The World View Will overseas student numbers drop away?

THE WORLD VIEW

WILL OVERSEAS STUDENT NUMBERS DROP AWAY?

As the country continues to navigate the pandemic, many independent schools are wondering about the future recruitment of international students. We asked Dominic Moon for some insights.

Do you believe that international student recruitment is still viable in the post-pandemic world?

Yes, 100%. International students will continue to be at the heart of many a boarding school. No doubt many of your readers have already digested some of the recent surveys and reports which confi rm that a ritish boarding education is still considered a premium product and thereby very desirable by families from all around the world.

That said, not every boarding school is prospering and a number are now considering the viability of continuing to provide boarding as an option. Many of these schools have too few British boarders – often offset by a COVIDled resurgence of day pupils – and are considering whether to stay the course or simply deliver what their own local market wants. A number of schools are taking stock and reviewing their offering longer term.

Where are the new international markets?

If I had a penny for every time I was asked that question... Well, the simple answer is that there are no ne markets ur agency recruits pupils from 140 different countries and we believe it’s understanding the ebb and o bet een the markets that is important. Schools need to recognise hen to be in country or, more importantly, when not to be. Do schools still need agents to recruit international students?

This is a question that comes from the fi nance team more often than not as they see the invoices from agents asking for 10% of paid fees (sometimes 15%, sometimes up to 25%!). However, it would be imprudent to under alue the hea y lifting’ undertaken by agents in recruiting international students. In many cases they are responsible for up to 90% of the overseas pupils on the school roll, so now may well be the time to work those channels harder than ever rather than making a false economy.

What advice are you giving schools reviewing their overseas student recruitment plans?

Quite simply, not to put all your eggs in one basket. For many years, we have prescribed regional diversity as a recruitment tactic and now is the time, more than ever, to invest in a sustainable and diverse student recruitment programme. With geopolitical shifts across the globe – from West Africa to Russia – compounded by Brexit (and the associated visa issues), creating a robust international student recruitment strategy that doesn’t rely on particular regions is advisable. It will require investment and hard work to achieve this, just as it did in the good old days when all the markets were new. But good groundwork now will provide future security and protect a school’s boarding legacy. However, there is no uick fi x or golden nuggets out there, so patience is essential.

‘business’ attitude of which I have spoken coming increasingly to the fore. In recent months, this has manifested itself through requests from our partner schools for mystery shopper audits, boarding reviews (we analyse and present our thoughts on the boarding standard against other schools) and tailored customer development workshops for schools’ ‘client-facing teams’. This navel-gazing exercise is all part of the schools’ ambition to ‘control the controllable’ and be the best they can; ‘customer journey’ is the new buzz phrase!

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Will South East Asia (most notably China and Hong Kong) still continue to deliver high numbers of international students?

Well, this has been a real cause for concern for many schools. The issue is not the ambition and desire from parents in those places to send their children to our schools but more to do with interference from government; education is today’s political hot potato. Over the years, there has always been a discouraging narrative and rumours of a risk to the pipeline of Chinese and Hong King students, which never seems to develop further or impact on our schools. However, there is now a real sense of nervousness amongst agents, parents and schools about the future in this respect. We think that there is defi nitely change in the air and possibly a bad moon rising!

What should be done to ensure that international student recruitment remains robust? What would you like to change about our independent schools?

Our schools are great and can boast a world-class product which is the envy of all o e er, most of the signifi cant changes that we are helping schools with nowadays are centred around becoming a better business. Improving the skills of admissions staff by training and de elopment, redefi ning brands and streamlining the customer journey on which domestic and international parents and students embark are all critical tasks. If we are weak anywhere as an industry, it is here chools need to operate as effi cient, forward-looking businesses in order to ourish

It’s an interesting time to be involved with schools and in many you see that Do you feel that marketing and admissions staff are properly valued?

It’s really important to recognise that without these two functions a school cannot survive. Sure, academic rigour and great results are important, but if a parent doesn’t know who you are or how good you are then, quite frankly, you’ll have no pupils in school very quickly.

Unfortunately for most schools, families do not queue up outside waiting to be let in. It was telling to see how many schools furloughed marketing and admissions staff at a time when they were needed most. This is a concern as it highlights either how little they are respected or how little is known about what they do. I haven’t made my mind up on which is worse. Furthermore, the admissions job is so huge now that we are seeing a mass exodus of amazing staff from the sector because they feel underpaid, undervalued and exhausted. Business-savvy heads and those schools looking to the future now realise that these people are at the very heart of any success plan and need to be looked after, managed and developed. And, dare I say, given the odd thank you or pat on the back. Our sector’s success is down to these people just as much as the academic staff! ●

We have been working with many of our schools on new marketing strategies (not new markets but new strategies!). Getting an ‘in’ within a region where a school has no history but which nevertheless offers growth potential is all-important. This can be done best by tracking down relevant contacts amongst the school community which you can leverage. Do you have ‘local’ speakers who can help you? Alumni perhaps? (Oh yes, your alumni and admissions should be working very closely together!)

DOMINIC MOON is Senior Education Consultant at Metropolis Education, which has served the boarding school community for over 25 years.

dominic.moon@metropolis.co.uk