Through Student Eyes – A regional perspective

The number of students interested in studying abroad is at a record high, with more than 4.5 million students being globally mobile in 2014 and many more looking to follow in their footsteps.

For these students, making an informed choice regarding what and where they would like to study is a complex, lengthy process, and inconsistencies and differences in how universities choose to communicate information about their programs is a significant barrier.

With this challenge in mind, StudyPortals had a look at the world’s top 1,000 universities in order to understand how well these universities meet the communication needs of prospective international students.

In cooperation with the British Council StudyPortals published a report focusing on the Top 500 Universities in the US and Canada.

Universities in the US and Canada fall behind those in Benelux and Scandinavia, as well as traditional English-speaking study destinations, such as the UK and Ireland, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

This is not as surprising in light of the fact that while the US hosts almost half of the world’s international student body, due to the high number of US universities, international students only make up 4% of the total number of students in the US.

Universities, therefore, are more focused on communicating and attracting prospective domestic students, whose needs differ from those of prospective international students.

However, with more universities increasing their efforts to attract international students and diversify their student body, understanding these differences in communication needs is becoming increasingly important.

The full report is available here. Please contact intelligence@studyportals.com for any additional information.