Scholarships: The Missing Piece of Your International Student Recruitment Strategy

Each year, scholarship providers, whether governments, ministries, foundations, institutions or private companies, provide funding for hundreds of thousands of students. Scholarships exist for all areas of education: pathway/vocational programmes, life-long learning opportunities, internships, professional training programmes, language studies, and university programmes. Funding can be partial or in full, often including accommodation, insurance and travel coverage. For many schools, institutions, or other providers of educational and experiential learning programmes, scholarship partnerships represent an important part of their student recruitment strategies.

Join ICEF for a discussion as we take a closer look at such scholarship partnerships:

• Where to find and how to engage with potential scholarship partners
• What types of scholarships exist, and what is typically covered
• Scholarship constructs: fully covered, full programme versus partially covered in combination with student credit
• Examples of scholarship eligibility criteria and requirements for prospective students
• How to build a long-lasting scholarship partnership
• The role and responsibilities of scholarship providers towards the students who receive a scholarship versus the role and responsibilities of agencies and institutions that are involved
• Characteristics of the different types of scholarship funding organizations (government, public, private, or institutional scholarships, or a combination)

Webinar Agenda

Moderator

Vanessa Goulding, Manager of Business Development for USA & Canada, ICEF

Vanessa Goulding serves as the Business Development Manager for ICEF’s USA and Canada team, working with new and existing customers in effectively using agents to maximize international student recruitment. Having worked in the secondary education space for the past seven (7) years, Vanessa brings a practiced expertise in international recruitment, case development, implementation for an admission cycle and strategic client support.

She previously held a position at a private secondary boarding school in Canada, where she was the international admissions officer overseeing hundreds of international students and providing immigration advice to best serve those students. She is a student market development specialist that looks at global and economic trends and develops an international strategy to increase international enrollments.

Panelists

Sarah Crowther, President, Collective Study

Sarah has worked in the field of international education for over 15 years and has focused on building networks, recruiting, and creating academic programming for students in the Middle East. She has worked at Smith College, and UMass Amherst as the Director of Non-Degree Programs and Special Sessions, and most recently started her own consulting company, which facilitates partnerships between scholarship programs and universities in the Middle East and universities in the United States and India. Sarah has worked with many scholarship programs in countries such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and India.

Marie-Claude Svaldi, VP of Government Relations & Recruitment EMEA, ELS Educational Services, Inc

Svaldi is currently VP Government Relations at ELS and ILSC.  As an executive & entrepreneur, her previous positions include: Founder & CEO of ECCOS Educational Consulting, managing private & government scholarship programs for HEHD Yemen as well as the Libyan Government, Assistant Director of ESL Department at SACM, Washington DC, overseeing all US-based ESL programs & managing 62K scholarship students enrolled in the KASP Program.  During her career, she held diverse leadership roles defining strategy, & managing business operations. An educator who has trained teachers & supported student academic success in the United States & across the Middle East. Her credentials include a Master’s degree in English Literature & Education, as well as certifications in project management, & human resources from VU. 

Tarik Sokmen, Business Development Manager for Turkey and the Middle East, Seneca College

Tarik Sokmen started his career in Vancouver in 2010 as a student counsellor looking after Turkey and Europe. In 2012, he was involved in organizing the first EFC fairs, which then became a very popular event within Asian countries. In 2012, Tarik joined the King George International College sales team, and after three successful years at KGIC, he moved on with the ILSC Education Group. During his career at ILSC, the company won the UED awards of Turkey four times as the Best school in Canada and Australia. As of January 2020, Tarik will be the Business Development Manager for Turkey and the Middle East at Seneca College.

Abdelkhalig Osman Mohamed, CEO, Gulf Conferences Ltd.

A staunch supporter of quality education with a strong commitment for the sustainable development of international education and unwavering dedication to the success of educational institutions, Abdelkhalig is a CEO of Gulf Conferences Ltd. in London UK and Global Education Partnership. Throughout his distinguished career, he was engaged in a series of organizational development and growth by providing strategic directives at a senior leadership role and ensuring its implementation with determination. While he was actively engaged in his role, he never let the researcher within him die and his passion for research resulted in the establishment of many organizations in MENA region and also in frequent invitations to numerous speaking engagements to national and international audiences. Needless to mention, his commitment to sustainable development and growth of the educational organizations in the MENA Region has led to many awards and accolades from various national/ international organizations, including from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Higher Education and Ministry of Higher Education UK.