Why ICEF events are important for your institution

Your featured event: ICEF USA, May 30 - 31, 2025, San Diego

Learn more Register now

Why attend an ICEF event?

Attending an ICEF networking event is an investment that will allow you to attract diverse, high-quality students from a variety of source markets, both established and emerging. While the U.S. retains its ability to attract top international talent, differentiating your offering is critical in an increasingly competitive marketplace. By partnering with vetted and selected international student recruitment agents, you will work with specialists who understand not only their own market, but also the needs of your institution, ensuring sustainable access to education for students from around the world.

Why now?

Last year, the U.S. reasserted its position as the top destination for international students. After an initially slow post-pandemic recovery, the pace picked up with government support and evolving practices at institutions across the country. In addition, with competing study destinations facing a range of policy challenges, the U.S. currently enjoys a competitive advantage not seen in years. However, with a significant decline in domestic enrollment on the horizon, it is more important than ever to focus on high-quality, diverse recruitment from around the world.

There are good reasons to be positive. The Open Doors 2023 survey found the fastest year-over-year growth in forty years, with more than 1,000,000 international students from 210 countries studying at U.S. institutions, and increases at all levels of study. Further demonstrating the resilience of the U.S. market, 23 of the top 25 source countries increased their enrollments, with 14 exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

This growth is expected to continue. With 9 million internationally mobile students expected worldwide by 2030, Holon IQ projected a range of growth scenarios for the U.S., from 1.3 million international students by 2034 in the most conservative scenario to 2.8 million if a forward-looking approach is maintained. But while this offers hope for the U.S. education sector, a corresponding 10% decline in domestic applications over 13 years means that international students have become essential to sustaining it. With the IIE Fall Snapshot finding that 95% of international students pursue their studies on U.S. campuses and 92% of institutions seeking to increase their international enrollment, the myriad benefits to the local community are clear, including increased direct employment opportunities for academic and support staff, indirect employment within the community, and revenue generation through student housing and related services.

However, to ensure a sustainable recruitment strategy, it is critical that institutions at all levels focus on expanding their catchment areas. While 53% of all international enrollments currently come from China and India, over-reliance on a small number of sending markets is strategically unwise. With both Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa proving vital for institutions seeking to diversify their enrollments, institutions need to explore these markets more effectively. In addition, recruiters need to pay more attention to the quality of the intake, ensuring that students with strong credentials and a high likelihood of graduation are enrolled. In this way, alumni have the potential to make strong economic contributions to both their host and home countries.

Challenges Facing U.S. Institutions

Despite impressive growth over the past five years, challenges remain. With national issues such as the domestic enrollment cliff looming, the U.S. should take note of recent policy changes in competing study destinations that have led to significant enrollment declines that the U.S. should be careful to avoid.

The domestic enrollment cliff: from 2025, there will be a steep decline in the domestic college-age population, creating an existential crisis for U.S. institutions that do not adapt to engage with the international market.
Cost of study: this issue affects all of the “big four” study destinations – Australia, Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. – with international students considering lower-cost alternatives.
Competition: from European countries such as Germany, France, Spain and Italy, all of which have strong internationalization strategies, as well as from emerging markets in Asia where education has become a priority.
Negative perceptions of immigration policies, which are subject to change depending on national politics.
Maintaining a face-to-face enrollment strategy: online recruitment and social media strategies used during the pandemic were found by Forbes to have a lower yield in comparison.
Over-reliance on a single region: the shift away from China necessitated by the pandemic has been slow. While India has surpassed China as the top source country for U.S. institutions, there is a strategic need to focus on a variety of markets, including Latin America, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

What you will gain

Attending an ICEF networking event is a worthwhile investment that will allow you to attract diverse, high-quality students. Agents remain confident in the U.S.’ ability to attract top international talent, but it is important to differentiate your offering in a market that has become more challenging in recent years. By partnering with international student recruitment agents, you will be working with specialists who understand not only their own market, but also the needs of your institution, ensuring a mutually rewarding relationship focused on providing sustainable access to education for students from around the world.

