00:03:55 · Martijn van de Veen, Craig Riggs
[00:03:55] S3: And is that very much from a big four perspective or does this apply to the sector as a whole? I mean, it seems that the emerging destinations still exhibit characteristics of more of a market era. [00:04:08] S4: Yeah. It's very much... I mean, this survey is drawing on respondents from the big four, specifically from Australia, The UK, and Canada. So three of the big four, let's say. But I think you can take that as an indicator of where industry practice is going. The big four is not the entire marketplace, but they have a very significant shaping effect on student movement around the world and on... And indeed on practice in the sector. [00:04:37] S3: Yeah. Now, Craig, another area of change, and I guess a more constant one, is the changes in student demographics. Right? And for any institution that wants to mitigate recruitment risks, it remains important to diversify, which is also highlighted in the British Council's five trends to watch report for 2025. Are you able to share with us some of those trends to watch according to the British Council?
00:05:00 · Craig Riggs
[00:05:00] S4: Yeah. This comes specifically from the British Council Office in East Asia, and it's a it's a report that I I find myself paying attention to. It always offers some interesting insights. It's something they do every year. And it's a... This year's insights largely revolve around some of the longer term shifts that we're observing in the two major sending markets in our sector, and that, of course, is China and India. Really, they're describing some important changes in both markets. In the case of China, a shift towards postgraduate studies. Historically, we had seen larger numbers coming out of China for undergraduate studies. Now that shift, as of, let's say, about ten years ago, nine, ten years ago, there was a pronounced shift that has continued through to the present day with a greater proportion of students coming out of China for postgraduate studies. That reflects in part the growing strength and capacity of the higher education system in China. It also reflects in more recent years some really important challenges around the employment prospects for university graduates in China. Youth unemployment in China is a historically high level, continues to be so. Many students, as a result, are choosing to continue their studies rather than enter the workforce. That means they're continuing their studies in advanced degrees, both in China and abroad. That's an important shift. The overall pattern for China is that the outbound mobility is slowing and shifting to postgraduate studies. India, of course, has been surging, in recent years between 2020 and 2024. In particular, there's been a massive surge in Indian outbound numbers, but, the British Council report suggests that those numbers are going to cool this year, kind of an adjustment after a period of rapid growth. And therefore, when you see in this year a slowing of outbound numbers from India and a continuing, you know, flat or slightly declining trend in outbound from China, it means that if you are chasing growth in international involvement at any one institution or school, you're increasingly going to need to look at other sending markets as well outside of those two major source countries. That's really the point.
00:07:16 · Martijn van de Veen
[00:07:16] S3: Diversification with a capital d. The rise of postgraduate education in China was one of those trends indeed. India at its peak. The other three trends they identify, one was the increasing appeal of UK as a study destination. The second one was the return of Trump. Third one, eastward shift in student mobility. And both topics that we just discussed are described in more detail on ICEF Monitor, so I suggest anyone interested in more detail do take a look. There's some very interesting articles. Now another big topic of change, change is really the constant here, is the increasing student visa rejection rates and how that impacts schools and agents. And that is our main topic this month.
00:07:59 · S5, S2
[00:07:59] S5: Exciting new developments from our industry leading training and certification arm, ICEF Academy, means it's even easier for international student recruitment agents to stay compliant with global standards of best practice whilst putting the interests of the student first. Our new certification course, Ethical Selling for Agents and Counselors, developed in partnership with Edified, equips agents with the skills to align their practices with the highest ethical standards and builds stronger relationships with students to ensure the best possible study outcomes. We're also delighted to introduce Train Your Agents, a new compliance driven agent training platform enabling institutions to deliver training and assessment consistently and at scale. To find out more about these developments and how ICEF Academy is raising professional standards in international education, visit isef.comacademy. [00:09:05] S2: Up next, the main topic of
00:09:14 · Martijn van de Veen
[00:09:14] S3: The rapid rise in student visa rejection rates across prominent study destinations has a major impact not just on the students, but equally on the schools and agencies handling their recruitment. Higher rejection rates have resulted in new pre paid student fee management policies within the sector in response to the increased financial pressures on both schools and agents. Now it appears that higher rejection rates have also contributed to some high profile school and agency closures in recent months, partly because schools and agencies relied on projected visa approval rates, all of which underscores how uncertainty around visa processing affects our sector and its stakeholders. In this episode's main topic, we will take a closer look at the challenges in the visa process, such as processing delays and rejection rates, and explore their impact on educators, agents, and students. We'll also discuss insights and best practices to mitigate the risks associated with visa processing uncertainties. Joining myself and Craig for this discussion are Michal Sestak, Managing Director and Principal Migration Agent at AustraliaOnline and Shawn Silverstone, director international marketing and recruitment at Coquitlam School District in British Columbia, Canada. Gentlemen, welcome. Great to have you on this episode on this very, very important topic. Guess the best way to start is always with a brief introduction of yourself, and perhaps you can also highlight a little bit your affinity and experience with today's topic. So Shawn, may I start with you?
00:10:45 · Shawn Silverstone, Martijn van de Veen
[00:10:45] S1: Thank you, Martijn. So my name, yes, is Shawn Silverstone. I'm the of international marketing recruitment for the Coquitlam School District located in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. School District is about thirty minutes from Downtown Vancouver, and we've had a history of, supporting international students since 1999 as part of the school district. Myself, I've worked in the sector for over twenty years, working at a public post secondary school and, two public, k to 12 institutions as well. I have a definite, love for international education, having many friends around the world that I've met as part of this job and really so love supporting students and seeing their ability to come and be part of the Canadian education system and then thrive and hearing about their success stories in the future is always a wonderful part of this job. So thank you again for allowing me to be part of this important topic. [00:11:40] S3: Wonderful. Thank you so much. I think we share that love for international education. Don't we, Michal?