Insights into Higher Education Recruiting in the Middle East, North Africa & Eurasia

When King Abdullah announced last week that additional scholarship programs were announced for Saudi Arabian students studying abroad, we immediately began making calls to see whether community colleges and non-scholarship majors were going to be included. However, it seems that the actual rules and regulations from the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) in Saudi Arabia have not changed, but this is more of a “one time deal” giving ALL 7,000 students in the US as “self funded” students a scholarship.

In this oddly worded article from Arab News you can read more about the details of the scholarship increase and what it means to current students in the US:  http://bit.ly/SaudiStudentBenefits

I do hope that this means students in atypical majors will soon start seeing scholarship benefits as it still does not seem to make sense to not allow a scholarship to an A+ student heading to University of Southern California to study film making and script writing but to give a scholarship to a D student going to a low-tier university to study business.  Lets hope that MOHE will begin to see those changes can bring huge benefits to the country by allowing students to go towards a major they are more apt to succeed in!

- wassan

For decades Saudi Aramco has been the front runner in the Middle East for companies innovating with education.  Intelligently thinking about how to better their employees, reduce turnover, and increase productivity while creating an amazing workforce.

“Last year the government-owned company paid for the education of 1,922 graduate and undergraduate Saudi students, including 1,138 in North America, 439 in Europe, and 217 in Saudi Arabia itself.”

Impressive for any organization, but not nearly as important as their college preparatory programs that help the students succeed in international universities.  All the students I’ve met on the Aramco scholarships have been of an extremely high caliber, showing that the organizaiton is seriously dedicated to homegrown talent.

Its something that not only other Middle Eastern companies need to learn from, but more importantly, I believe its how multi-national organizations need to think.  Instead of recruiting expats to come in for 2 year contracts, use those same dollars to build an educated and dedicated workforce that is already in its own country.  I hope its a concept that we will see more companies begin to use in the next few years.

You can read the full article “A Saudi Oil Giant Sees the Future in Education” at the Chronicle of Higher Education website.

-wassan

Every conference I attend, whether NAFSA, OACAC or NACAC, the question of whether Catholic Colleges and Universities should bother recruiting in the Middle East comes up consistently.  I am always baffled by the question, as I would expect Catholic institutions would be more aware of the long history of Catholic and Jesuit education in the Middle East.  I have also heard counselors discouraging Catholic schools from recruiting in the region and all I can say is that they are wrong.

I was thrilled to see this article in today’s Washington Post and hope you will enjoy reading it as well:

Enrollment of Muslim students is growing at Catholic colleges in U.S.: Washington Post

Catholic Universities who have traveled with us to the region, including DePaul University, Loyola Marymount University, Ohio Wesleyan University, have always seen a great deal of success in recruiting students from the area. The students are attracted to the universities for their education, campus life, diversity, and majors – just like at any other school.  A few times I have been asked whether they will be required to pray at Church, which of course is not the case at these universities. This is a simple misconception that a few of the students may have, but the overwhelming number do not connect the university with religion.

I do still discourage universities with a more overt religious mission from recruiting in the area, having required Chapel or Bible study classes will not be encouraging to potential students in the region and I would doubt the universities would see a good return on their travel budget.

Now I have to go dig up that old photo of the Jesuit priest (Father) from Massachusetts playing baseball at Baghdad College in the late 1950′s to share with you all. Its why my dad still cheers for the Boston Red Sox, to the chagrin of my Cardinals loving husband!

What better way is there to stay in touch with Alumni, keep them engaged with the University and have a brand ambassador overseas? More universities are connecting with students overseas with more formalized “International Student Ambassadors” that ever before. An excellent idea, simple to implement.

1. Identify 10-30 students graduating and returning to their home country
   This is as simple as hosting an ice-cream social, a pizza party, or another “bon voyage” party at the International Students Center/Office. Talk for a few minutes about how important Alumni are to your university, and how important international Alumni are to the university name.  By allowing them to have an official title such as “International Student Ambassador” you can create a stronger buy in from the student.
2. Assign more students to countries with a higher prospective base
   If you are physically recruiting students from certain countries (China, India, Middle East, etc) be sure to assign more than one student ambassador to the region. This will reduce the number of emails each student receives, giving y0u a better chance that they will continue responding to questions.
3. Provide them with a well-written Q&A to use in their responses
   To help your alumni answer many of the basic questions, it would be helpful to provide them with a Q&A written in an informal and relaxed tone, allowing them to use bits and pieces as they respond. Again, this ensures timely responses and better interaction between the Alum & Prospective student.
4. Give them a few “outs” to move the inquiry towards admissions
   Have a list of some closing phrases to allow them to move the back & forth emails towards an admissions counselor. This uses their time efficiently and sends the prospective student to the admissions personnel ready to engage and guide them through the personalized application process

   “I loved Kalamazoo, and I know you will too, Karen in admissions is interested in helping you through the admissions process – just like she helped me!”

5. Update your alumni list!
   Be sure to keep in touch with your alumni ambassadors and update your list every 6 months. You want to be sure the ambassadors are responding to emails, and if they are getting too many, you need to address that issue immediately. The on-going connection with the university as well as the growing alumni base from the country should be a great asset to the campus for years to come.

Some great examples of programs implementing a similar idea:

University of Chicago
Iowa State University
Virginia Tech
Clemson University
University of Minnesota