Recruiting the best Chinese students requires careful planning and an effective strategy. You need to reach them with the right means and convince them with the most compelling offers your institution is willing to provide.
With the advancement of globalization, Chinese student’s educational needs are developing too. So, it is important for international institutions to take advantage of this opportunity to increase their Chinese student enrollees.
Here are some things to keep in mind when recruiting Chinese students:
How do you get the best Chinese students to study at your institution?
- Be selective. Work with trusted agencies that facilitates the process of student’s applications. Make sure to place a certain set of standards that selects only your preferred students.
- Another way to help you reach your prospective students is by joining organized education fairs.
- Chinese students look at international education as an asset to them. Showcase your institution’s strengths. Let them know how you can help improve their future.
- You have to determine which kinds of students you are looking for. Study the demographics and psychographics of your target market to classify them and concentrate on reaching them particularly.
- You need to have an effective way of reaching your prospective students. Have a clear message that sets your institution apart from other universities and what benefits they will get if they chose to enroll at your school.
Parents play a much larger role
- It’s not that Asian students don’t have a say and listen only to their parents. But they are more willing to take their parents’ opinion into account rather than just going their own way.
- It is better if you develop communications with their parents in their native language as well. It will be a tremendous advantage for you if you could employ someone in your marketing team who can communicate in the target countries’ native language.
- You need to explain the benefits. Focus on career potential. Let them know why it is advantageous to study a certain course at your institution. If you’re not Oxford or Harvard, you’ll need to make the case for your institution.
- Chinese parents are very protective of their children. Earn their trust by letting them know that your goal is to provide the best services for their child. Assure the parents of their child’s security and that they will have an environment that is not only safe but also conducive to learning.
Competition. Scarcity mindset.
- Asians, and especially the Chinese, live in a place where there is competition for everything. They’re used to doing anything they can to get even slightly ahead of the pack. This trait could be used for your advantage. Give discounts and freebies upon signing up. Inform them about the exclusive benefits they can get from your school.
- Inspire them with real success stories from your alumni and explain how they can achieve the same for themselves. Nurture their aspiration by giving them insights on what they can make out of this privilege of studying at your institution.
- Most Chinese have tricky perceptions about international schools. Some think “If you’re good, you’re probably too hard to get into. If you’re too easy to get into, you may not be that good”. Set the stage and focus on quality, not just a significant increase in your international student enrollees.
- Make it clear that you’ve come to find the students who are the best fit for your educational institution.
Make use of what you have
- You probably already have Asian students on your campus. They can be helpful in many ways. Record videos, or write interviews where they share about their life at your university and in your city. These are very important to humanise your institution and help Asian students get a picture of what life is really like. Sharing these online is more powerful than face-to-face because one student can only talk to so many people. If they keep a social profile, that can be seen by many.
- Gain insights from them. If you’re marketing to their country, why not invite them for a coffee and get to know why they chose your institution, how they research schools to choose from, which events or fairs they go to and online platforms they use that would be a good fit for you.
- Consider converting your current Asian students as your school brand ambassador. By doing this, not only you give great significance or value to your current Chinese student but may also help your institution inspire others and convey your message from a more relatable figure.
Support in-country events with digital marketing
- It’s quite a leap to see an ad online, read up on a website and then straight away sign up for a degree course. Especially because of the above mentioned parent factor. Unless you’re Oxford, you may need more face time to get students comfortable to apply and accept an offer.
- At the same time, your budget and time is limited. So make sure your digital marketing efforts are centered around in-country events. It’s easier to get people to come to a recruitment event in their city using ads, and from there, to build enough credibility to let them sign up.
- You have to be very selective to make the best use of your budget. Gather the highly qualified students and select the best ones that meets your standards. It’s important to include discerning people in your selection team to help you choose the right students.
Once you’ve selected your prospective students, lay down the groundwork. Do the best you can to make them sign up. Acquire more informations about them and follow up on those leads while enticing them through email marketing.
Marketing highly qualified Chinese students can be a challenge especially if your institution does not have a very well known brand name. But, the Chinese student market is still huge, there is no shortage of high quality students to recruit if you know where to look.
The Chinese mindset on studying overseas is in an investment mentality. So, if you want to attract the best Chinese students you should first understand their needs and desires. Meet these requirements and set expectations in terms of their “return on investment”.