In a move to attract more international students to Minnesota, 21 regional educational institutions supported by the Minnesota Trade Office and the US Commercial Service, have formed the “Study Minnesota” consortium.
The member institutions have each paid an annual fee of $350 for the opportunity to better promote their offering of courses and recruit more international students under a unified state brand.
“We think that working together we will be able to draw more attention to Minnesota as an educational destination, which in turn should increase the international student populations at our schools,” Christina Hilpipre-Frischman, chair of Study Minnesota and director of international admissions at the University of St. Thomas, one of the member institutions, told The PIE News.
“We think that working together we will be able to draw more attention to Minnesota as an educational destination”
The state is ranked 19th in the US for the number of international students in its college and universities. Last year, just over 12,000 foreign studied in Minnesota bringing in US$319.2 million to the economy.
Colleges and universities, community colleges, high schools and English language schools within the state are among member institutions, including the top four universities in terms of foreign student numbers: University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, St. Cloud State University, Minnesota State University – Mankato , Minnesota State University – Moorhead and University of St. Thomas.
Institutions on all levels will be promoted under the Study Minnesota brand through a website providing individual profiles and links to members. The consortia will also jointly participate in international education and recruitment conferences, webinars, recruitment trips, trade missions and virtual education fairs.
While Minnesota recognises China, South Korea, India, Nepal and Canada as its top five markets, organisers have not set their sights on target markets just yet.
“We are working closely with our MN Trade Office and U.S. Commercial service partners to tap into their wealth of resources, including their knowledge of emerging overseas markets,” confirmed Hilpipre-Frischman.
Minnesota joins around 25 states including Texas and Massachusetts that have combined forces to recruit international students who contributed over $21 billion to the US economy during the 2011 to 2012 academic year, according to the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers.
