The city or town in which your institution is located is an integral part of the student experience. As such, it is often also a central aspect of an effective brand position. See "Five Ideas for Branding Your Institution" for more. Above: The campus at Princeton University.

In this issue: Five Ideas for Branding Your Institution • New Agent Training Programme • Emerging Markets in the Spotlight in Dubai • Building for the Long Term in Japan • The View from Moscow • The World Comes to Auckland • ICEF at NAFSA • Workshops for Fall 2009

The Educational Brand:

Five Ideas for Branding Your Institution

If there is one constant in the international education marketplace it is intensity of competition—both between established and emerging destination countries, and also among institutions that strive to attract the strongest students, faculty, partners, and funders. The corresponding challenge for all universities and schools is to somehow distinguish themselves in a crowded field of comparable institutions.

More about branding and five ideas every institution can use...

New Agent Training Programme

ICEF is developing a practical, professional training course for agency-based student counsellors. The course will be delivered online and free of charge in a self-paced modular format.

More about ICEF agent training...

Report from the ICEF Middle East & Africa Workshop:

Emerging Markets in the Spotlight in Dubai

There are a number of growth hot spots throughout the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, but Saudi Arabia—with its booming youthful population and massive international scholarship programmes—is widely acknowledged as a major driver of regional growth.

More on current market conditions in the Middle East and Africa...

Report from Tokyo:

Building for the Long Term in Japan

The ICEF Japan Workshop is the country's largest and most international professional student recruitment workshop. 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.

More on the Japanese market...

The View from Moscow:

High-Quality Agents and Market Growth

There were more agents than ever at this year's ICEF Moscow Workshop and they came with a shared message: even with the current economic crisis the Russian market is strong and growing. "The economic downturn has contributed to a shift in greater spending on education and away from other types of consumer spending," said ICEF's Business Development Manager, Sergey Krasnyanskiy.

Get the latest on the rapidly changing Russian market...

The World Comes to Auckland for ANZA 2009

In April 2009, over 200 agents from 46 countries came to Auckland for the second Australia New Zealand Agent Workshop. Jointly organised by ICEF and Australia-based EdMedia, The ANZA Workshop is a destination-focused event open only to educators from Australia and New Zealand.

Read the full story from Auckland...

NETWORK NEWS

New ICEF Video

Our new video is now available on the ICEF website. Do you see anyone you know? Either way, please feel free to email us any comments or feedback.

ICEF at NAFSA

ICEF CEO Markus Badde was at the annual NAFSA conference to participate in two seminar sessions: a joint conference presentation with representatives from Australian Education International (AEI) and the University of Cincinnati, as well as a special panel discussion on working with international education agents with representatives from Coventry University and Hamline University.

This was the 61st Annual Conference for NAFSA, held May 24–29 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The conference attracted approximately 7,500 attendees from more than 100 countries with a record percentage of participants coming from outside of the United States.

ICEF was an exhibitor at the conference and also sponsored the 2009 AAIEP Reception (American Association of Intensive English Programs) at the UCLA Figueroa Courtyard.

Workshop Update:

Looking Ahead to Fall

The ICEF Higher Education Workshop:
September 13-15, Madrid, Spain

• For accredited higher education institutions and higher education-focused agencies
• Scheduled immediately before the Annual Conference of the European Association for International Education

The ICEF Latin America Workshop:
September 30–October 2, Sao Paulo, Brazil

• For educators from around the world and ICEF-screened agencies from throughout Latin America

The ICEF China Workshop:
October 14–16, Beijing, China

• Meet ICEF-screened agents from China, Asia and beyond
• Connect with Chinese educators for international partnerships

The ICEF Berlin Workshop:
November 1–3, Berlin, Germany

• The largest and most international agent workshop in the world
• Featuring a new Work & Travel Zone for 2009

The ICEF North America Workshop:
December 6–8, Miami, USA

• For US and Canadian educators only and carefully screened agents from around the world with a focus on North America
• The first annual meeting of the American International Recruitment Council will be held immediately before on December 4 and 5.
• The AIRC will also hold an Agent Certification Workshop on December 9 immediately following the ICEF North America Workshop. This one-day workshop is intended for education agencies focused on the US who want a comprehensive overview of how to achieve AIRC Certification. For pre-registration, please contact Stephanie Jensen.

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