Events
Members of the i-graduate team regularly speak at conferences and events. We also host conferences, including the annual Best Practice Exchange and Rethinking Higher Education events. Details of past and future events will always feature here. For more information about any of the events listed, or to arrange a meeting with a member of the team, please contact info@i-graduate.org.
Upcoming events
Going Global 4
25-26th March 2010
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Central London
Going Global is the largest international education conference in the UK, providing the opportunity for delegates to debate the drivers and motivations for international education, at both national and institutional level. This year's conference theme is World Potential: Making Education Meet the Challenge. The event will explore the trends and implications; explore models for change drawing on case studies from across the world; examine the barriers; and deliver frameworks for action across the following areas:
• Staff and student mobility
• Global partnerships
• Global citizens
• Policy and leadership
i-graduate Director Will Archer is participating in two sessions at Going Global 4:
1) What do the students want?
09.00am, Friday 26th March
‘What do the students want?’ is a panel debate which draws on four major studies of students' attitudes when choosing where to pursue their education, including i-graduate’s International Student Barometer, the largest annual study of international students in the world.
The studies have focused on students' behaviour over time and across continents, aiming to capture the dynamic nature of the student decision making processes over time. A common theme is the increasing role of targeted marketing if a university is to be successful in international student recruitment. This session offers a unique opportunity to find out the latest trends in students’ behaviour when deciding where and when to pursue their studies.
Panellists:
Chair: Hanneke Teekens, Director of Communications, Nuffic, Netherlands
• William Archer, Director, i-graduate, UK
• Rachel Fletcher, Director, Enrolment Management Services, Hobsons PLC, UK
• Dr Janet Ilieva, Senior Advisor, Education Market Intelligence and Research, British Council, UK
• Rebecca Loades, Associate Director, Graduate Management Admission Council, UK
• Jonathan Pratt, Marketing Director, StudyLink, Australia
2) Managing expectations and supporting the international experience
11.45am, Friday 26th March
Chaired by Dominic Scott OBE (Chief Executive, UKCISA) this session takes an insightful, evidence-based look at two significant groups of international students in the UK: students who come to the UK to learn English and students who come for higher education.
Will Archer and Tony Millns (Chief Executive, English UK) will report the results of a study of over 50 English language teaching (ELT) schools and over 2,250 ELT students to address a range of questions: How successful is the provision of English language programmes in the UK? How does the student experience vary at private and public institutions? What can the Government and institutions do to improve the experience for this group of learners? How can the UK retain and improve its global reputation as a leading provider of quality education for international students? Catherine Walter, University Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, University of Oxford, will report on a study of the experiences of postgraduate international students in UK higher education.
For further details of the conference programme, visit the Going Global website.
At the event, you can find us at the i-graduate exhibition stand (stand number 24). To arrange a meeting in advance with one of the team, please contact info@i-graduate.org.
APAIE Annual Conference
14-16th April 2010
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
APAIE is an international non-profit organisation whose goal is to activate and reinforce the internationalization of higher education in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world. Each year APAIE holds an international conference hosted by a University in the Asia-Pacific Region. i-graduate Director Will Archer and Kevin Brett, Director of Client Services Australia will deliver an interactive session at the APAIE 2010 Annual Conference and Exhibition, hosted by Griffith University and taking place on Australia’s Gold Coast. The session, entitled ‘Developing Best Practice for the International Student Experience', will provide case studies of evidence led interventions by education providers to improve the international student experience.
As universities and other providers in the ELICOS, polytechnic and vocational education sectors gather time series data on the student experience through the International Student Barometer, they are able to identify their strengths and weaknesses, select intervention strategies to improve performance as required, and measure the outcomes of the intervention projects. This documented process with consistent and reliable data can also be used in the providers’ quality improvement framework.
The case studies presented within the i-graduate session may include and are not limited to:
• National cooperation: UK universities working together to share best practice in international provision
• Off shore provision: a group of Australian universities sharing best practice in the transnational student experience
• Working across a sector: improving the student experience in the English Language teaching sector
• Accreditation and best practice: an industry perspective. How members of the Tourism, Hospitality and Events International Centre of Excellence (THE–ICE) use the ISB to raise the profile of that industry group
• Institutional initiatives: an international university provides examples of best practice improvement using the ISB.
