Building a successful international student recruitment strategy goes beyond attracting applications. It’s about creating clear, personalized pathways that prospective students enjoy following.
Since 2019, Padua University, one of the oldest universities in Europe, has experienced a 400% increase in international student applications with the help of DreamApply.
Alberto Lazari, Global Engagement Officer at Padua, shares how his team has achieved this, offering actionable tips for admissions and recruitment officers.
Prioritise genuine personalizations in your international student recruitment strategy
“International student recruitment isn’t about capturing leads; it’s about offering opportunities,” Alberto explains.
Alboerto notes that treating prospective students as individuals, rather than clients, is essential in building genuine connections. Alberto’s team uses DreamApply to personalize communication with applicants throughout their entire journey.
“We started with a general approach, but as we moved forward, we tried to make things more tailored to each specific situation,” says Alberto. He adds that DreamApply’s flags and trackers have proven practical in this regard: “We always know where students come from, what they do within our system, and we can use that to react.”
For educational institutions seeking to boost international recruitment, DreamApply’s tools enable personalized outreach by location, program interest and application stage. Learn more about ways to personalize student recruitment here.
Balance automation with human-centered approach
With thousands of applications each year, automation is vital for Padua University’s recruitment strategy. However, Alberto emphasizes that automation should not replace human interaction:
“We try to automate some tasks, but it cannot cover everything. Students can tell when they’re interacting with a person or just receiving an automated message.”
DreamApply’s automation features allow Padua to streamline communications through bulk actions, while still ensuring messages feel personalized.
“Even just using a marker when sending a bulk action, so that a student sees their name, makes a difference,” says Alberto.
To learn what you can automate with DreamApply to save 40% time managing student applications, explore this article.
Use data to stay ahead of recruitment trends
“One of the biggest hurdles has been understanding what applicants want and how to adapt our efforts to bring in more students,” says Alberto.
DreamApply’s reporting and analytics tools allow the university to stay on top of these trends.
“It has been useful to be able to easily download all the data and analyze it,” he explains.
This enables student recruitment team to generate reports, see the bigger picture and adjust efforts accordingly. For example, if there’s a surge in applications from a specific geographic area, they can adapt their strategies to focus more heavily on that region.
Explore our research-based article on what works in international student recruitment in 2024 in this article.
Integrate AI with caution to enhance, not replace human interaction
While automation plays a significant role in managing a growing volume of applications, Alberto advises a cautious approach when integrating AI into the recruitment process.
“I’m personally a bit skeptical about over-relying on AI because, especially at this stage, it’s only as good as the data you feed it,” he says. “Students can easily tell when they’re interacting with a person versus an AI tool.”
At the same time, Alberto notes that DreamApply’s integrations like Zapier can play a positive role in enhancing automation efforts.
“We’ve started using Zapier to set up workflows that allow us to better track students and prepare segments automatically. This way, we can step in as humans and offer personalized outreach once the automation has done its job,” he explains.
Learn more about DreamApply’s integrations here.
Maximize in-person events with DreamApply
In-person recruitment events are another key component of Padua University’s international recruitment strategy. Alberto highlights how DreamApply is instrumental in maximizing the impact of these events.
“We attend a lot of in-person fairs and events, and DreamApply helps us track and manage the students we meet,” he explains. “Before an event, we use DreamApply’s trackers and flags to reach out to students in specific regions or countries, inviting them to meet us in person. We let them know we’ll be attending a fair nearby and offer additional support, such as setting up a Zoom meeting if they can’t attend in person.”
This pre-event outreach helps ensure that the university connects with students who are already in the funnel, making the event more targeted and effective. After the event, DreamApply can be used again.
“We immediately import the data about the students we meet at fairs into DreamApply,” Alberto says, “and from there, we can easily track their progress, segment them based on their interests and follow up with tailored communications.”
Learn more about DreamApply’s features here.
Don’t wait for students to come to you
Alberto’s final piece of advice to admissions and recruitment officers is straightforward: be proactive.
“Reach out to your students. Don’t just wait for them to come to you. Always try to reach out at different stages,” says Alberto. “Don’t forget about your students once they submit an application. The process can be very complex, so always extend a hand to help them along the way.
For more details on how Padua University has used DreamApply to increase student applications by 400%, explore this case study, where Alberto and his colleagues share their experience.
Discover more expert tips in the podcast episode
Here is a complete list of topics we discussed with Alberto in this episode.
- Alberto’s journey to working with student recruitment
- How a background in sales influences Alberto’s approach
- What’s misunderstood about international student recruitment
- Challenges in modern student recruitment
- Keeping an eye on student trends and influences
- How Padua University uses DreamApply for insights
- Using flags and trackers in DreamApply
- Importance of personalization in student recruitment
- How Alberto runs experiments for customizing the applicant journey
- Requesting tailored solutions from DreamApply
- Automating the process while maintaining authenticity
- Mistakes to avoid when segmenting applicants
- Benefits and pitfalls of using AI in recruitment
- DreamApply tools that mitigate AI risks
- Using DreamApply’s integration with Zapier
- Integration of admissions and marketing teams
- In-person recruitment events
- The University of Padua overview
- Italy as a study destination
- Final tips for recruitment officers
Listen to the full episode of EdTech and Pancakes with Alberto Lazzari.
Listen to the audio version of the podcast on DreamApply’s website, Spotify or iTunes.
About DreamApply
Founded in 2011 in Estonia, DreamApply is an innovation-driven EdTech organization that improves access to education around the globe. DreamApply’s application management software helps more than 300 educational institutions across 40 countries improve admissions, marketing, financial and other internal processes.
DreamApply’s easy-to-use and customizable software increases student enrollment by 30% and reduces application processing time by 40%. With features designed with and for educational institutions, and integrations with commonly used systems, DreamApply empowers teams to get more done with less effort.
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