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This page outlines details for the training sessions at the Education Innovation Conference 2018 taking place in London on 23 January 2018. For full details see the website here and to sign up to any of the workshop sessions, please email rekha@economicpolicygroup.com.

Workshop  1: Informed Strategy Planning: using big data on real-time student demand

International recruitment is becoming increasingly vital to universities across the world, and with TNE universities are increasingly playing a global role. But how does one decide where best to open a branch campus for those unable to travel for education?

[expand title="read more..."] Using big data on student demand can help universities make an informed decision. Furthermore, as university budgets are getting tighter, university execs want justification on their investments. Adding to that increased competition in university marketing and international student recruitment, segmentation is getting more and more important. University marketers and recruiters need more insights into market opportunities so that they can target prospective students more precisely.

Recently, as the student choice has moved online, study search behaviour data has become available providing real-time insights into future demand and supply by country of destination, subject area, and country of origin and even region and city of origin and destination. Using data visualisation, tools are now increasingly available. One of these tools is the StudyPortals’ Dashboard. About 30 million unique visitors use StudyPortals each year to find a study programme abroad. This grants insights on where these students are coming from, the top countries where they consider pursuing a degree abroad, and the subject areas they are most interested in. This data, generated by millions of users, has proven to be an accurate reflection and projection of the market for higher education.

This session presents real-time insights into student interest for selected countries and cities and how to use these insights to target international students, but also to determine where to open new campuses around the globe.

Learning outcomes 

Essential for anyone interested in strategic planning and (future) international market opportunities, attendees will come away with a range of practical recommendations and insights, these will cover:

• Trends and developments
• Subject- and country-specific market opportunities
• How data can be used for insights and strategy

Price for attending, alongside main conference: £149+VAT.

Speaker

Thijs van Vugt is Director Analytics and Consulting Team at StudyPortals since 2015 and partner of iE&D Solutions BV since 2006. Some of his recent clients are: University of London, University of Nottingham, Karolinska Institute, University of Groningen, Utrecht University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Sciences Po. From 1989 until 2005 Thijs worked for Tilburg University (14 yrs; NL), the ERASMUS Bureau in Brussels and for Sheffield Hallam University (1.5 yrs; UK).

Thijs is the founder of the Expert Community Marketing & Recruitment of the European Association for International Education (EAIE). He was the chair of M&R from 2002 until 2008 and was a member of EAIE’s Executive Board from 2004 until 2008. In 2006 he published a book on The Impact of Tuition Fees on International Student Recruitment and in September 2009, Thijs was awarded the Bo Gregersen Award for Best Practice of the EAIE.

Together with his business partner, René Lenssen, Thijs was partner & director of StudyWorld (Netherlands), the Netherlands’ leading student recruitment agency and one of two IELTS test centres in the Netherlands, from 2006 until 2009, when it was sold to Kilroy Education.

Thijs has a Master’s degree in Economics from Tilburg University, a post-graduate certificate in Public Management from Tias Business School, and a post-graduate certificate in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) from Beeckestijn Business School.

For more information click here.

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Workshop 2: Doing business in India

Doing business in India is getting easier. The education sector continues to offer incredible opportunities for foreign providers. But it has not yet opened up.

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The Foreign Providers Bill is not likely to pass, and there are significant challenges in finding appropriate Joint Ventures and true collaboration with UK and other foreign universities.

The introduction of the education regulator HEERA was aimed at bringing together technical education regulator AICTE and higher education regulator UGC under one roof, has been shelved just months after being announced in 2017.

Although 100% FDI is allowed in education under the automatic route, this is not so in a Society or Trust, and therefore has to be done through a for-profit Education Services Company. India does not have any specific law or regulation for regulating education offered online. Distance education has not taken off.

How does a foreign university collaborate in India, including through collaboration levers like UKEIRI and Newton-Bhabha? What are the risks and opportunities, and how does one navigate the complex landscape? What are the untapped opportunities particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities? Hear from practitioners with several decades of experience in structuring partnerships in India.

