AIRC Executive Director Brian Whalen, PhD, stressed the importance of not only increasing student numbers but also ensuring continual quality improvement to prioritize the best interests of international students in the nation’s programs, institutions, and organizations.
The Association of International Enrollment Management (ARIC) is bent on expanding how the industry thinks about and practices international student enrollment and recruitment – as well as ensuring quality and ethics through standards – as a founding member of a newly formed international education coalition in the United States.
The US for Success Coalition is a consortium that primarily advocates for policy changes that will help the United States maintain its appeal as a destination for international students.
It includes the AIRC, Alliance for International Exchange, Educational Testing Service, FWD.us, Institute of International Education, Niskanen Center, NAFSA, Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, Shorelight, Association of International Education Administrators, and World Education Services.
Increased quantity and quality
“We not only need to focus on increasing numbers of students, but also to ensure ongoing quality improvement so that our programs, institutions, and organizations have the best interests of international students in mind,” said Executive Director Brian Whalen, PhD, citing AIRC’s recognition by the US government as a standards development organization with “a special role to play in developing and promoting the standards that will undergird the growth of international student enrollment.”
AIRC’s membership and scope involve a broad range of educational institutions that attract international students, including secondary schools, Whalen added. Thus, its focus is on providing guidelines, resources, and best-practice solutions that influence the entire lifecycle of the international student, from recruitment to enrollment to student success.
Whalen pointed to the country’s “enormous capacity” to host more international students and its “clear strength” in the form of the diversity of its institutions, programs, degrees, and professional skill development options.
“As with many good ideas, this initiative started over a dinner conversation with a group of leaders in the field who share a commitment to improving international education in the United States and to helping to ensure international student success,” he said.
He touted the coalition’s inclusiveness and ability to attract the diversity of organizations, institutions, and stakeholders that support and have an interest in the field.
In a previous interview with MSM Reporter, Whalen emphasized the importance of educational agents in international student recruitment, providing “an excellent return on investment for institutions” and expert knowledge in the markets they operate in.
To protect international students from agent fraud or misconduct, he urged ongoing monitoring, citing AIRC’s processes based on US higher education accreditation and other processes.
“We do monitor entities and they have to go through recertification. At a certain point, just as institutions in the US have to go through re-accreditation, there is a complaint process. If anyone lodges a complaint to us about a certified entity, we must investigate that complaint,” he said.
Diversifying international students’ destinations in the US
The US welcomed just over a million enrolled in the 2022-23 school year, according to data released by the State Department and Institute of International Education (IIE) on November 13 via the Open Doors 2023 report.
The country hosted approximately 348,000 international undergraduate students, marking a modest 0.9 percent increase from the previous year, as well as around 467,000 international graduate students, representing a substantial 21.3 percent rise compared to the preceding year.
There are nearly 4,000 accredited institutions that make up US higher education, according to the education department.
Research shows, however, that while international students are enrolled in schools and live on or around campuses across the US, nearly half of all of them study in just five states, namely California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts, and Florida.
In 2022, these six schools enrolled over 15,000 international students: Northeastern University, New York University, Columbia University, Arizona State University, University of Illinois, and University of Southern California.
Whalen encouraged the inclusion and representation of “enormously diverse approaches and programs” attracting foreign students to the US, including secondary institutions and non-credit programs.
“This is the time to be bold and expansive in our thinking, and to be open and inclusive in growing the coalition,” Whalen said, foreseeing more partnerships and collaborations with the Department of State, US Commercial Service, Department of Education, and other government entities including state governments to build on the work “that has already been done over the past three years.”
The chief executive is optimistic of how the coalition becomes a “rallying point” for the sector and its organizations, government, and stakeholders, particularly as a centralized entity that can unify and better coordinate efforts.
“I’ve been in the international education field for 40 years, and this is the first time that I have sensed that we are genuinely uniting based on our shared international education goals and values,” he said.
The US has made several new steps in its bid for leadership in the race for international talent.
Recently, it expanded the list of eligible degrees for the post-graduate STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. In a notice, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security introduced changes by including eight new fields of study in the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List.