The theme linking the case studies is that different user groups are responding to the challenge of maintaining communication with the student body. Each case study will demonstrate the creativity of colleagues in international education striving to improve the student experience in this competitive sector.
For further details of the conference programme, please click here.
To arrange a meeting in advance with Will Archer or Kevin Brett at the APAIE Annual Conference, please contact info@i-graduate.org.
UKCISA Conference 2010
12-14th July 2010
University of York
The UKCISA Conference is the main professional updating opportunity for staff who support international students in UK further and higher education.
i-graduate are delighted to have been invited to address delegates at the event, and we will be providing findings from our latest research, including work in the international FE sector.
Further details will be made available soon. Please visit the UKCISA website for further updates.
Past events
Quality, Price and Reputation
24th February 2010
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Woolgate Exchange, 25 Basinghill Street, London
 |
 |
 |
 |
Sponsored by:
Thank you to all who attended Quality, Price and Reputation conference on 24th February 2010, hosted by the UK Higher Education International Unit and i-graduate, with the support of Universities UK and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The event attracted over 100 delegates from the international HE sector.
The conference explored perceptions of excellence in an international higher education context and the relationship between pricing, quality and institutional reputations worldwide. Key themes included the impact of price on decision making; prestige vs. cost; the relevance of quality; and imaginative new approaches to pricing. We gained insight from international methods, including from the United States and Europe, and considered a business approach to pricing issues to assess how universities can attract the brightest and best students to their campuses. In addition to the plenaries and a panel debate, concurrent 'theory' workshop sessions explored issues relating to quality, price and reputation.
Speakers included:
Will Archer, Director, i-graduate
Professor Nicholas Barr, Professor of Public Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science
Professor Sir Drummond Bone, Chairman, International Advisory Board, Laureate Inc, UK
Carolyn Campbell, Head of International Affairs at the Quality Assurance Agency
Dr David Docherty, Chief Executive, The Council for Industry and Higher Education
Dr Dean L. Hubbard, President Emeritus, Northwest Missouri State University
Dr Neil Kemp, Visiting Fellow, Institute of Education
Arnold Longboy, Marketing Director, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business Europe Campus
John Quirk, Director of International Affairs, University of Central Lancashire
Dr Keith Sharp, Head of UK HE International Unit
Professor Steve Smith, President of Universities UK and Vice-Chancellor, University of Exeter
Wes Streeting, President, National Union of Students
Elizabeth Tromer, International Affairs Department Director, Technical University of Denmark
David Willetts MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Universities and Skills
Please click here to view the Quality, Price and Reputation conference agenda.
We are keen to receive your feedback on the event. For further information about the event or if you were unable to attend, please contact Naomi Kenny (naomi.kenny@i-graduate.org).
Meeting the Residential Needs of International Students
29th January 2010
Imperial College, London
i-graduate Director William Archer gave a keynote address at this one day conference, organised by Unipol and UKCISA in association with CUBO. The event was aimed all those working with international students in a residential context. Will's session, entitled 'How Effective are Accommodation at Responding to the Needs of International Students' examined how feedback and benchmarked data from international students can be used to improve accommodation services.
Association of International Education Administrators 2010 Annual Conference
14-18th February 2010
Washington DC
One of the key events on the calendar of many international educators, the AIEA Annual Conference 2010, took place in Washington DC from 14th to 18th February. i-graduate were an event sponsor, and i-graduate Director Will Archer addressed delegates at the Networking Reception on 16th February.
New data from the International Student Barometer was presented during an interactive session entitled ' The Ohio experience, key findings and best practice from the International Student Barometer’. Will Archer spoke alongside David Fleshler, Associate Provost for International Affairs at Case Western Reserve University and Ronald Cushing, International Director at the University of Cincinnati.This session aimed to:
- Share the latest data from the largest annual study of international students
- Discuss examples of excellence through case studies from leading institutions worldwide
- Explore the use of benchmarking data to facilitate improvement in the student experience
The i-graduate team were represented at AIEA by:
- Will Archer (Director)
- Pamela Barrett (Consultant)
- Jessica Howlett (Senior Client Relations Executive)
For further information about the AIEA conference, please click here.
Emap Education: Recruiting and Supporting International Students Forum
21st January 2010
ICO Conference Centre, London W1
The Recruiting and Supporting International Students Forum, organised by Emap, consisted of two stand alone but complementary conference days specifically designed to help HEIs position themselves in a competitive market and provide an excellent student experience.
