Selim Dervish is the Regional Supervisor for a new breed of online education agency that has got big growth ambitions. We caught up with him at the ICEF Berlin workshop this week to hear about the company’s success and vision for the future.
The PIE: Tell me about Academia International, when was it set up and why?
SD: Academia International was initially set up in 2004 as a student housing company in the UK, and in 2009 it was purchased by our current investor from London who had a long-term vision to enter the international education market with a view to expand globally through using innovative technological platforms. At the time of the handover, the housing database was sold onto another supplier, and the company decided to start providing study abroad counselling services to international students worldwide. It was definitely the right move especially when you consider the upward trends in international education continuing even after the global turmoil back in 2008.
As an investment focused company, we are also contracted to conduct private market intelligence reports in international education for investors in Turkey and the Middle East which has given us the opportunity to understand these markets in depth over the years.
Our plan is to expand further in the first half of next year into three more growing major markets: Brazil, Spanish speaking Latin American Countries and Russia & CIS region
The PIE: How is Academia different?
SD: Academia is very much different than the “traditional” agent you would normally come across on a daily basis. We strive to offer “A+” quality services to all our clients and we achieve this by recruiting the right talent and providing them with continuous support. The salaries we offer are always competitive within the market and career goals are clearly set when they first start with us.
We invested heavily both our time and money on long-term technological advancement strategies which gives us an edge compared to several competitors in the market today. We developed an online sales channel platform back in 2009 and we have been working very closely with professionals to improve it since then. We opened our first regional office in Istanbul to test our platform and it produced successful results. We believe the international mobility of students contribute to a long-term peaceful environment and therefore mobility should be both ways so in all the countries where we operate, we have plans to also promote inbound mobility. We are starting to work with institutions in Turkey and will be moving into different regions for further implementations.
The PIE: How has Academia expanded since its launch?
Traditional agents find it hard to believe it is possible to provide effective counselling without physical contact
SD: We started our first office in Istanbul about four years ago, a city with a booming economy and a young and curious population almost 50% of whom are under the age of 24. Following positive feedback and local growth, we secured additional funding from investors to expand into the Middle East where we have been actively promoting our services almost a year now. Our plan is to expand further in the first half of next year into three more growing major markets that we have been closely monitoring: Brazil, Spanish speaking Latin American Countries and Russia & the Commonwealth of Independent States region.
The PIE: How are you able to counsel clients well only by using the telephone?
SD: People have always been very intrigued by the way we operate, especially in terms of remotely counselling our students. Traditional agents find it hard to believe it is possible to provide effective counselling without physical contact. I worked in London in the very competitive financial/bilingual recruitment market until the markets collapsed in 2008 and I have a hands-on experience with selling over the phone. During my years in recruitment, several colleagues of mine used to arrange meetings with their potential clients to acquire new business, whereas I chose to stay in the office all day and make phone calls. I believed in my product and wanted to let others know about it. Within a very short period of time I signed huge contracts with companies like Bank of America or McGraw Hill, all achieved through the phone without any actual physical contact. It’s not an easy option, but with the right training and management, the sky is the limit. You just need to change your perspective and invest in the right direction with a vision.
The PIE: Tell me about expanding into the Middle East and when did that happen?
SD: We launched our first online platform in the Middle East about 10 months ago and already it has started to provide some exciting results. We recruited our first student from a village in Libya, a 48 year old teacher wishing to study a six-week course in Malta. The student was recruited from our London office, and his payment was sent to us from a friend of his in China. The beauty of international business!
We don’t work with a retail mentality –where we counsel hundreds of students a day
We are considering going into Iraqi Kurdistan in addition to our current connections in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Jordan, and the UAE. The scholarship programme for HE in Kurdistan which has been launched by the regional government has already attracted some international investors and this trend is yet to grow. We have recently seen Kaplan starting a pathways foundation programme with a local university in Kurdistan and even though initial risks are high, the returns may be promising in the short to mid-terms.
The PIE: Do you always employ native language speakers to work with each market?
SD: For each market we work closely with multi-linguals. Simply translating a website is not always enough to recruit let alone attract students. There are a few elements to take into consideration. There is a growing amount of interest from agents and schools likewise to improve their online platforms however I see it like making a soup. Almost everyone can make a soup, but it is all about the ingredients you put in, the quality and amount of them, And most importantly, timing… some soups will be more delicious than others. We love making good soup at Academia and we love to share it with our staff, students and partners.
The PIE: How much time might your agency typically spend with each student?
We believe competition of any sort when it comes to online businesses and activities is always good
SD: We don’t work with a retail mentality –where we counsel hundreds of students a day. One of our biggest competitors, a worldwide leader in Education, has about less than 1% conversion rate for sales, whereas our rates are relatively high. Last year we conducted a mystery shopping report for two of our main partners. Among over 26 agents locally surveyed, we were the top in regards to quality of service and counselling, hence the 10%+ sales conversion rates over the last few years. Even though we are online, we still spend considerable time with our students, helping them in every way we can.
The PIE: How do you reach your target student market?
SD: We reach them through our online platforms which we have been developing over the past few years.
The PIE: Do you charge students a fee or only work on commission?
SD: Our services are free of charge, however we may charge for university placement in certain locations since a majority of colleges and universities in the States may not always offer commissions.
The PIE: How do you see the education counselling industry changing?
SD: At Academia we believe the international education industry is rapidly evolving into something very dynamic and colourful. There are some very strong signs already that big players are investing in online and seeing substantial growth in their direct sales which may not always be good news for some traditional agents. However we believe competition of any sort when it comes to online businesses and activities is always good. For a dynamic and fast moving agent, competition can play a crucial role in becoming an opportunity for them especially in terms of creating a client base that is more demanding and therefore only good service providers will be rewarded.