ICEF networking events offer a range of benefits including:

Achieve student recruitment growth goals, with potentially hundreds of trusted, ICEF-screened agents supporting hundreds or thousands of students, all under one roof.
Expand your network or renew relationships through a personalized program of 1:1 partner meetings.
Promote diversity – with agents attending from a wide range of countries, representing students from both established and emerging markets, all interested in studying in North America.
Grow and learn from your network – Plenty of opportunities to network with peers and potential partners, plus a full schedule of seminars featuring leading industry speakers and panelists discussing hot topics in the sector.

What our attendees say

This was a perfect event for me as a first time attendee. Beautiful location, beautiful venue, excellent food, excellent hotel service. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and I feel confident in the connections I made.

Joe Dominguez Coast Mountains School District No.82, Canada

Joe Dominguez, Coast Mountains School District No.82, Canada This was a perfect event for me as a first time attendee. Beautiful location, beautiful venue, excellent food, excellent hotel service. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and I feel confident in the connections I made.

Attending ICEF Miami allowed us to reconnect with existing partners and develop exciting new relationships. It’s so well-organized and a joy to attend!

Katy Nicketakis Lincoln Academy, USA

Katy Nicketakis, Lincoln Academy, USA Attending ICEF Miami allowed us to reconnect with existing partners and develop exciting new relationships. It’s so well-organized and a joy to attend!

ICEF Vancouver was great. Many agents were very interested in our programmes, I also think that the quality of the agents was good. We will have a good result from this event. I’m looking forward to the next ICEF in Canada.

Israel Aucca Delta School District #37, Canada

Israel Aucca, Delta School District #37, Canada ICEF Vancouver was great. Many agents were very interested in our programmes, I also think that the quality of the agents was good. We will have a good result from this event. I’m looking forward to the next ICEF in Canada.

ICEF Vancouver 2023 was a tremendous success! It was our pleasure to participate at this event and we look forward to many more to come! Shout out to the entire ICEF team for all your hard work in making this event successful for us. We appreciate you and your support!

Suraj Shah Thompson Rivers University (TRU), Canada

Suraj Shah, Thompson Rivers University (TRU), Canada ICEF Vancouver 2023 was a tremendous success! It was our pleasure to participate at this event and we look forward to many more to come! Shout out to the entire ICEF team for all your hard work in making this event successful for us. We appreciate you and your support!

Thank you for another rewarding experience, bringing people together from across the world to enhance the international student learning experience.

Anthony Cordeiro Halton Catholic District School Board, Canada

Anthony Cordeiro, Halton Catholic District School Board, Canada Thank you for another rewarding experience, bringing people together from across the world to enhance the international student learning experience.

We are pleased to attend ICEF to meet with agents from around the world. As a Canadian private school looking to diversify our student body, it's always a pleasure to learn more about what the agents are looking for, so we can better align our offerings.

Doa Demirsu Keystone International Schools, Canada

Doa Demirsu, Keystone International Schools, Canada We are pleased to attend ICEF to meet with agents from around the world. As a Canadian private school looking to diversify our student body, it's always a pleasure to learn more about what the agents are looking for, so we can better align our offerings.

ICEF North America provided our school with a tremendous opportunity to meet new partners, develop relationships with current partners, and learn about unique and interesting service providers. The ICEF staff are professional and create an atmosphere that makes you feel comfortable and included...

Troy Krywulak Robert Land Academy, Canada

Troy Krywulak, Robert Land Academy, Canada ICEF North America provided our school with a tremendous opportunity to meet new partners, develop relationships with current partners, and learn about unique and interesting service providers. The ICEF staff are professional and create an atmosphere that makes you feel comfortable and included in the event.

Founded in 1991 and with over thirty years experience, ICEF has become the market leader in facilitating relationships between educators, international recruitment agents and service providers. Our experience places us at the very heart of the international education industry and we offer a range of services, including leading market intelligence via the respected ICEF Monitor; specialist training opportunities at ICEF Academy; and, of course, our networking conferences for international education professionals.

Our wide experience and focus on supporting professional development and standards ensures that, through our various endeavours, institutions, agents and service providers are able to gain access to up-to-date information, carefully-tailored training packages and reliable partners, all of which supports sectoral growth, while maintaining a tight focus on quality throughout the international student journey.

You can find full details about our events here.
You can read more about the latest industry news at ICEF Monitor, here.
You can explore the opportunities for training available at ICEF academy here.