View from the Forest Recap: International Admissions

MSM Higher Ed President Donna Hooker shares an inspiring story and message in her pilot for YouTube vlog series “View From the Forest.” Started in the middle of The Great Lockdown, “View from the Forest” aims to tackle various topics and issues surrounding higher education around the world.

For the first episode, Donna recalled her earlier years in the education industry and discussed her work with international admissions. She also recalled how the Registrar claimed that international admissions was an extension of its domestic management responsibilities.

“International admissions was a hot topic,” Donna said. “The admissions responsibility ebbed and flowed from the Registrar’s Office to International and back.”

In effect, student recruitment grew by leaps and bounds. International officers saw International Admissions responsible for “sealing the deal in a highly competitive recruitment market.”

Eventually, Donna felt uncomfortable with the feeling of being in the middle of a competition. But it was not until she heard a disparaging remark allegedly from the Registrar, when she decided to go on the offensive—all for the betterment of international students.

“I knew my values were the same as the Registrar’s when it comes to quality,” Donna said. However, she retaliated when “the Registrar behaves like Institution Border Control—blocking students with slow processes and archaic admit or reject practices.”

Donna marched on with her belief that education is and will always be part of the service sector industry. Applying the five dimensions of service quality (Tangible, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy), she holds her position that these dimensions apply more than ever to future Generation Z students. (Generation Z are those born from mid-to-late 1990s until the early 2010s.)

“These students are the first to grow up fully in a digital world. They are quick to make decisions and will swipe left or right to, against or with an institutional profile within a moment. They expect instant attention and answers directly from the internet,” said Donna.

In the near future, Donna sees admissions strategies shifting toward using more technology-based platforms for more efficient processes. Rising from a post-pandemic world, institutions will consider saving on costs as a crucial factor in decision-making. They will need to tap into specialized and more affordable business solutions rather than developing, maintaining and enhancing systems on their own.

For the complete picture, watch Episode 1 of View from the Forest now on the MSM Higher Ed YouTube channel and click subscribe for more videos.