This document is a report from an agency called Net Natives about international student recruitment trends. It summarizes search data and key insights about recruiting students from Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey and other countries. It provides tips on understanding student motivations and tailoring campaigns for different markets. The report is intended to help marketing teams recruit more international students effectively.

1. INTERNATIONAL
MARKETING
Social and Digital Advertising
Agency with a Purpose
©2014 Net Natives

2. Following the success of international campaigns for
University of Kent, Swansea University and UTAS earlier
this year, we've been inspired to take advantage of our
Trusted Google Partnership status, to discover trends in
student desires to study abroad.
And if you’re lucky enough to be at the EAIE Conference
in Prague then you’re getting exclusive early access to
this report.
Enjoy!
©2014 Net Natives

3. What will you find in this report?
• AN INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
• TARGETING BRAZIL
• TARGETING INDONESIA
• TARGETING NIGERIA
• COMPARING TURKEY / INDIA / BANGLADESH / SRI LANKA
• INTRODUCTION TO MINT COUTRIES
• ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE
• UNDERSTANDING MINT AUDIENCES
• MEXICAN STUDENTS
• INDONESIAN STUDENTS
• NIGERIAN STUDENTS
• TURKISH STUDENTS
• TRACKING – RESPONDING – CONVERTING
• ABOUT NET NATIVES
Who is this for?
We’ve created this report to support marketing teams worldwide in
their international student recruitment campaigns.
Better understand how to tackle recruiting students from foreign
countries at postgraduate and undergraduate level.
©2014 Net Natives

4. THERE’S A LOT
GOING ON HERE!
…and this is just
7/120 countries
we target for our
university clients.
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Brazil
India
Indonesia
Nigeria
Turkey
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
INTERNATIONAL
OPPORTUNITY
Average searches per month for UK Universities
NATIVES TOP TIP #1
“Understand the behaviour and motivators for the international students you’re
targeting”
• With an estimated 51 million international searches for UK universities in the last applicant
cycle (Aug ‘13 – Jul ’14), there’s clearly an appetite for studying abroad.
• As the chart above shows, specific strategies are needed for each country, as each region has
unique times when university is front-of-mind.
©2014 Net Natives

5. BRAZIL | Average searches per
month for UK Universities
NATIVES TOP TIP #2
“It’s not enough to know when interest peaks in each country, understanding why is just as
important”
• Brazilian searches peaked in October, but not because of the Oxbridge/VetMed deadline. The YouTube crazy
students of Brazil were more interested in universities’ ban on Robin Thicke’s provocative, Blurred Lines video.
• The March and September peaks are much more telling, as the releases of the THE and QS international rankings
sparked interest in this league table conscious group of students.
©2014 Net Natives

6. INDONESIA | Average searches per
month for UK Universities
NATIVES TOP TIP #4
“Early identification of new territories can give you a vital head start in a global market.”
• In early 2013, Indonesia was an untapped resource for student recruitment. Fast forward 18 months and the
Jump to
page 13 for
more
information
on MINT
countries.
International Student Index is reporting an estimated 24 million potential undergraduate applicants, and upwards of
8.5 million education related searches each month.
• Ask us how we generated a 180% increase in applications from Indonesia, for University of Glasgow, at
netnatives.com/contact
©2014 Net Natives

7. Incredible return on investment… the best response
from our lowest spend.
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW “
©2014 Net Natives

8. NIGERIA | Average searches per
month for UK Universities
NATIVES TOP TIP #5
“Make sure you focus your campaigns on measurable outcomes. Do you want quantity or quality?
You can’t have both. Or can you.”
• Nigeria is well known for contributing hundreds of thousands of student enquiries every year, but the conversion to
application ratio is notoriously low and requests for scholarships are high.
• In 2013/14, Swansea University made of use smart qualification techniques to increase applications from Nigeria, to
undergraduate and postgrad courses, by 74 and 35% respectively.
Learn more about Swansea’s international student marketing success
©2014 Net Natives

