Thursday, May 27, 2010

Global market heats up as U.S. gets its act together

The growth of an organization set up to help U.S. institutions compete in the global market could be a sign of the nation's growing interest in overseas students.

The American International Recruitment Council (AIRC) this month reached the milestone of 100 institutional members, two years after it was established. It is seeking to "develop standards of ethical practice pertaining to recruitment of international students", and provide "best practices and training to assist overseas student recruitment agents and institutions themselves to better serve students seeking admission".

According to official figures, the U.S. had 623,800 overseas students in 2007-08, compared with 389,330 in the U.K.

Institutional members of the AIRC include Ohio University, the University of Idaho and the University of Illinois, Springfield.

UIS' membership in AIRC was featured in a May 26, 2010, article by Times Higher Education in London, United Kingdom .

Download a PDF of the article