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Berlin's Hotel InterContinental, the site of this year's ICEF Berlin Workshop.

This year's ICEF Berlin Workshop was the largest ever. This issue of the ICEF Bulletin features a complete Berlin report, with special coverage of the expanded market intelligence seminars, the launch of ICEF Online, and an update on the first School Owners' Forum.

ICEF Expands in Asia

ICEF is shifting its China workshop site from Shanghai to Beijing in 2007 with the creation of a new ICEF China Workshop next October. The ICEF Asia Workshop, held in Shanghai for the past three years, will move back to its traditional home in Southeast Asia in 2008. Both events will continue to evolve to reflect the changing landscape in the dynamic Asian marketplace, and to offer expanded, regionally focused business opportunities to agents and education providers alike.

Reflecting the unique conditions of the rapidly evolving Chinese market, the China Workshop will have a dual inbound/outbound focus. The workshop will feature Chinese agents recruiting students for studies abroad, foreign agents sending students to China, foreign education providers receiving Chinese students, and Chinese institutions receiving students from outside the country. Read more...

Full Speed Ahead to Miami

Final preparations are underway for December's ICEF Americas Workshop in Miami. The latest event statistics indicate that 258 participants, representing 194 organisations, will join the Miami workshop this year, including 105 agents from 33 countries and 89 education providers from 14 countries. All of the event statistics reflect an upward trend over last year, especially in the number of new agents attending Miami this year: 25% of this year's agent representatives, while well established in their home markets, will be attending their first ICEF Workshop.

As with other ICEF sites this year, the Americas Workshop will feature specialised market intelligence seminars, including a feature presentation on academic exchange between the US and Latin America—given by the Institute of International Education's Daniel Obst—and an eRecruitment seminar presented by Cheryl Darrup-Boychuck of USjournal.com. Nichola Croft, deputy director of visa services for Latin America, UK Visas, will present on the UK's point-based migration system.

FEATURE REPORT

ICEF Berlin Workshop Is World's Largest

By the time the final bell sounded at 5 pm on November 7, the agents and educators attending this year's ICEF Berlin Workshop had combined for a record-breaking 18,220 one-to-one meetings at the Hotel InterContinental Berlin. Read the feature report...

ICEF Online Launches in Berlin

There is a new space on the Internet for education providers and agents. Officially launched at this year's Berlin Workshop, ICEF Online is the world's first collaborative online platform for the international education industry. Since launching in early November, more than 60 education providers from 15 countries—and 25 agents from 20 countries—have joined. Read more...

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Key Market Trends Highlighted in Berlin Seminar

William Archer, director of the International Graduate Insight Group, gave Berlin Workshop attendees a good deal to think about in his presentation, "Market Trends, Expectations, and Experiences of International Education in 2006."

Archer outlined the general contours of the international education market today (e.g., explosive but unpredictable growth in demand, the "new consumer" used to constant and immediate gratification and payback, and the "era of litigious learning"), and then went on to specifics based on his proprietary market research. Read more...

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Five Big Ideas From Berlin

This year's ICEF Berlin Workshop featured a full schedule of market intelligence seminars—triple the number offered in 2005—with topics ranging from best marketing and recruitment practices to detailed explorations of current market trends. Despite the breadth of topics, certain themes relevant to both agents and education providers cropped up repeatedly. Read more...

ICEF Opens School Owners' Forum

ICEF hosted a unique gathering at the Berlin Workshop with its first-ever School Owners' Forum. Sixty-five participants from Mexico, Spain, China, Canada, the US, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, and Cyprus came together for an invitation-only discussion about the specific issues and concerns of the independent school owner. Read more...

NETWORK NEWS

Getting Ready for Dubai, Tokyo, and Moscow

With the New Year close at hand, it's time to look ahead to the next series of ICEF Workshops in Dubai, Tokyo, and Moscow in February and March 2007.

Access the Middle East in Dubai

The ICEF Middle East Workshop (Dubai, February 3-5) connects education providers with agents throughout this dynamic region. The event draws qualified agents from Morocco in the west to Bangladesh in the east, and from more than 20 countries in between. Last year, 269 participants representing 188 organisations and 37 countries met in Dubai—and this year's bookings are on pace for an even larger event in 2007.

At present, roughly 6% of the world's international students come from the Middle East. With a third of the population in the Middle East and North Africa under the age of 15, and with increasing investments in education from both within the region and abroad, the study abroad market is poised for significant growth.

Dubai is a central, convenient, and cosmopolitan meeting-place for agents from the region and education providers from around the world. The workshop will again take place at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, a Dubai landmark and a truly spectacular setting for the region's premiere industry forum.

Early booking deadlines for this workshop have now passed, but registrations are still being accepted. Click here for more on the ICEF Middle East Workshop.

ICEF Japan Workshop Is Country's Largest

Japan remains a critically important core market for education providers around the world. Last year's ICEF Japan Workshop featured 158 carefully selected Japanese agents and study abroad advisers, 20% of whom were attending their first-ever workshop—making ICEF Japan a uniquely efficient and effective meeting place to both renew existing business relationships and establish new contacts.

The 2007 ICEF Japan Workshop takes place in Tokyo March 4-6. Early booking deadlines have now passed, but registrations are still being accepted. Click here for more on the ICEF Japan Workshop.

Mid Rate Discounts Still Available for ICEF Moscow

The Mid Rate discounts are available for the 2007 ICEF Moscow Workshop (Moscow, March 27-29) until December 1, 2006. Click here for complete programme details.

The ICEF Bulletin is published periodically throughout the year. This email was sent to you by bulletin@icef.com.