Given the fleeting attention spans of all consumers (and particularly those within our target demographic), one of the greatest challenges in international student recruitment lies in converting initial student interest to satisfied matriculant. How do you immediately engage the prospective student in his / her preferred medium of correspondence -- recognizing that those preferences differ across cultures of our global audience?

USjournal promotional campaigns provide three robust tools to improve that conversion:

1. Profile Page: The cornerstone of a USjournal campaign is the Profile Page, which allows the U.S. college, university or English Language Program to display compelling content:

• Unlimited number of words
• Unlimited number of images
• Unlimited number of direct links to your .edu domain
• Several links to a customized Academic Program Listing and Inquiry Form
• Invitations to follow your social media campaigns
• Invitations to connect via Skype or other medium
• Embedded promotional video(s)

2. Customized Forwarding Function: Prospective students may express their interest in a particular advertising campus by selecting their academic preference(s), and completing our simple form:

• Inquiries are forwarded only to the campus the student indicates
• Inquiries are not mass-distributed to all of our advertisers
• Inquiries about different academic programs may be forwarded to different eMail addresses; for example, ESL inquiries may be forwarded to one eAddress, and MBA inquiries may be forwarded to another
• Inquiries from different language campaigns may be forwarded to different eMail addresses; for example, inquiries from your Korean campaign may be forwarded to your in-country representative in Seoul for immediate follow-up
• Inquiries are sent in two ways: Immediately after the student expresses interest in your program, and also within monthly spreadsheets, for your convenience

3. Customized Automated Response: In some pockets of the world, eMail correspondence is declining rapidly as a preferred medium of correspondence. Prospective students in other pockets of the world expect immediate confirmation of their submitted form. So USjournal provides an option for advertisers to customize their automated response based on academic program or native language of the inquiring student. This option allows the advertiser to concentrate on responding immediately and personally to the inquiry, in whatever format the student prefers -- recognizing that those preferences are moving targets.

The FundsV Working Group, formed in 2010 at the request of SWIFT, is helping to develop global standards for international student funds verification. The Group is seeking input about current parameters for data collection in international education. We've constructed a simple, 10-question survey for colleagues to complete: SurveyMonkey.com/s/HZQ2N3N. (We're particularly interested in feedback from international educators outside of the United States, so please feel free to forward the link.)

We'll discuss survey results at our Working Group's mid-year meeting, held this year on Thursday morning (31 May) during NAFSA Week in Houston. If you'd like to participate, contact cheryl@FundsV.com. Thanks!

We look forward to re-connecting with colleagues, and meeting new ones, at NAFSA's Annual Conference in a few weeks: nafsa.org/annualconference. If you'd like to book a slot, please contact cheryl@USjournal.com.

• Tues, 29 May, 7:30am to 8:30am, Available
• Tues, 29 May, 9:00am to 10:00am, Available


• Wed, 30 May, 7:00am to 8:00am, Available
• Wed, 30 May, 1:15pm to 2:15pm, Price Compared with Value in International Student Recruitment (nafsa.org/annualconference)


• Thurs, 31 May, 8:00am to 9:30am, FundsV Working Group Meeting


• Fri, 1 June, 10:30am to 11:45am, Opportunities and Challenges of Working with Agents (nafsa.org/annualconference)