Travel to international markets and personal outreach to students and parents is an important element of student recruitment. No different than in your home recruitment activities, the personal touch can be a critical starting point of a relationship and a future enrollment.

Anyone working in graduate recruitment was probably not surprised by the latest annual enrollment report from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). For the second consecutive year, CGS reported a decline in new graduate students in 2011 after almost a decade of steady growth. Even with applications up, many graduate programs are finding that prospective students are not enrolling as predictably as in the recent past.

Having a new baby at home has led to a change in my reading habits. I never thought I would spend my time studying infant sleep patterns, best performing bottle warmers, or the finer differences between identical-looking car seats.

Brian Millar’s article “5 Things Toddlers Can Teach You About Marketing” seemed like a great opportunity to read outside the infant literary spectrum, but not too far.

As a former admission counselor I have firsthand experience with the benefits of traveling to recruit prospective students. Having the ability to meet students on the road is priceless. Well, not exactly priceless, as there’s always a fee for travel and incidentals and often a very high cost to taking the show on the road. Determining the best recruitment travel plan is a fundamental part of the admission counselor’s responsibilities.

When I conduct workshops with college marketing and recruiting staff on the topic of e-mail marketing in higher education, I often lead with this question: “What’s the single most important job of an e-mail message?”

Frequent responses include “to get new students,” “to inform,” or “to get someone to apply.” More often than not, folks in the room are surprised when I share my answer: The most important role of an e-mail message is to get someone to click out of it as soon as possible.

Listening to podcasts has been productive for my own professional development. I am using audio podcasts during my commute and travel time to stay up-to-date on relevant topics and important publications. I looked around and could not find anything relevant with a focus on international student enrollment and international marketing for universities. As a result, we will launch a monthly podcast series addressing larger strategic issues, country-specific information, partner and vendor information and hands-on practical recruitment questions.

Orientation is an important part of setting up, integrating and preparing international students for their new living and academic environments. We have heard questions and frustration about students missing orientation at the beginning of the semester. We’d like to give a few suggestions on how to encourage greater participation.

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The graphic above shows the percentage of prospective students who are currently using each of the seven most popular social media sites, based on a national poll of 2,000 college-bound high school students conducted in the spring of 2012. The 2012 E-Recruiting Practices Report from Noel-Levitz compares these numbers to the social media practices that campuses report using, revealing some significant differences. (For more information on the use of social media by prospective college students, download the 2012 E-Expectations Report.)