ICEF Podcast

Border reopenings, vaccination strategies, welcoming government policies; all are starting to emerge in recent weeks. In this episode, the first in ICEF Exchange’s 2nd series, ICEF’s industry specialists Craig Riggs (Editor of ICEF Monitor) and Martijn van de Veen (ICEF’s VP of Business Development) discuss the recent news and developments that allow for some cautious optimism for the global student mobility sector.

Valuable insights are provided by our main guest Caitlin Phillips Rivera, Director, Partner Operations at Shorelight, explaining how they are enabling their international students to access a COVID-19 vaccine.

This episode is sponsored by Etihad Airways. Tim Lorimer, Etihad’s Director of Global Distribution Sales, explains how Etihad specifically focuses on the student demographic and provides details about their current student offer.

For details on Etihad's special student fairs, please visit: https://www.etihad.com/en/book/special-offers/promotion/student-special-fares

Towards the end of 2020, HSBC launched a campaign for international students to help them navigate the challenges of virtual learning during the pandemic. This campaign, called Year of Opportunity, featured interviews with international students affected by the pandemic who shared their tips and reflections.

HSBC knows that for many international students (particularly those who may be stuck overseas), the holidays may be a particularly difficult time. So, in December, ahead of the festive holidays, HSBC extended this campaign further, sharing advice from their university partners and experts on topics such as managing their mental health, and applying for internships and university courses in 2021. https://internationalservices.hsbc.com/yearofopportunity. 

For this episode, we are excited to have three  partners of HSBC's Year of Opportunity campaign to discuss the support and tips for international students during this difficult time.

In this episode, we explore questions including:

• Can financial service providers help students reduce their study costs and help them with their budgeting constraints?
• Should financial service providers go beyond just financing and assist students in other areas such as access to relevant products and services?
• What types of new fintech solutions and services will be available for international students?

This episode features Amit Singh, Founder & CEO at UniCreds, Tony Chen, Head of International Education Proposition at HSBC, and Adam Cross, Director of Marketing at Future Finance. 

This episode of ICEF Exchange is in partnership with HSBC – The global financial leader in supporting parents and students in the international education journey. To find out more, check out HSBC's website: https://internationalservices.hsbc.com/yearofopportunity/?cid=HBEU:JL:S0:IB:00:2010:007.

This episode of ICEF Exchange takes a closer look at the role of agents and how it has shifted during the pandemic. More than ever this year, agents are not only providing educational advice but are also increasingly called on to mentor students, provide emotional support, calm anxieties of parents and students and help them manage the psychology of disappointment and hope. 

This episode hears from Stephanie Zimmermann, Senior Agent Relations Manager, ICEF, David Mandil, Managing Partner, NM Educação Internacional/NM International Education, and Britta Vincent, Founder & Owner, International-sur-Loire. 

This episode of ICEF Exchange is in partnership with HSBC – The global financial leader in supporting parents and students in the international education journey. To find out more, check out HSBC's website: https://internationalservices.hsbc.com/yearofopportunity/?cid=HBEU:JL:S0:IB:00:2010:007.

Micro-credentials, or ‘non-degree credentials’, are becoming more widespread and are increasingly  embraced by employers, educators, and individuals alike.  This episode of ICEF Exchange zeros in on the impact of micro-credentials on the international education industry.

This episode is in partnership with HSBC – The global financial leader in supporting parents and students in the international education journey. To find out more, check out HSBC's website: https://internationalservices.hsbc.com/yearofopportunity/?cid=HBEU:JL:S0:IB:00:2010:007.

This episode takes a step back from current pressures facing the English Language Teaching (ELT) sector and examines longer-term trends out until 2030. By taking a longer-term view, our panelists for this episode will help guide both agents and eductators as they seek to develop a strong ELT offering into the future. 

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to restrict global travel, and with international arrival into the USA all but prohibited in recent months, this episode of ICEF Exchange examines how international student recruitment to US educational institutions has been impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic, and explores measures international education professionals are taking to respond to the crisis. 

This episode of the ICEF Exchange is in partnership with HSBC – The global financial leader in supporting parents and students in the international education journey. To find out more, check out HSBC's website: https://bit.ly/2TrDAdn.

As institutions and schools continue to welcome students back to class – whether in-person or virtually – there are some early indications that mental health is already proving an even more challenging concern than before the pandemic. Promoting and supporting student mental health is going to be one of the big challenges of the coming year for both educators and agents alike.

In this episode of ICEF Exchange, expert representatives from the international education industry provide insights on the specialist mental health support that is now being made available to international students.

In this episode, representatives of the international education industry from Latin America provide insights on the following questions: 

• What are the key strengths educational institutions in the region have to offer students?
• What is the main challenge for educational institutions to attract international students from LATAM and other regions?
• Is a coordinated governmental strategy to prioritise international education necessary to boost student recruitment in the region?

In this episode, we take a closer look at how one leading study destination – Canada – is laying down concrete plans to safely transfer international students to schools and institutions throughout the country.

Canada is an interesting example in that, while its borders are still largely closed to international travel, it has granted a limited travel exemption for international students.

How are these plans taking shape? Tune in for insights from two experienced industry guests.