Learning outcomes 

Essential for anyone interested in scaling up their presence in India, with a working interest in recruitment and development in India, and anyone with a partnership focus.  Attendees will come away with a range of practical recommendations and insights, including on:

• Legal models of collaboration in India. Risks and opportunities of each.
• Opportunities in Tier 2 and 3 cities.
• Upcoming anticipated changes in regulation.
• What successful JV case studies in India did right.

Price for attending, alongside main conference: £149+VAT.

Speakers

Robert Carthy is BUILA’s Lead for Regional Interest Groups and Training. He is also Director of the International Development Service at Northumbria University. He leads a team of over 80 staff based in six locations across the globe, working on the recruitment and admissions of International Students, development of International Partnerships, and student mobility. In addition he has oversight of the University’s Language Centre, delivering in-session and pre-sessional English, as well as credit-bearing modern Foreign languages.

Rob joined Northumbria University in 2003 and moved to the International Office in 2005. He has held various roles in the team since then, including Partnerships Manager and Deputy Director, and took over as the Director of International Development in November 2013. He has held executive roles on BUTEX, the UK-Saudi Interest Group, and has worked closely with the BUILA senior team. He was elected onto the BUILA executive in 2016.

Supriyo Chaudhuri is Senior Manager at EPG. He was until recently, the Director for Asia Engagement for Knod Education, a US venture-funded innovative skills company. He has extensive experience of Global Education, managing projects, leading businesses and developing and supporting partner networks, particularly in helping international partners begin, establish and grow a presence in India and Bangladesh. With an in-depth understanding of the Higher and Professional Education sectors, deep knowledge of Education Technology and global experience in Education Marketing, he has worked with some of the world’s foremost Education and Skills Training companies with distinction and success. 

Tridibesh Bandyopadhyay was Head of Operations and Dean of Studies for Globsyn Business School, and then CEO of a pan-India education and skills business business. He has been responsible for liaison with government, operational management of academic affairs of both education and training verticals, with the business responsibility of marketing, admissions and corporate relationship program, and new product development in management education & training. He was also the Director and CEO for Unitedworld School of Business, an institution for management education aspiring to become a choice of contemporary management learning in Asia. It operated with five campuses in India – Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad; and its international campus in Singapore. 

He is now Director and CEO of InQube Innoventures, an incubation platform for technology ventures. He supports companies in domains such as vocational skills (as a partner of the National Skills Development Corporation of India), digital platform for Agribusiness Advisory and rural e-commerce, E-Learning platform for Engineering & Management learning and remote tutorial support for school students.

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Workshop 3: Developing International Strategies for Universities from Emerging Markets

While emerging markets’ universities have expanded and improved over the last decade, the international footprint of their higher education still remains limited. At a time when the global demand for higher education is growing exponentially, and new regional higher education hubs such as Malaysia and Mauritius are attracting thousands of students, the international student market remains a great, but mostly unexplored, opportunity for Chinese, Indian and other such institutions.

[expand title="read more..." swaptitle="read less..."]You can read EPG’s Managing Director’s article on this in a leading Indian publication here.

The programme, which will be delivered through a full-day seminar, will help the decision makers (Presidents, Vice Chancellors, Head of Admissions or Marketing Directors) – to explore key issues in developing an international strategy, including:

• Exploring the competitive landscape in international higher education
• Identifying key markets for student recruitment
• Identifying key channels for student recruitment
• Understanding key expectations of international students
• Developing an appropriate brand proposition and communication strategies
• Addressing the long-term ‘Country Brand’ issues in international student recruitment

The course trainers would include people who have run international education businesses and have a combined experience of 50+ years of helping internationalise education. Trainers include CEOs of education institutions, former Pro Vice Chancellors, and International Office heads. The programme will cover findings of latest research in international higher education and share insights and best practices from universities which operate globally.

Learning outcomes 

Essential for anyone interested in building or scaling up an international office at their educational institution in India or other emerging markets. Attendees will come away with a range of practical recommendations and insights, including on:

• Understand how to set up an international office, gaining a clear roadmap to do so.
• Understanding how to develop an appropriate brand proposition.
• Developing an understanding of the key “Dos” and “Donts”.

Price for attending this full-day event on 22nd January (the day before the conference), alongside the main conference on 23rd January: £499+VAT.

Speakers

TBC from the UK.

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