William Archer joined speakers from UKCISA, AGR, QAA and NUS on Day Two of the event: Meeting International Student Expectations. The plenary session, entitled 'Understanding the needs of international students: An insight into decisionmaking, expectations and experiences of international students' focussed on institutional benchmarking and enhancing competitive advantage and discussion as to how institutions can use international student feedback to inform departmental and institutional decision-making.
For more information about the Emap event, please click here.
Society for Research into HE (SRHE) Annual Conference
8-10th December 2009
Celtic Manor, Newport, South Wales
i-graduate Director William Archer presented a paper at the SRHE Annual Conference on Wednesday 9th December, entitled 'A question of time: exploring perceptions of contact hours through the largest annual study of international students'.
In summer 2009, i-graduate's International Student Barometer captured perceptions from over 50,000 students regarding the time spent on supervised and unsupervised study. Responding to recent challenges to the sector regarding study hours, this session paper reported and compared contact hours for formal and supervised study, with the addition of a 'Goldilocks measure'; whether students think this is too little, too much or just right, analysed nationally by field, level of study and nationality.
For further information about the session, please visit the SRHE conference website.
EAIE (European Association of International Education) Annual Conference
16-19th September 2009
Madrid
i-graduate representatives were involved at two sessions at the annual EAIE Conference, which took place in Madrid in September. Click here for further information about the conference.
'Marketing employability: recruiting for tomorrow'
Higher education is not exempt from a payback culture. The product we sell may be 'education' but the prospect of employability after graduation is a decisive selling point. We have to target different groups of students and their intercultural diversity in our marketing. Experts from the UK, Australia and The Netherlands provided marketing tools and strategies to help establish your institution as a vital stepping stone into tomorrow's world of higher education and employment.
'StudentPulse: understanding tomorrow's students today'
i-graduate's StudentPulse research examines the perceptions amongst prospective students in established and emerging markets across the globe. This sessionl examined the research and answer questions such as: How do prospective international students perceive their growing range of options? Which considerations currently have the biggest influence on their decisions?
AGCAS Biennial Conference
10th September 2009
Brunel University
The seminar 'Improving the international stduent experience' focused on the work being done by AGCAS, NASES, HECSU, i-graduate and UKCISA both independently and under the banner of the government's PMI2 projects. William Archer described the latest findings of the International Student Barometer and these were linked to the wide range of projects AGCAS and HE careers practitioners are carrying out to support international students and graduates. Click here for more information.
The Association of Business Schools: Developing Global Citizens
3rd September 2009
Leeds Business School
Will Archer spoke at the ABS Conference in Leeds on the theme of Global Employability. The sessionl explored the importance of global employability for business school graduates.
Click here for further information.
CASE Europe Annual Conference
27th August 2009
Liverpool
Will Archer joined alumni specialists at the CASE Europe Annual Conference to discuss approaches to measuring alumni engagement and explore how benchmarking surveys can be used to track alumni progress, strengthen communication and reinforce connections.
The panel session invited debate about different alumni surveying methods, including i-graduate's Alumni Barometer. Topics included which alumni can and should be interviewed, how best to conduct alumni surveys and disseminate the results, the benefits gained from doing an alumni tracking study, as well as how to join those already involved.
Benchmarking and attitude surveys - what does it all mean?
- William Archer, Director, International Graduate Insight Group
- Karen Brady, Head of Alumni Relations, University of Liverpool
- Judith Raab, Head of Kepler Society, Johannes Kepler University, Austria
- Sue Rees, Alumni Relations Manager, University of Ulster
Chaired by: Ian Moore, Deputy Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Coventry University
As part of the panel session, William introduced key topline findings from the Alumni Barometer run in early 2009, to illustrate the data being collected through this survey instrument.
In 2008 and 2009, 15 institutions in the UK and Europe have adopted the Alumni Barometer process to receive benchmarked data, with feedback collected from over 33,000 international and domestic alumni.
Click here for further information.
CHE Marketing Conference
18th June 2009
DAAD, Bonn, Germany
Nannette Ripmeester, i-graduate's Director of Operations EMEA, spoke at the CHE Marketing Conference in Bonn on 18th June, about the use of marketing data and how to make the next step in international student recruitment. The key focus of Nannette's talk was implementation of marketing knowledge into the HE institutions structure, supported by European examples from i-graduate's international practice.
