One of our favorite times of the year is happening now - our Travel Video Contest (TVC) is taking place, and it’s also when we’re typically able to share a coffee with many of you at a regional NAFSA conference. Although this year the latter didn’t deliver on the in-person meet and greets, the NAFSA All-Regional Summit provided a unique opportunity to share knowledge across regions and quickly connect; and our TVC is in full swing with the winners announced this Friday. We hope you’re able to watch a few of the inspiring entries that we’ve received from around the world, and are as optimistic as we are when it comes to connecting in-person next year!

Sincerely,
Bryanna Davis
On behalf of the InternationalStudent.com Team

November 2021
 

2021 Travel Video Contest Finalists Announced

Viewers’ Choice Award voting concluded last week and we have our 2021 Travel Video Contest finalists! A special congratulations to Omowunmi Fatogun who took home the Viewers’ Choice Award and $1,000 for their video, My Community Is My Support System. They have moved onto the final round along with our other finalists:

  • Yuhang Liu for Listen to Your Inner Voice
  • Iana Astakhova for My Choice
  • Gloria Dolo for Come Walk A Mile In My Community’s Shoes
  • Salman I Sayyed for Community of 3 Mothers
  • Marya Lykove for Journey
  • Tomasz (Tomi) Kufel for My Global Community
  • Godwin Ochieng for Communalism
  • Laura Bustamante for Community
  • Mwayiwawo Muwalo for I Am Because We Are
  • Sai Si Thu Htet for Together We Can Do So Much
  • German Felipe Laiton Hernandez for Without “Community” I Wouldn’t Be Here Right Now

Each finalist’s video will now be reviewed by our panel of judges who will select grand prize, second place and third place winners. Winners will be announced on the last day of International Education Week, this Friday, November 19th. Be sure to check out our finalists’ videos and stay tuned for the winners announcement.
The Finalists
 

2021 Open Doors Report Released

Yesterday the Institute of International Education (IIE) and representatives from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs released their findings from the 2021 Open Doors Report. In the 2021 report we see the number of international students at US universities totaled 914,095, confirming a 15% decline in the 2020/21 academic year. When looking at the number of new international student enrollments in the same period we see a sharp 45.6% decline with 145,528 new international student enrollments; this is compared to 267,712 in the 2019/20 academic period. However, the IIE 2021 Fall Snapshot does indicate a positive direction with the Fall 2021 new international student enrollment numbers up by 68% (previously down by 46% in Fall 2020).

China and India remain top sending countries, at a combined 53%. When it comes to selected fields of study, many of the top fields remain the same apart from Humanities and Legal Studies & Law Enforcement moving out of the top ten, and Intensive English moving to the tenth most selected field of study after seeing a 60.8% decline.
2021 Data
 

Exporting Your Leads

Q: I've been manually adding each lead into my CRM every time I receive an email. Is there a more efficient way to enter my leads into our system?

A: When logged in with your administrator account you have the ability to export your leads to a CSV file. If your CRM allows, you’re able to bulk upload the leads from your CSV directly into your system. When exporting leads you’re able to export by day, month, year, or the date range of your choice. Here’s how:

  1. After you log into your admin account, click “View Dashboard” under “School Search Account'', your claimed school will appear in a rectangular box.
  2. Click the envelope icon.
  3. Select the date range you wish to export your leads from, click download leads, then search. Voila! Your leads will populate as a CSV file.
My Dashboard
 

Student Video Resource: Post-graduate Life Guide

Whether your students plan to stay in the US for OPT or return to their home countries, there is a lot of planning that goes into life after graduation. As we near the end of the semester, you may have several students graduating from your institution and moving on to their next stage in life. Tomorrow, students will have access to a new video that highlights the possibilities during post-graduate life and that provides information on how international students can carry out those post-graduate plans. Tell your students they can check it out on our Facebook page or YouTube channel.
 

Connect on Linkedin

We are thrilled to have one more way to stay connected with you - through LinkedIn! If you haven’t already, connect with us for frequent alerts during the year on trends in the industry, tips around meeting your recruitment goals and updated resources for your students.
Connect
 

Interestingly Enough

November is the perfect time to start planning for the new year, but to also take a look back. When reflecting over the past year, what are you most grateful for when it comes to the world of international education? Send us a quick note telling us, and we’ll share it in our next newsletter to keep the feelings of gratitude within our industry continued throughout the year.