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Return to Bulletin Home - June 2009 |
Report from Tokyo: Building for the Long Term in Japan "I was able to meet agents from Kobe, Osaka, Tokyo, Sapporo & Yamanashi. I felt like I covered a lot of "territory" without even leaving Shinjuku!" — Tiffany Crook, Bishop's College School, Canada "In the past we have always tried to develop relationships with Japanese agents via email or phone calls and it has been a very long process. By taking part in the workshop the process of commencing relationships with agents has escalated very quickly." — Neda Morris, TEG – The Education Group, Australia
The ICEF Japan Workshop is the country's largest and most international professional student recruitment workshop. It provides international educators with the focused opportunity to meet quality student recruitment agents exclusively from Japan. The 2009 ICEF Japan Workshop (March 1–3, Tokyo) saw 206 participants representing 143 organisations engage in an intensive schedule of one-to-one meetings over two days. This was the first-ever ICEF workshop for 16% of participating agents. Participants came from 17 countries and 5 continents, but the top educator countries were USA, United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, and Canada. As in other markets around the world, there can be real strategic advantages to investing in marketing during difficult economic times. e-SCHOOL's Masaki Seike picked up this theme in her comments after the Tokyo workshop, "Allow me to congratulate ICEF for their hard work in creating a successful workshop even in the middle of economy downturn in the world. ICEF Workshop is an excellent opportunity to meet up with many educational institutions, language schools, and related service providers."
On the day before the one-to-one workshop meetings, participants gained firsthand insights on evolving marketing strategies for Japan during an afternoon of market intelligence seminars. One of the featured speakers was Kenichi Ikeno, the founder and managing director of UTS Centre for International Education. UTS is a leading Japanese educational travel agent, and Mr. Ikeno observed that a mature market calls for new marketing strategies, and he offered a number of recommendations in this respect.
Mr. Ikeno's seminar was followed by a presentation by Dr. Miki Horie of Nagoya University. Dr. Horie gave an overview of higher education exchange in Japan, and described in detail a current Japanese initiative to triple the number of foreign students in the country over the next 12 years. (Please see our earlier update on Japan's recruitment plans from the October 2008 ICEF Bulletin.)
Taken together, Mr. Ikeno's and Dr. Horie's market intelligence seminars paint a clear picture of a Japanese market that has continued strength but that is also shifting to new marketing approaches and expanded partnerships between institutions, associations, and other stakeholders. The 2010 ICEF Japan Workshop will take place at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo from March 3–5, 2010. "This was my first time at ICEF Japan. The event is much smaller than Berlin, but I like the "intimate" format. I think it works well in Japan. I've met some good prospects and hope they'll turn into successful business in the future." — Res Helfer, Brandon College, USA |
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