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Category: Internationalization

The Problem With Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM)

There are two basic issues with the way strategic enrolment management is practiced in Canada. The first is that there is a widespread misunderstanding about what it means to “compete” for students. SEM, done properly, is about competition, and finding ways to appeal to niche segments of the market that your competitors are also after. But few Canadian institutions have more than two genuine competitors, and even that’s being generous. Many are essentially local monopolies or duopolies. Only institutions in

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November 8, 2011 1 Comment

New Markets

Let’s say you’re an institution interested in moving into new international markets. India’s been done to death, coastal China’s saturated and the Europeans aren’t interested in coming to North America. So what do you do? You look for new markets – preferably ones with weak post-secondary systems, rising family incomes, and yet to be seriously exploited by foreign recruiters. Here’s the three we’d pick right now: 1) Indonesia. Two hundred million people, an Asian tiger, and yet arguably one of

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October 7, 2011 No Comments

International Student Recruitment: Not as Good as We Think We Are

One of the most startling things about Canada’s recent success in attracting international students is how easy it has all been. Australia and the U.K. took decades to build up their position in international higher education, and in the former case it took decades of government-backed investment in developing overseas networks. Our recent extraordinary spurt of growth in international higher education – particularly in the Indian market – came in the space of about five years in a comparatively uncoordinated

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September 19, 2011 1 Comment

Strategy Matters

Here’s a key truth to understanding the future of academia: the western world hit “Peak Higher Education” sometime in 2009. That is to say, across the OECD, we are unlikely to see public funding at 2009 levels ever again. Between the current global financial crisis and its associated fiscal problems, and the challenges associated with aging societies, there will not be a return to prior levels of public support for higher education for decades to come. Now peak higher education

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September 1, 2011 No Comments

What Toronto Can Learn from Mike Bloomberg

Here’s an idea that deserves a lot more attention than it has received in Canada: the City of New York has issued an international RFP for schools that want to build a new engineering and applied sciences campus in the city. The winner gets $100 million and some free land. So far, over 20 universities from around the world (including the University of Toronto) have indicated an interest. It’s brilliant: not happy with the mix of skills in your local

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August 11, 2011 No Comments

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One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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