Global Initiatives Leads the Way in Virtual Recruitment

When the university closed in March and events and recruitment were moved to a new virtual world, the OAR Global Initiatives Team was ready. With the impacts of COVID-19 being felt around the world at the beginning of the year, it was clear that we would need to react quickly to accommodate our future Badgers abroad, and the team was able to quickly pivot into the virtual recruitment world. Work was already underway for an International Admitted Student Week, offering information from partners across campus, including UWPD, ISS, CFYE, University Housing, UHS, and CCAS. Part of the efforts for the event included a virtual tour and presentation, which had the ball already rolling when OAR needed to move to entirely virtual offerings in March.   From April to August, the team participated in numerous events for international students:
  • 3 Ciaflo fairs, catering to students in SE Asia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
  • 3 Udentity fairs, which is a Chinese company that has developed this online platform to meet the needs of Chinese students and counselors. Ethan participated in both, including a reverse fair where he was able to meet with school counselors and continue those relationships.
  • Information Session/Q&A with EducationUSA centers in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and The Gambia. Counselors were asked to speak about topics like finding your fit, large public universities, or specifically on UW–Madison. Sarah had also created a short promotional video message that was shared on EdUSA Bangalore’s WhatsApp group.
  • Information Session/Q&A with schools in China through the Beijing Academy of College Counselors group. Ethan hosted a special session on May 29, and other schools in China attended due to technical challenges (Beijing National Day, Shanghai ZiZhu College).
  • E-visits with Dubai American Academy and Information Session/Q&A with the newly formed Abu Dhabi Department of Education & Knowledge (ADEK). ADEK now administers many of the private scholarships in the Emirates.
The Global Initiatives Team also offered a variety of Information Sessions and Instagram Live AMA’s aimed specifically at international students. There’s still much more on the docket for fall. The Global Initiatives Team continues to work with on-campus partners when it’s a good fit. DCS has the summer EducationUSA Academy for international students, and we have partnered up on a series of presentations with EducationUSA offices to highlight summer, non-degree, and undergraduate degree opportunities. Our office is teaming up with DCS and the Graduate School to staff the EducationUSA Western Hemisphere Virtual Fair. Sam Thompson will serve as the OAR point person for this fair. This fair is slated to reach students in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central/South America. This will give us the chance to highlight the full suite of academic programs UW–Madison has to offer. The Global Initiatives Team has also partnered with other universities to host a suite of workshops that are more college counseling-based. Though we promote our individual universities, our real focus is on helping guide students through the admissions process, give an overview of U.S. higher education, and help them find their fit in the college search process. We’ve paired up with other large publics such as the University of Oregon, the University of Florida, and Rutgers University, as well as small private liberal arts schools, to show the wide-range of options students have if they choose to study in the U.S. We will also be offering a suite of counselor-based sessions to address topics around the impact of COVID-19 in all our target markets. The team continues to be engaged in virtual school visits and fairs spanning the globe. We have fairs booked in South Asia, the Middle East, South East Asia, and China & East Asia.  We are also participating in Fulbright fairs in both London and Greece this year and look forward to how the virtual efforts brought on by COVID-19 can continue to assist in the recruitment of international students to UW–Madison.