The Transition Out: Moving International Students into the Donor Pipeline

With the balance of wealth shifting overseas — and with more colleges and universities increasing their international enrollment — international fundraising is likely to play an increasingly larger role in development at North American institutions. And by cultivating your international students and alumni as lifelong ambassadors for your institution, you not only strengthen and diversify […]

The Transition In: Setting International Students Up for Academic Success

A survey conducted in 2011 by three researchers from different institutions confirmed that while most international students feel welcomed and at home on their college campuses, many have a low sense of belonging in the US generally and face challenges in making the transition to American culture. These same students voice concern over the lack […]

Recruiting and Admitting International Students: Key Considerations

Unless you are already enrolling high numbers of international students, it’s likely that stepping up recruiting efforts will require significant work in revisiting your admissions communications and processes. Many processes that are “tried and true” in the US may throw unintended obstacles in the way of international applicants, and simply translating your current communications and […]

Measuring Marketing ROI: Debunking 3 Common Myths

Higher education marketing professionals are under increased pressure to demonstrate the effectiveness of their marketing and branding initiatives. To ensure funding, marketing offices must measure the return on investment of their strategies and communicate their success in tangible ways. We turned this week to Elizabeth Scarborough, CEO of SimpsonScarborough, to ask where institutions may be […]

Boosting Retention for Ethnic Minority Students: Faculty Buy-in and Involvement

ALSO READ Boosting Retention for Ethnic Minority Students: Laying the GroundworkBoosting Retention for Ethnic Minority Students: Leveraging Peer Leadership For this third article in our series on supporting the academic success of underrepresented minority students, we interviewed Goldie Adele, director of the Disability Resource Center at Southern Connecticut State University. Adele is an attorney with […]

Survey Report: Where Your Institution May be Missing Opportunities to Improve Academic Advising

In November 2011, Academic Impressions surveyed colleges and universities on their practices in assessing academic advisors. 73 institutions responded, and of those who responded, 57 percent employ both faculty and professional advisors, 24 percent use only faculty advisors, and 19 percent use only professional advisors. The aggregated results from the survey reveal some significant issues. […]

Expelling Students: Cautionary Advice from Allan Shackelford

In two recent, tragic examples, a student who was expelled from a postsecondary institution for apparent behavioral issues later shot, killed, and injured other people. In one case, Jared Loughner, expelled from Pima Community College (Tucson, AZ) attacked citizens who were not associated with the institution. Pima Community College then came under considerable scrutiny as […]

Boosting Retention for Ethnic Minority Students: Laying the Groundwork

Iowa’s three public universities have been in the news recently because of a fresh push from the state’s board of regents to improve the six-year graduation rates for underrepresented minority students. The University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa are each piloting different initiatives to boost persistence and academic success […]

Boosting Retention for Ethnic Minority Students: Leveraging Peer Leadership

ALSO READ Boosting Retention for Ethnic Minority Students: Laying the Groundwork For this second in a series of articles on supporting the academic success of underrepresented minority students, we interviewed Georgina Dodge, chief diversity officer and associate vice president at the University of Iowa. Dodge shared with us lessons learned and practical tips based on […]

Improving Your Online Writing Center for International Students

As international student enrollment rises at many institutions, it’s going to be increasingly important to provide academic support for a growing population of students who may have diverse levels of fluency with academic writing in English. While there is a long tradition of providing ESL writing labs and other support for these “second language students” […]