In Hunt for Students, Business Schools Go Global - BusinessWeek

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In Hunt for Students, Business Schools Go Global - BusinessWeek: "In Hunt for Students, Business Schools Go Global"

So, the US B-Schools are already going places. I knew one woman in charge of International Recruitment at one of the universities in London, who was really slated because she was trying to suggest that they go to Chile and Argentina to recruit students. All the focus was on major markets, primarily India and China. As she said, that was set to change - and it already has, it seems, on the other side of the pond.

The student recruitment market, in many countries including India, is a bit of a racket at this time. It is difficult to get in, because of the uncertain returns and set up costs involved. Besides, this attracts a lot of not-so-above-board players, given that the preferred route of illegal migration is actually through student visa.

I shall, however, see this as a business of the future. It will be more student advisory than student agency. So, less of universities paying a commission to a recruiting agent and they doing an once in a year advertising campaign; it will be more sustained preparation programmes, like Kaplan - you got it - leading to referrals to the universities. In this model, student will pay for the services. Universities may still have to pay, but that will purely be for the marketing platform they get.

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