Customer

International students want one-stop course search site

A new survey by StudyLink has found 70% of international students would like to research university offers on a neutral directory website. But they all start with Google.

That’s the findings of a recent student focus group and survey on study abroad decisions, conducted by leading global education information provider StudyLink.

The international student recruitment survey involved 1000 responses from 15 countries, including India, Pakistan and Indonesia. It was followed up with two focus group meetings in the UK, involving students from twelve countries.

“Students start with their desired course,” says Therese Larsson, StudyLink’s Marketing Analyst. “Location is a much less important factor for study abroad. But many students were frustrated that they had to visit so many university websites to compare details.”

By starting with Google, they often faced a bewildering array of international education marketing – none of which was easily comparable, and some of which was unreliable. They also found that many university websites lacked the critical information they needed – including visa information, English-level requirements and fees.

As a result of their findings, StudyLink is launching its new, improved international education website on Monday February 1st 2010.

New Feature - Attachment Improvements Live

As a direct result of your feedback, we are launching new attachment improvements to the online application system used by you and your clients.

From today, you can now choose to attach a document as you complete the application form using “Upload Now” or wait until the end by clicking, "Attach later". Using “Attach later” allows you to complete the mandatory questions on the application form faster and then scan and attach the mandatory documents at the end of the form, before you submit to the Institution.

One of the most exciting features is the ability to upload a “Combined Attachment”. This allows you to scan and attach ALL required documents into one PDF file – passport, transcripts, IELTS/TOEFL results etc. Upload this and just mark the rest of the mandatory documents as “Included in the Combined Attachment”.

See how the new feature work, with our attachment improvements video.

We hope these simple changes will make the process work faster and much smoother for you. And we welcome your feedback as always.

Additional features of the new attachment improvements:

1. Progress bar shows how long the document has to upload. You can also attach multiple documents and review their upload progress

2. Once submitted, all documents that are attached, including Combined Attachments are included in the final PDF to send to your student

3. Allows attached files to be removed easily - before submitting

4. Previously uploaded files for a student can be accessed for multiple applications

5. Mandatory attachments that are set to “Attach later” are listed at the end of the application – on the Attachments page

A successful agent user group meeting - Brisbane

A group of eight agents attended our first agent user group meeting in Brisbane last week and were enthusiastic about the benefits of the StudyLink agent portal.

While the group were taken through a training session on how to submit an application for Griffith University many asked when they could use a single log in to submit to all clients - the answer, soon :).

One of the benefits for agents of the StudyLink solution is they only need to learn one system. With over 50 colleges and universities hooked into the StudyLink system and many more due to come on stream over the next few months it certainly makes it easier to learn one system in order to get all the additional benefits of electronic application submission:

- instant delivery
- single pdf file with all attachments
- professional looking paper application when printed
- instant confirmation when it is received
- regular status updates as the educator processes the application

In addition to the need for a single log in the agents attending were also keen to see features that limited the duplication of applications between agents and the faster reconciliation of commission statements. Both are areas StudyLink will be adding features to address in early 2009.

StudyLink will be holding more training events in Sydney, Melbourne, Delhi, ICEF Berlin and ICEF Miami before the end of the year. If you would like more information or would like to attend please email agentmanager@studylink.com