Spring 2007 Newsletter
Q&A: Marketing Study Abroad Programs
The University of Mississippi (UM) is a comprehensive state university located in Oxford, Mississippi, with other campuses in Jackson, Tupelo, and Southaven. Alma mater to many notable alumni including author John Grisham and NFL quarterback Eli Manning, Ole Miss, as it is commonly known, has a thriving Study Abroad program. As a partner to Ole Miss for several years, Intrax Education Abroad (IEA) has enjoyed being a part of their exciting growth. IEA has designed and operated many customized faculty-led programs for Ole Miss. This summer, two IEA programs are scheduled to depart for Paris and Greece.
IEA commends the Ole Miss Study Abroad Office and their committed faculty for propelling Ole Miss into the forefront of study abroad programming. To highlight their growth and commitment to international education, we have interviewed Vanessa Cook, Study Abroad Advisor, at Ole Miss. Vanessa shares her perspective on where Ole Miss is now and where they see study abroad heading.
Q: Could you briefly outline the history of study abroad offerings at Ole Miss over the past five years?
A: In the past five years we've moved from predominantly semester programs through partner institutions and exchanges with a few universities to a program heavily involved in short-term programs (January or summer terms). We've also increased our number of exchange agreements with international universities. Our greatest growth, however, has come in the involvement of our campus in promoting and participating in Study Abroad. We are offering a massive number of faculty-led programs this summer which is an option we didn't provide 5 years ago. We've also seen our Study Abroad numbers more than double over the past five years.
Q: Would you please provide us with a snapshot of Ole Miss's current study abroad offerings? (Number of programs, destinations, overall length, when offered and average group size)
A: Currently we're offering 72 programs over our summer break. Some are faculty-led and some are offered through partnering institutions and they range between two and six weeks in length. We require our faculty-led programs to have at least 10 participants in order to "make," but many of our students participate in partner programs where there is no minimum number of UM students required. On our summer list we're covering 19 countries and 6 continents.
We also have 38 exchange partners that students are eligible to earn credit through, as well as 10 program partners. Students can participate in these programs during the academic year for either a semester or a full year. We again cover 6 continents in countries as varied as Argentina, South Africa, Holland and Japan.
Q: What are the top five promotional methods that you use to market a study abroad program?
A: Word of mouth between students really is our best promotional tool. This generation likes to see and hear themselves (or someone very similar) talk. Second to that for us are class visits. Our student workers and Study Abroad peer recruiters have hit every classroom they've been welcomed into. I think those tools are closely followed by the Study Abroad catalog we put out each year and targeted e-mails we send to students to share program information with them.
Q: What percentage of your marketing efforts are focused on the following groups: students, parents and alumni?
A: A majority of our marketing efforts are focused directly on students. I would go as far as to say 90 percent. Slowly that's shifting to include parents and alums. We market to parents and students at Visit Days and Freshman Orientations, but have yet to put a specific plan into action to directly market to parents. In our "copious" (grin) amounts of free time we're working to involve parents more in encouraging Study Abroad as well planning for their child's departure. We'd like to put a plan into action that involves targeted information on our Web site as well as a guidebook for parents and info sessions for parents whose students are considering Study Abroad or have applied for an upcoming term.
Time constraints also keep us from being able to do much with our alums but that's another area where we're working hard. We'd like to offer sessions on using Study Abroad on your resume and staying involved with goals you set while abroad for returning students. We'd also like to connect our alums with students interested in Study Abroad. We're in the early stages of a program we're tentatively dubbing Study Abroad Student Ambassadors where our alums would serve as peer advisors and recruiters on campus and in the community. There are so many great ideas out there, we just need the time.
Q: What percentage of your marketing efforts are produced through your office vs. the faculty leader's direct promotion?
A: All the published marketing (flyers, handouts, website, etc.) is created and distributed by our office. Faculty members are obviously involved in the production of their materials but we stick with a design so that Study Abroad has a cohesive look. This also helps us know what information is being distributed to students. We do, however, rely heavily on faculty to encourage students to study abroad and distribute information about their programs.
Q: Do you have a marketing training module to aid faculty leaders in the promotion of their programs?
A: This is another area we'd love to plump up a bit. We currently don't have a training module but are slowly implementing a process that would provide this. We're also working on Faculty Resource Kits that would provide faculty with a specific number of flyers, posters, guidebooks, etc., at the beginning of the recruitment period, along with an FAQ sheet on recruiting. The training module will come into play for us during our inaugural "Faculty Planning Meeting" where we'll discuss this along with other responsibilities of a Study Abroad faculty member.
Q: If you were offering advice to other study abroad administrators based on the past five years, what three key learnings could you share?
A: Keep tabs on your growth. Know who you're marketing to and how to make them respond. Nothing ever slows down so it's important to identify ways you can keep pace AND keep organized.
For more information on the University of Mississippi's study abroad programs, please visit www.olemiss.edu/abroad