For more information about the event, please contact info@i-graduate.org.
UKCISA Annual Conference
1st - 3rd July 2009
University of Warwick
i-graduate Director William Archer gave the opening plenary at the UKCISA Annual Conference on the 1st July. The presentation, entitled 'Understanding and supporting international students through the experience: best practice insights' set the context for the conference with a broad overview of the current recruitment market - including perceptions of the UK in the main source countries.
Using data from the world's largest study of international students i-graduate's International Student Barometer (ISB), satisfaction levels with various elements of the UK international student experience were discussed. The session provided institution-specific examples of how universities can and have used results from the ISB to improve the student experience and in particular aspects of support and target their resources more effectively.
For more information about the UKCISA Conference, please click here.
NAFSA 2009 Conference and Expo
24th - 29th May 2009
Los Angeles Convention Center
One of the key events on the calendar of many international educators, the NAFSA Annual Conference and Expo, took place in Los Angeles from May 24th-29th. If you requested any information from us, this will be with you soon.
The i-graduate team were represented at NAFSA by:
- Will Archer (Director)
- Jenni Parsons (Head of Client Services, UK)
- Nannette Ripmeester (Head of Client Services, Europe)
Will Archer facilitated an interactive seminar session entitled 'Enhancing the International Student Experience: Case Studies in Excellence'. The session featured as part of the International Student and Scholar Services Knowledge Community on Friday 29th May at 11am.
Featuring representatives from some of the world's top institutions, the session used feedback from the International Student Barometer process to reveal how the international student experience compares globally. The session examined how individual universities are using feedback from international students and comparative benchmarking to improve service provision for international students within their institution. Session attendees were invited to participate in an interactive discussion to exchange best practice in service provision for international students, and how to effectively use research outcomes as a tool to identify priority areas for investment and support.
The objectives of the session:
- Share the latest data from the largest annual study of international students, the International Student Barometer
- Present examples of excellence in international student service provision through case studies from leading institutions
- Discuss how benchmarking data can be used to facilitate improvement
- Exchange best practice for improving the international student experience
Chair: William Archer, Director, i-graduate
Speakers:
Chris Madden, Pro-Vice Chancellor (International), Griffith University, Australia
Ronald Cushing, Director of UC International Services, University of Cincinnati, USA
Gill Nicholls, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic), University of Salford, UK
For more information click here
AHUA Annual Conference 2009
27th April 2009, Leeds Metropolitan University
Will Archer, i-graduate Director, addressed Heads of University Administration at the AHUA Annual Conference 2009 on Monday 27th April.
The two-day event, which took place at Leeds Metropolitan University, gave individuals involved in university administration and HE management the opportunity to network and gain an insight into emerging policy topics. The conference combined plenary sessions with workshop and panel sessions reflecting AHUA's key themes of staff development and effective HE governance.
Will Archer participated in a panel session entitled 'The Student Experience' alongside Wes Streeting, (President, NUS), Professor Morag Bell (Pro Vice-Chancellor for Learning and Teaching and chair Student Experience Committee, Loughborough University) and Tobin Webb (President, Bristol SU).
For more information about the event, click here
Best Practice Exchange 2009, Rotterdam - 'Raising the Bar' for the international student experience
20th March 2009 in Rotterdam
The Best Practice Exchange 2009, Rotterdam was specifically designed to facilitate discussions on issues that are impacting on the international student experience in the Netherlands and other European study destinations. The day comprised presentations and round-table workshops for practitioners and decision-makers, spanning the international student experience.
In November/December 2008, i-graduate's International Student Barometer (ISB) obtained feedback from over 105,000 students. Insights from this ground-breaking study was presented at the event. Representatives from the highest-performing institutions shared some of the secrets of their success.
For more information, please click here
Attracting International Research Students: Strategy and Practice
4 March 2009
1 Victoria Street Conference Centre, London SW1
Attracting International Research Students: Strategy and Practice attracted over 120 senior officers from HE sectors in 11 countries, who gathered to consider how nations and institutions can maintain their competitive edge in attracting international research students. The themes addressed are of key strategic importance to both UK and international universities given the economic benefit and research outputs PhD students bring, which in turn boosts departmental, institutional and national reputations.
For more information about this event or if you were unable to attend, please contact Jess Davison (jess.davison@i-graduate.org)