9. The level of targeting and effort from the campaign
team has had a major impact on the quality of
students responding to our advertising.
SWANSEA UNIVERSITY “
©2014 Net Natives

10. TURKEY
INDIA
BANGLADESH SRI LANKA
©2014 Net Natives

11. “Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey - MINT -
could become the new name on people's lips, and
further overturn the old world order.” | BBC Radio 4, Jan’ 2014
©2014 Net Natives

12. MINT, is the latest acronym coined to identify the
emerging (and growing) markets of Mexico,
Indonesia, Nigeria & Turkey. Due to this growth
and opportunity it’s perhaps no surprise that
International departments are now starting to
identify these countries as providing new
opportunities to recruit international students for
both Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses.
The countries have been linked through some
shared economic trends; predicted increases in
economic growth, a growing middle class and
large populations eligible for work, as well as
being in advantageous geographic locations for
trade with other countries (3 out of the 4 are
already members of G20). | Net Natives blog, March 2014
©2014 Net Natives

13. “[there is]… a common appetite for educational
improvement and a motivation for MINT populations
to gain an education in what is deemed to be the
global language; English.” | Jim O’Neill, Economist
©2014 Net Natives

14. social media users aged 17-23
Facebook
(English Speaking)
LinkedIn
(English Speaking)
Total 54,120,000 4,281,522
Mexico 2,000,000 472,157
India 46,000,000 3,340,220
Nigeria 4,000,000 167,878
Turkey 1,920,000 301,267
social media users aged 20-30
Facebook
(English Speaking)
LinkedIn
(English Speaking)
Total 96,200,000 8,594,595
Mexico 22,000,000 956,687
India 52,000,000 6,607,834
Nigeria 6,200,000 361,353
Turkey 16,000,000 668,721
©2014 Net Natives
UNDERGRADUATE
POSTGRADUATE

15. UNDERSTANDING
COUNTRIES
©2014 Net Natives

16. MEXICO
• Promote cultural life, location and student experience gained by studying at
your university.
• Mexican students are attracted by the experience of being at a particular
university or city.
• They are also interested in understanding what the University can offer that
will give them an advantage in achieving internationally in-demand careers.
©2014 Net Natives

17. INDONESIA
• Students from Indonesia are concerned that if they study abroad they will lose
ground to those studying in their home country.
• Concern that overseas qualifications won’t be transferable when they come
back to Indonesia to work.
• Messaging should include internationally recognised qualifications:
• Quality of teaching
• Awards
• Rankings
©2014 Net Natives

18. NIGERIA
• Nigeria is a popular target for UK institutions as they are known Anglophiles.
• They have a large and growing affluent middle class and are willing to travel.
• Nigerians are motivated by the opportunities for career progression when
they return home, as a result of studying at an overseas university.
©2014 Net Natives

19. TURKEY
• Rankings are impressive as they’re looking for a high-quality education, which
may not be accessible/available in their home country/local areas.
• It’s important to make it clear that your courses are available to them.
©2014 Net Natives

20. TRACKING – RESPONDING - CONVERTING
At Net Natives we use our proprietary application
tracking software, which optimises relevant
enquiries by using targeted filtering techniques.
NB: Our screening qualifiers are based on level of study and
previous qualifications.
By tailoring follow-ups with country specific
messages, email open rates from MINT countries
can reach up to 95% (compared to up to 19%
average email open rates in the UK).
SEE OUR LATEST WORK…
©2014 Net Natives

21. Net Natives are the outcome focused, creative,
digital advertising agency for universities around
the world - from Scotland to New Zealand.
We don’t care about clicks, we focus on
generating enquiries, increasing applications and
improving conversion to enrolment.
Our campaign team have achieved Trusted
Google Partner status and they re-qualify each
year to make sure we’re able to run the best
performing and most cost-effective online
campaigns for our clients.
Learn more at our website – netnatives.com
call: +44 (0) 1273 734 640
visit: netnatives.com
tweet: @netnatives
©2014 Net Natives