Year in review: What we learned in 2024
We return this week to something of an annual tradition here at ICEF Monitor: a quick recap of some key takeaways from the year gone by.
Our sector is extremely vulnerable to public opinion
We'll resist the temptation to revisit the many different ways in which this lesson played out across some of the world's top study destinations this year. But suffice to say that changing public sentiment about immigration – alongside historically high levels of global migration and national election cycles in many of the world's democracies – proved to be a potent combination for the international education sector in 2024.
In the process, we learned that our sector needs to engage with the communities we serve, and with policymakers, in a completely different way. We need to tell a different story of the value and impact of international education – one that is measured not just in student numbers and GDP but that is also closely aligned to broader policy goals and public interests.
We need better data
For all the statistics and insights we have about international student mobility, there are still some significant gaps in terms of the data we have about how students are recruited, where and how they study, how they perform in their programmes, graduation rates, and student outcomes.
This is the year in which we learned once and for all that the absence of comprehensive, transparent, and up-to-date data creates vulnerability for the sector. At the very least, it undermines the impact and narrative around the benefits of international education. And it impairs our ability to build community and stakeholder support for international student mobility.
Recruiting for student fit
We began to see real momentum over the course of the year towards a more strategic and targeted approach to international student recruitment.
This amounts to a more selective and sustainable recruitment strategy that places a greater emphasis on recruiting for student fit. It involves building a carefully targeted prospect pool. And it allows admissions offers to be focused on students who have met criteria qualifying them as likely to acquire a study visa and complete their programmes successfully.
At the end of the day, students enrolled in programmes that closely match their goals, academic preparedness, and financial means are much happier and more successful in their studies, and are more likely to report good graduation and career outcomes. These are the hallmarks of a quality, sustainable student programme, and they provide a foundation for building greater community and stakeholder support.
Students will move to better options
For every study destination that introduced more restrictive policies this year, there were many more opening their doors wider to prospective students. Simply put, the global student market continues to become much more competitive.
This year, prospective students applied to more programmes than ever before and to institutions in more destinations than in previous years. This trend is projected to continue in the long term, and it means that institutions investing in enquiry responsiveness and admissions processing will see more applications converting into enrolments.
More broadly, countries outside of the Big Four study destinations are seizing the opportunity of a changing international education landscape, with destinations across Asia and Europe growing in popularity. Those shifts in student demand are happening surprisingly quickly, and they represent a clear signal that we are entering a new era of heightened competition for the best and brightest students.
We are heading for more regulation
The surge in student mobility since the pandemic has tested many of the quality assurance measures in place across our sector. Student services have struggled to keep pace, the global stock of student housing has been overstretched, and several models for recruiting and teaching international students came under greater scrutiny this year.
This is all leading towards greater regulation of the sector. In some countries, this has amounted to additional reporting or compliance requirements for providers alongside calls for increased regulation of education agents.
It happens that a lot of great work has already been done to strengthen standards of practice for education agents, and to advance the professional qualifications of agency-based student counsellors. Those initiatives have largely occurred in three key areas: codes of conduct, agent training, and agency accreditation.
We can expect to see a lot more expansion and adoption of those mechanisms in the year ahead, and, in an ideal world, a good deal more harmonization and collaboration among the many self-regulatory efforts across the sector.
Thank you
Last but not least, we want to take this opportunity to thank you for reading and learning along with us. We look forward to a year of continued growth and development in 2025, and to bringing you the latest insights on international recruitment all through the year.
