We have been in Washington DC all work finalizing visas and working on our student brochure for the Fall 2009 student recruitment tour in the Middle East. We will be heading out to the first fair stop, Beirut, Lebanon in October and we want to welcome all the Universities, Colleges and Language Centers who will be joining us on this excellent tour!

American University in Cairo
Arizona State University
California State University, Fullerton
College of the Desert
DePaul University
Diablo Valley College
Emporia State University
Florida Institute of Technology
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Lasell College
Marquette University
Mercer University
Michigan State University Dubai
New York University Abu Dhabi
Oklahoma City University
Pace University
Parsons the New School for Design
Purdue University
Roger Williams University
San Jose State University
Savannah College of Art and Design
Stony Brook University
University of Arizona
University at  Buffalo
University of Bridgeport
University of California, Riverside Extension
University of California, San Diego
University of Central Florida
University of Colorado Denver
University of Evansville
University of Hartford
University of Iowa
University of New Haven
University of Oregon
University of Toledo
Veritas Prep, GMAT Test Preparation
Virginia Commonwealth University
West Virginia University
Youngstown State University

We do have our March 2010 Middle East and Eurasia fair dates up on our site already and encourage you to sign up soon to reserve your space for next year!

March 2010 Middle East student recruitment fair dates

March 2010 Eurasia student recruitment fair dates

The want/do not want relationship between Universities and US News continues with the newly released US News rankings for undergraduate institutions.  After a year of accusations against certain colleges for US News Rankings manipulation, little movement from the “Beyond Rankings” campaign at the Education Conservancy and continual criticism of the methodology used we were wondering would be the year we would hear less about US News rankings?

Well, many institutes had their PR machines ready and waiting for the go ahead time to release their rankings to the world. With the new class coming in this weekend or in a few weeks, its good for a university to use nationally recognized criteria to build the emotional connection with the student.  The increase in niche rankings (A+ schools for B students, Up and Coming Colleges, etc) are really a good way for a locally branded institution to find a way to connect a national audience.

But is the anti-rankings stance showing up on the university websites? A quick review early this morning shows that so far, out of the top 25 ranked institutions, only 5 had the rankings “news” listed on their homepage:

Princeton (#1)

CalTech (#4)

MIT (#4)

Vanderbilt (#17)

University of Virginia (#24)
Maybe its still early, or maybe some institutions want to show that their admissions are about more than just a score, a grade, or a rank.

US Educational Group’s experience in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eurasia has shown us that the US News rankings are not as prized as they are in other regions. Students rarely research institutions through US News rankings, which can be a blessing to some institutions but hurt others without the brand name recognition in the region.

Do you think US Educational Group should play a part in increase student awareness in the region of the rankings? Or do you prefer the student to not ask about the rankings?

When Facebook began handing out vanity urls a few months ago, most people saw that there were some potential issues with copyright infringement.  Facebook was very insistent that you “choose your username carefully” because you were never ever EVER going to be able to change it! Well, we assume a combination of pranks and frustrated colleges who lost their online IDs to random folks has made Facebook change its policy.

Without much of an announcement, Facebook is now allowing you to change your username…but just one time. Or so they’re saying. So here’s your chance to contact the person who’s sort-of squatting on your name (hey Otterbein, do you hear me???) and request they change their username so you can grab yours.

And if you are completely confused by this post, I think you need to give me a call. If your school is not on Facebook, or if you still don’t have an admissions tab to increase international (and domestic!) student recruitment and engagement, you are missing out folks…I’ll just leave you with this:

In both Lebanon and Tunisia, Facebook is the #1 most visited website in the country.