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Return to Bulletin Home - May 2007 |
ICEF to Establish New Higher Education and Training Services The international education industry is growing by leaps and bounds, which is extremely exciting for the players involved but also challenging because the territory is new and constantly changing. Both education providers and agents have expressed demand for more knowledge, consistency, and standards when it comes to student recruitment practices. In response, ICEF will launch two new products groups later this year with targeted services for the higher education sector and professional development training for both agents and providers. The new ICEF higher education group will respond to growth in the higher education sector through the ICEF Higher Education Workshop and through consulting services on student recruitment strategies for higher education institutions worldwide. Meanwhile, ICEF's new professional development group will deliver executive training programmes for both agents and providers. The findings from ICEF's 2006 training and development survey will inform the priorities for ICEF's training programmes. For example, the survey results show that the top five subjects participating agents want to learn more about are recruiting students, Internet marketing, exhibiting at fairs, writing marketing plans, and maximising working relationships with education providers. Both of the new product groups will be led by Maite Vuides, who has recently joined ICEF after a long career leading the international office at Spain's Universitat Pompeu Fabra. (See below.) "We are delighted to welcome Maite to the ICEF team," says ICEF CEO Markus Badde. "She has played an important leadership role in internationalising higher education and her expertise will be invaluable for ICEF clients in every sector and region." "There is a clear demand in the marketplace for these services. Our clients tell us this, and the formal surveys we have conducted have provided us a path toward meeting their training and consulting needs. Our goal is to help professionalise the strategies and practices of agents and education providers. With our worldwide network of workshop sites and industry specialists, ICEF is ideally placed to deliver real expertise and market insights through these new product groups." ICEF training programmes will be delivered in conjunction with ICEF's workshops worldwide, and will be targeted to the specific requirements of agents and providers, as well as individual education sectors such as higher education and language schools. Watch for further news in upcoming bulletins through the summer of 2007, or request further information at training@icef.com. Introducing Maite Viudes de VelascoDirector, ICEF Higher Education and ICEF TrainingMaite Viudes' first experience in international education was in 1986. After completing her law studies in Spain that year, she received a grant to continue her graduate studies in Brussels. For the next five years, she worked for the European Commission, a law firm, and a Spanish non-governmental organisation in Brussels before returning to Barcelona in 1991 to join the newly formed Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF). Founded as a public university in 1990, UPF had 300 students and no international linkages when Maite first arrived to take up the challenge of creating an international office, building global awareness of the school, and building international linkages for the university. Today, UPF has an enrolment of 9,000 students and is one of the most internationally active universities in Europe. The university currently hosts 800 exchange students, including 600 from the United States, with as many as 40% of its graduate students coming from outside of Spain and ties to some of the world's most prestigious institutions. Maite is a member of the EAIE Marketing and Recruitment Board, and, as such, has been actively involved in higher education on an international level. Looking back on her experience at UPF, Maite says, "The thing I am proudest of is that we have helped a lot of students to see the world—to have an international experience that has changed their lives." Looking ahead, she sees many changes within the higher education sector, and new opportunities. "Students want to study abroad," she says. "It's a massive phenomenon. The students are changing the context for higher education and this can be overwhelming for the universities. At the same time, the Bologna Accord is prompting profound change within European universities and will lead to greater transparency and student mobility across Europe's higher education sector." "Universities are now moving to respond to these broad changes. For many, this will mean professionalising their internationalisation efforts, and also changing their culture, so that international offices are staffed with specialist-practitioners in international education. This will entail an increased focus on students, an increased investment in marketing and student recruitment, and the adoption of a truly global perspective." |
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