Market intelligence for international student recruitment from ICEF
14th Nov 2014

Five for Friday

For this instalment in our occasional “Five for Friday” column, we have gathered below some of the more eye-catching and varied items that we’ve been reading lately. We present them here for your end-of-week reading pleasure.

When admissions becomes marketing

This post from College Admissions Today has been nagging at us for a little while now. It makes the interesting point that admissions staff are now often asked to play a more direct role with respect to marketing and recruitment, and raises some interesting questions about how this impacts workloads and focus in the admissions office.

Is Japan going to hit its target?

Japan aims to attract 300,000 foreign students by 2020. The good news: there is just one thing standing in its way. The bad news: that one thing is China. The Japan Times reports on how China’s efforts to attract greater numbers of international students are drawing market share from Japan.

Saudi Arabia tops the first ranking of Arab universities

Saudi Arabia owns the top three positions in an initial ranking of 91 Arab universities in 16 countries published recently by US News & World Report. The rankings are notably concentrated: the top seven countries counted 77 universities in the table (85% of the total), while seven other countries - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen - had only one ranked university each.

Pearson launches new English test

Education giant Pearson and the online language learning platform busuu have partnered for the global launch of a new English proficiency exam: the Global Scale of English Test (GSET). busuu is the first company worldwide to offer the test, on exclusive terms with Pearson for an initial six-month period.

We’ve looked at Facebook from all sides now

Social marketing specialist Brian Carter offers an unvarnished view of Facebook: the good, the bad, and the ugly. In this nicely balanced post, he offers a compact summary of the challenges - and strengths - of this key social media platform.

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Because you found this article interesting

What students want: The top decision factors for study abroad The following article is adapted from the 2026 edition of ICEF Insights magazine, which is freely available to...
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Drivers of study abroad from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, and Vietnam As we move into a new year in international student recruitment, many of us are already deciding upon...
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Why housing will decide Europe’s future as a study destination The Student Living Monitor is an annual survey by The Class Foundation to explore the connection between student...
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Canada announces new incentives for international recruitment of master’s and PhD students On the heels of this week’s announcement of a significant reduction in Canada’s foreign enrolment cap, Immigration, Refugees...
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Canada cuts foreign enrolment cap by nearly 50% as current year trends below COVID levels The Government of Canada introduced a new budget on 4 November 2025. It includes an Immigration Levels Plan...
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Asia “consolidating as the leading destination region” for international students  A new report from the British Council and Studyportals shows that international students are increasingly choosing to study...
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Kazakhstan sets its sights on being a regional hub for international students As Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine, international students who might once have chosen Ukraine or Russia...
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US: Study estimates that changes to international student policies could reduce GDP by up to US$481 billion per year The US administration continues to signal its willingness to alter long-established immigration policies affecting international students. For example,...
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