Bright, bold, and instinctive

Ask China’s future students how they feel about their world and what tomorrow holds and you’ll get a positive response from 95% of them. Ask the same question in Turkey and you’ll find a much less optimistic group.  

Go to India and ask if they know where they want to work, and you’ll find that most have a good idea. But go to France and you’ll find that they are still largely undecided.

The nuances of international student marketing are vast, and whilst there are some common truths that can define your marketing strategies across domiciles, it pays to know the preferences of each nation (and sometimes even the regions within them).

That’s why, earlier this year we surveyed 2,000+ young people aged 13 – 16, in France, China, Turkey, India and the USA to find out what they were thinking, feeling, and planning for life after school. And ahead of publishing the full 38-page report – with all our findings on everything from preferred subjects to parental advice – here’s a preview of some of the big questions we’re answering about international students.

What do they want to do post-school?

If there’s one thing that really unites this group of students across three continents, it’s an overwhelming interest in computing.

For both subject and sector, a variation of computing comes first everywhere but France (where it’s a very close second.) And in some countries, it all but dominates student’s attention. In China, for example, 39% of students want to work in IT. The next most popular subject – Communications & Information – commands less than half of that (16%).

In most countries, engineering comes second followed by medicine or business/finance. But it’s the reason that students are choosing these topics that is the most interesting: because they like them.

Broadly speaking, this is a group without a set-in-stone strategy. With an optimistic outlook and a strong link between subjects and careers, these are young people driven by following their passions first - over what makes the most money. But it would be wrong to suggest that there’s no long-term thinking to their approach. There is a very strong correlation between study intentions and future career plans, but the traditional trust signals of certain courses - like a high potential salary - may not be as persuasive for this generation.

Where do they want to study and why?

Most (79%) of young people we surveyed are thinking about studying abroad, and more than half (54%) are ‘strongly’ considering the UK.

It’s easy to understand why when the big drivers for overseas study are:

The UK has plenty to offer in all three areas, but it also comes with the biggest barrier: cost. Tuition fees and living costs are the most influential factors for students choosing a country – and the UK ranks high for both. The question then becomes one of value. If you can’t change the cost of living or the price of study, how do you justify the expense of the venture? 

A good place to start is by marketing to domicile-specific perceptions:

Why are students from each country interested in studying in the UK?

Knowing which of your strengths to double down on, and which don’t warrant spending the resources to promote them, can make your marketing more efficient and effective in country-by-country strategies.
 

Knowing which of your strengths to double down on, and which don’t warrant spending the resources to promote them, can make your marketing more efficient and effective in country-by-country strategies.

Who are they influenced by?

Even in a radically digital age, and for the most online generation yet, the in-person advice of parents and teachers remains the most important source of guidance.

This is especially true at younger ages. The  search for advice begins to disperse into other channels from the age of 15,  but even taking this into account, no other source of advice comes close to that of family and school influencers.

Where young people look for advice on different topics

Parental advice remains important at all times, throughout both the increasing reliance on social media which we see happening from 15, and the decreasing reliance on school staff from 16. If you’re trying to engage with international students from a young age, you may reach them best through their parents.

If you’re marketing to international school or private school students, you may also want to explore the influence of careers services and agents. 

Of course, online sources play a much larger role than parental advice in some contexts – especially when students start to look at specific universities. For example, at 15 years old they turn sharply towards social media for their research – especially the video-heavy platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok – as well as going directly to university and college websites.