to make it clear that international students will find their place on campus.
Through Unibuddy Chat, AI will quickly and easily match international students with the right student ambassador – whether they’re from the same region or pursuing the same major.
Community allows you to create groups based on anything from majors and demographics to interests and hobbies. In these groups, international students can connect with other international students, socialize, and ask questions that have been on their minds.
Put simply, Community and Chat help international students find their people and cultivate a sense of belonging before they even step foot on campus, increasing their confidence in the decision to study abroad.
When Indiana University Bloomington wanted to find a new way to connect international students, they turned to Unibuddy Community to do just that.
They created admitted student communities for incoming students from Korea, Taiwan, and India and watched as students got to know each other and bonded over things they had in common.
They talked about everything from studies to sports and could easily ask staff members about things like financial aid.
By the time school started, their “Future Hoosiers 2022 – India” group was nearly 100 members strong and had exchanged almost 1,000 messages – ensuring they’d found their people before they got to campus.
3. Help your team help international students
Enrollment teams play a pivotal role in guiding international students through the complexities of studying abroad.
By establishing direct points of contact, you can act as a lifeline and offer invaluable support tailored to the needs of each international student, whether you’re keeping them informed about deadlines or demystifying visa and language testing requirements.
In addition to helping guide them through their higher ed student journey, enrollment teams can help manage expectations by providing insights into the current landscape of North America and offering a realistic look into what they can expect from studying abroad.
This includes painting a vivid picture of campus life and community dynamics. Don’t stop at highlighting campus activities – go even further to connect international students to existing students who can offer tips on everything from the housing search to what kind of winter clothing to invest in.
Doing so will help create a welcoming atmosphere and, more importantly, help ease international students into their new environment.
Unibuddy Community empowers enrollment teams to do precisely that by streamlining their communication.
Whether you’re just answering questions or sharing important documents, you can use Community to interact with incoming international students easily through mass messages. This type of scalable communication drives home your commitment to supporting international students throughout their higher ed journey, regardless of their location.
4. Leverage video and user-generated content
When learning about what it’s like to live and study on your campus, the current generation of students wants to hear from their peers for authentic and unbiased opinions.
That’s where user-generated content – UGC for short – comes in.
This kind of community marketing allows student ambassadors to create content that showcases your school through their lens. In doing so, they drive student engagement by offering a new way to see what really makes your campus unique.
UGC is all about helping students determine whether or not they feel like they belong on your campus. And when they see fellow students sharing their experiences and enthusiasm for campus life, it resonates deeply and makes them believe it’s somewhere they’d like to be.
More importantly, seeing it from students just like them helps international students envision themselves as part of your community. In other words, it encourages a sense of belonging and an inviting atmosphere.
So use UGC to showcase what it’s like to live in your community.
From housing options to recreational activities, employment opportunities, and diverse ethnic communities, highlighting the broader community through UGC enriches the student experience.
And whether it’s exploring local attractions or embracing unique weather-related activities, international students can use UGC to gain a comprehensive understanding of what awaits them beyond campus.
Unsurprisingly, social media and your blog are great places to launch UGC. After all, more than half of prospective students first interact with your brand via digital touchpoints, whether it’s your website or social media. That’s where you’ll build a following.
5. Leverage available data to further support international students
The best way to support international students? Use the data you glean from their higher ed journeys to make the enrollment experience even better for future generations.
Data is critical to providing support for international students considering your institution. When you take time to analyze it, you’ll gain valuable insights into what matters most to them and the steps they need to take to make informed higher ed decisions.
For example, Unibuddy Chat and Unibuddy Community offer AI-powered conversational summaries and insights that provide a comprehensive overview of each student. Regardless of where they are in the pipeline, you’ll know exactly where their interests and concerns lie, as well as their readiness to enroll.
That kind of data not only helps you anticipate the needs of incoming international students but also helps you humanize the enrollment funnel with messages that speak directly to each student.
Your enrollment team isn’t the only one that can benefit from data. Even your student ambassadors can use insights into common questions and concerns to make each interaction more meaningful with targeted support and guidance.
By utilizing available data from student support tools to its fullest potential, your team can create a supportive environment that addresses international students’ unique needs and preferences from start to finish.
That’s what will enhance international students’ higher ed journeys and increase the likelihood that they choose your school.
To find out more about how Unibuddy can help you support international students, book a demo today.
