Below is a list of student recruitment tips designed to provide assistance to FPP Edu-Media clients who attend FPP Edu-Media Student Recruitment Fairs, Agent Workshops (Event Recruitment), and/or market their courses on FPP Edu-Media Study Abroad Web sites (Electronic Recruitment).

1. Where possible, it is recommended for an institution to give an interested student the contact information of other students of the same nationality currently studying at the institution. A direct testimonial from former or current satisfied students is among the most effective forms of marketing and can give an institution a huge advantage over competitors.

2. While students from most countries consider the location and course quality to be the top priorities when choosing their place of study, Latin American students, in general, are different. Course prices and living expenses are the primary factors for the majority of Latin American students considering studying abroad. This is evident when looking at the increasing number of Latin American students now studying in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Malta. In these countries, average course prices and cost of living are lower than in countries such as the United States, Canada and England.

To compete, institutions from other countries should be flexible with their prices. Most institutions in Australia and New Zealand promote "Specials for Latin American Students." These specials generally are discounts in the range of 15-35%. Institutions that do not show a degree of flexibility with their prices lose out to their competitors.

3. When talking to students regarding prices, it is important to provide the costs associated with the course in U.S. dollars. Latin American students are able to translate U.S. dollars costs into their own currency immediately. Prices quoted in other foreign currencies are not always so easy to translate and make it more difficult for the student to compare the prices of institutions across countries. Institutions that present their prices in U.S. dollars will be favored by the student over an institution that does not.

Event Recruitment

1. FPP Edu-Media's Student Recruitment Fairs give institutions the opportunity to meet the highest quality students and educational agents on the same day and in a variety of lucrative markets. The event format allows institution representatives to meet with educational agents for 3 hours in the morning before meeting with thousands of pre-selected students for 6 hours in the afternoon and evening.

To make the most of this unique event format, several institutions give quality student contacts, made in the afternoons during the student recruitment fairs, to preferred agents that they meet in the mornings. Adopting this practice not only increases the possibility of these students enrolling in a given institution but, most importantly, provides the perfect start to a new agency/institution relationship.

As a result, agents see that the institution is making an effort to provide them with business. Therefore, even in the unlikely event that the agent is unable to send those initial students, they will certainly reward the institution's generosity with future enrollments.

Many FPP Edu-Media clients have used this format — using the fairs to reinforce the Agent Workshops — with great effectiveness, recruiting students directly from the fairs as well as forging agent relationships.

2. If an institution is booked to attend an FPP Edu-Media Student Recruitment Fair and receives an inquiry from a student that lives in one of the cities being visited, it is recommended that the institution try to arrange a face-to-face meeting with the student. After communicating with an institution representative by e-mail for a time, it is then heartening for the student to be able to meet that representative in person. This strategy gives an enormous advantage over competitors. Meetings can be scheduled during the fairs at the institution's own display area so as to maximize the use of time.

3. During FPP Edu-Media Student Recruitment Fairs, presentation is an important component in attracting the interest of students. Institutions whose representatives stand during the fairs and who provide large, colorful, well-designed display materials, by far attract the most students.

Electronic Recruitment

1. It is important to communicate with students in their native language. This is particularly true when a student makes initial contact in their native language. The majority of institutions worldwide have Spanish-speakers on their marketing staff. Similarly, to cope with the increasing number of Brazilian students studying abroad, now many institutions (particularly in Australia and Canada) have appointed Portuguese-speakers to handle the ever-increasing demand from this student market.

In the event that an institution does not have the in-house resources to handle foreign-language inquiries, FPP Edu-Media can provide translation services.

If an institution does not have a Portuguese or Spanish-speaker, it is recommended to have a translated Web site or translated document which can be given to interested students. Those institutions with Portuguese and/or Spanish speakers have a significant advantage over those that do not. However, by being in a position to provide students with relevant information in their own language, this gap can be bridged.

PLEASE NOTE: Those institutions that pay for their listings to be translated into Spanish and Portuguese for display on FPP Edu-Media's student Study Abroad Web sites automatically receive a copy of the translated information. This information can later be used by the institution for other marketing purposes.

2. South American students are, in general, greatly influenced by a personal touch when making decisions. Paragraphs of standard form e-mail texts and auto-responders with links to Web sites and so on are usually not appreciated. Perhaps more so than students from other regions of the world, students from Latin markets have a desire to feel that their enrollment is important to an institution. Often, many of the smaller institutions around the world have higher percentages of South American students than larger institutions as a direct result of a more personalized approach to marketing.

Developing relationships with South American students, giving them a contact to whom they can address all their questions, and replying as quickly as possible to those questions is imperative.

When asked, many South American students say that the quality and friendliness of the reply to their very first e-mail was one of the most influential factors in their final decision-making process.

3. It is important not to pressure a student into enrolling. Attaching enrollment forms to e-mails and repeatedly providing links to online enrollment forms is not appreciated. Instead, it may be preferable simply to inform the student that if they would like to enroll, they need only ask for an enrollment form and that it will then be provided.

4. Institution profiles on FPP Edu-Media's student-accessed study abroad Web sites are the most comprehensive of any educational listings on the Internet. Via translated profiles, potential students can access an enormous amount of information about the institution in the student's own language. Thus, it is recommended that institutional representatives not send pages of text or generic information to students that contact you via the inquiry forms, as these details are already accessible to the students via the institution's listing. Instead, focus on the specific questions that the students ask. Answer these questions in great detail and shy away from providing general information. This will illustrate to the student that they are being heard, and subsequently they will feel at ease to follow-up with any additional questions.

5. After receiving an initial inquiry from a student, it is suggested that you send a follow-up letter one week later if no response has been received. The institution should remind the student of key selling points and re-address their specific questions. By showing its desire to remain in contact, an institution will indicate to the student that their enrollment is considered important.

6. It is recommended that institutions add students' e-mail addresses to their electronic mailing lists. Students who are kept updated on a regular basis will learn progressively more about the institution and be more inclined to remain interested in enrolling in the future.