The staying power of associations

International education associations live and die by the student experience – or so what is expected of them through their values, mandates and by-laws – in the global higher education industry valued at US$477 billion in 2022 and expected to reach $853 billion by 2030.

With a global pandemic heavily disrupting the space anchored on the very concept of mobility, these associations have had to navigate a wealth of disruptions, such as lockdowns and travel restrictions largely cutting off revenue streams from conferences and in-person events.

Yet there’s no other way but to persist.

Resilience powerhouses

NAFSA: Association of International Education perhaps best demonstrates adaptability and resilience as it celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2023. NAFSA Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Fanta Aw, Ph.D. says last year’s conference sought to open avenues for “difficult conversations”and cover a breadth of issues: The requisite structures needed to optimally support students, geopolitics’ role in the current environment, sustainability, and other critical issues surrounding international education. 

“We’re celebrating 75 years, and I think it’s reflective of the resilience of the organization,” Aw told MSM Reporter. “Our members are really critical to our work, and we work in partnerships with [them], and that allows us to have the pulse of what’s happening on campuses and in all of the different places in which international education is taking place, and therefore allows us to be responsive accordingly.” 

Aw, appointed to the chief role at NAFSA in March after a three-decade education administration career at American University, pointed to three reasons for NAFSA’s longevity: its nature as a membership organization with “the pulse of what’s happening in the field,” its boldness to face change, whether in its public policy work or professional development, and its partnerships.

The association seeks to proactively address the evolving needs of its members and the international education community. This includes providing resources, guidance, and support to educational institutions and professionals navigating the complexities of remote learning, travel restrictions, and changing international student dynamics.

The Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE), for its first in-person conference since 2019 last March 2023, partnered with Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand to showcase the research, student experience, and higher education system of the country. 

To Prof. Sarah Todd, APAIE president at the time of the conference and vice-president for global at Australia’s Griffith University, the global crisis underscored the broader sustainability of international education.

“It is important that we work together to develop creative solutions to ensure access to quality education, collaborative research that provides solutions to the challenges that face all of us, and how we best enable our students to graduate with a global perspective and understanding of the role they can play,” she told MSM Reporter. 

Bid for sustainability

A prevalent, much-discussed theme among their conferences is sustainability, which Todd says has become a bigger priority in post-pandemic and encompasses environmental sustainability, the implications of climate change for international education, as well as social and economic facets. 

“The pandemic and its associated border closures and restrictions on movement that were common across the Asia Pacific provided an opportunity for us to consider ways in which we could leverage technology to undertake student recruitment, offer students global experiences without leaving their homes, deliver courses and programs in new ways, engage with our students across countries and interact with our international partner networks in novel ways,” said Todd. 

For Aw, sustainable internationalization is intentional. 

“It has to be one that has a long-term view, not simply focused on short-term gains at the expense of long-term outcomes. It is important that it not be driven simply by economic rationales, but that there are really educational and overall societal benefits that come from that,”she said. 

NAFSA’s array of initiatives include expanding online learning opportunities, developing virtual exchange programs, and leveraging digital tools for cross-cultural engagement. 

It continues to advocate for policies that support a welcoming environment and coordinated communication with the U.S. federal government, including calling for streamlining visa processes, providing support for students post-degree completion, addressing funding barriers, and raising awareness of diverse educational opportunities in the U.S. to make international education more accessible. 

Aw also noted the significance of regional conferences as they offer more targeted attention and networking opportunities, serving as a launch pad for many within the NAFSA journey and enabling participants to establish localized connections.

NAFSA currently supports over 10,000 members and international educators worldwide, spanning more than 3,500 institutions in over 160 countries. 

To ensure sustainability in its own ranks and to nurture the next generation of diverse leaders, NAFSA also hosts programs like the RISE Fellowship, providing mentorship and guidance over a two-year period.

Shaping the international student experience

Part of ongoing NAFSA’s work is lowering the barriers to entry among aspiring international students, mainly by ensuring that the systems and practices in place are not gating mechanisms – looking at visas for entry – but instead looking at the pathways for post-completion of degrees for students. 

“We need to look at the support systems and structures that are in place to ensure that students are thriving and that they’re successful and being retained until graduation,” Aw said. 

“We need to also make sure that among the barriers are funding and the fact that socioeconomic diversity should not be one that then leads to students not having the benefit of international education. That means working with institutions to look at the funding mechanisms.”

This is really about partnerships at a time of disinformation and misinformation, Aw added, describing the current environment as “challenging.”

Meanwhile, members of the American International Recruitment Council (AIRC) maintain a focused mandate: learn and develop skills as international student enrollment champions, building “innovative, reliable international student recruitment systems.”

Brian Whalen, Ph.D., AIRC executive director, highlights the standards-development organization (SDO) designation conferred by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission to AIRC in the last 15 years. This, according to him, enables the association to “advocate for a balanced, equitable relationship”among higher education institutions, agents, and students, and “for the purpose of serving the best interest of students.”

AIRC provides market intelligence and analytics, agent certification (which Whalen hails as the global gold standard and is “as rigorous or adaptable as possible in the evolving field of international education”), an annual conference, exclusive webinars, a robust resource library, and a professional certificate course. 

Whalen points to the contribution of agents in giving students and their families a wealth of options as study-abroad consumers, while meeting high standards. 

“Overall, agencies provide an excellent return on investment for institutions,” he said.

The chief executive also harps on the importance of getting with the times, particularly with their 15th annual conference featuring a keynote address around artificial intelligence. The generative AI boom has shaken various industries with the advent and subsequent popularity of chatbot service ChatGPT, with various potential risks and applications in the classroom and even in international student recruitment. 

At the end of the day, he stands by AIRC’s member-driven community. 

“By coming together as a professional community committed to high standards and ethical practices, we can lift up the entire sector while benefiting the students whom we serve,” he said.