The 2007 ICEF Americas Workshop was held in Miami December 9-11. Please see "Report from Miami" below for more.

In this issue: 2007 milestones • ICEF Middle East Workshop on now • Upcoming workshops in Tokyo, Moscow, and Singapore • Registrations growing quickly for the Australia New Zealand Workshop • Report from Miami • EducationFairFinder launches

2007 Year in Review

It was a banner year for major recruitment initiatives at ICEF: ICEF workshops around the world drew record numbers of participants; the ICEF Online platform attracted more users than ever; and two new product groups launched to provide expanded services for the higher education sector as well as professional development training for international recruiters.

"We see large numbers of education institutions around the world expanding their international recruitment programmes," says ICEF CEO Markus Badde. "Some of these are entering international markets for the first time, but many more want to grow and diversify their international enrolments. We are well placed to help given our global scope and linkages to key markets and networks worldwide."

Major milestones in 2007 included:

• The ICEF Berlin Workshop set an attendance record again in 2007 with 1,566 delegates from 88 countries attending—an increase of 9% over the 2006 attendance and a remarkable 36% increase since 2005.
• The ICEF China Workshop established itself as the largest of ICEF's regional workshops, with 536 participants from 54 countries in 2007—an 85% increase over the 2006 attendance.
• ICEF held its first Higher Education Workshop in September 2007 in conjunction with the annual European Association for International Education Conference (EAIE) in Trondheim, Norway. The specialised workshop hosted 92 participants from 35 countries, and matched well-established, accredited universities with carefully screened recruitment agents.
• In its first full year of operation, ICEF Online, the world's first Internet platform for educators and agents, has grown into a viable and productive online community, recently announcing a series of new features which reflect the platform's ambition to provide a total industry solution for educator-agent collaboration. New features already available to members include new online discussion boards for agents and educators as well as a secure payment gateway that will facilitate efficient, inexpensive financial transfers between agents and schools.

This Week in Dubai

The Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai, site of the ICEF Middle East Workshop.

This week's ICEF Middle East Workshop in Dubai (February 3-5) marks the start of an expanding worldwide series of workshop events for 2008. More than 300 participants from nearly 40 countries are gathering in Dubai this week. This sets a new record for attendance and continues the pattern of growth and diverse international representation for the Middle East Workshop. New this year: Along with meetings with carefully selected recruitment agents, education providers also have an option to schedule meetings with each other to explore partnerships for student exchange, joint programmes, and more.

On to Tokyo, Moscow, and Singapore

The workshop calendar focuses on burgeoning markets in Asia and Russia in March and April with events in Tokyo, Moscow, and Singapore. Limited space is still available in all three workshops, but already, registrations are pointing to record attendance for each event. The ICEF Japan Workshop (Tokyo, March 3-5) focuses on key agencies and emerging trends in the Japanese market, still one of the main source countries for international students. The ICEF Moscow Workshop (March 28-30) is one of ICEF's largest regional networking events and connects education providers from around the world with ICEF-vetted agents from the rapidly growing Russian and CIS markets. The ICEF Asia Workshop (April 28-30) returns to Singapore this year, reflecting the workshop's broader regional focus on key markets throughout Asia-still the main driver of worldwide growth in international student enrolments.

The Australia New Zealand Workshop Takes Off

The Australia New Zealand Agent Workshop will be held at the Hilton Sydney May 5-7—bringing top agents from around the world for an intensive schedule of one-to-one meetings with education providers from Australia and New Zealand. Nearly 100 institutions have registered to date.

The workshop has also drawn the support of leading industry organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand, some of which will be hosting a series of fam tours for participating agents to Adelaide, Perth, the Northern Sydney beaches, and Tasmania.

Report from Miami: The ICEF Americas Workshop

The ICEF Americas Workshop is the largest and most international event of its kind in the region. The 2007 workshop—held in Miami December 9-11—saw continued dramatic growth in both overall attendance and international representation. This clearly reflects the strengthening position of the United States as both a destination for and source of international students as well as the growing interest in Latin America among education providers worldwide. Read more...

Innovative Education Fair Directory Launches Online

"Budgets are tight these days, and the number and variety of education fairs has exploded in recent years. What we've created here is a way for people to pinpoint the fairs that are going to help them get the best possible return on their marketing dollars." So says Tim Rogers, the former head of Student Recruitment & Admissions at the London School of Economics and now the proprietor of the consulting firm International Education Consultants UK. Read more...

NETWORK NEWS

China: On Its Way to Becoming the Largest Internet Market

The state-owned China Internet Network Information Center reported this month that China's population of Internet users grew by 53% from 2006 and 2007, exceeding 162 million users as of June 2007. In a related development, the Wall Street Journal estimates that China's base of Internet users is now just five million short of surpassing the United States as the world's largest Internet market.

For more, please see "Language Usage Online" from ICEF Bulletin Issue #4, February 2007.

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