“Sustainable recruitment” has become one of the most frequently used phrases in the sector recently. It features prominently in the UK’s latest international education strategy (IES) and increasingly seems to shape conversations across universities, government departments and the wider sector.
Yet despite all the talk, I still don’t think there is a widely shared understanding across all stakeholders of what sustainable recruitment actually means.
For some, it is about financial sustainability. For others, maintaining enrolments from established markets. For government (and IES authors), it likely means ensuring international education remains politically and publicly sustainable. The challenge is that each definition captures only part of the picture.
Across the sector, changing immigration policies, geopolitical uncertainty, economic pressures and shifting student demand have shown how quickly long-standing recruitment patterns can change. What appears sustainable today may not be sustainable tomorrow.
At Edinburgh Napier University, that has increasingly led us to think about sustainability through the lens of partnership. Partnership with overseas organisations who support our enrolment work, as well as local organisations in Scotland that help students succeed during and after their studies.
For almost two decades, we have maintained a presence in Hyderabad, India. One lesson has remained constant: sustainable recruitment begins long before an application is submitted. Trusted partnerships, local knowledge and strong local networks require consistent investment, long-term commitment and a willingness to remain engaged beyond annual recruitment cycles.
This experience has also shaped our approach to diversification. Too often, diversification is viewed simply as identifying new recruitment markets. In reality, it requires investment in local expertise, regional understanding and relationships that extend beyond student recruitment.
One lesson has remained constant: sustainable recruitment begins long before an application is submitted
More broadly, internationalisation itself has become far more complex. International offices were traditionally measured largely through recruitment outcomes. International partnerships now encompass study abroad, articulation agreements, transnational education, research collaboration, employer engagement, alumni development and online learning.
As a result, the distinction between recruitment strategy and partnership strategy is becoming increasingly blurred. These relationships create value regardless of short-term fluctuations in student demand or policy settings.
At Edinburgh Napier University, this has meant strengthening our engagement across Europe and the Americas while continuing to invest in established markets. The objective has not been to react to short-term volatility but to build a broader and more balanced portfolio of international partnerships capable of supporting long-term resilience. This creates opportunities for wider engagement based around shared regional priorities and areas of institutional strength.
Europe also provides a useful example. Brexit fundamentally altered the UK’s relationship with European students and institutions, while renewed debate around EU fee status demonstrates how quickly policy environments can continue to evolve. Our partnerships have survived one major change, and will survive another.
Whatever the outcome of those discussions, they reinforce an important point: institutions cannot build international strategies around the expectation that policy environments will remain unchanged. Sustainable recruitment depends on relationships that retain value regardless of shifts in regulation, funding or student mobility patterns.
It also raises an important question. How much responsibility for sustainable recruitment should sit with university recruitment teams alone? Increasingly, international teams must become agents of change within their institutions. Sustainable recruitment depends not only on recruitment activity, but on the relevance of what universities offer students and partners. That may mean influencing portfolio development, partnership models, accommodation strategies, employer engagement and pathways into employment.
As the sector continues to explore what sustainable recruitment means in practice, we could start by recognising that sustainability is not always about maintaining the status quo.
It could also be about building the partnerships, capabilities and institutional resilience that allow universities to thrive when change inevitably comes. In that sense, sustainable recruitment is not primarily a recruitment challenge but an institutional one. Universities prepared to evolve alongside their partners will be best placed to succeed in an increasingly uncertain world.
About the author:
About the author: Stuart is chair of the British Universities’ International Liaison Association (BUILA) and director of global engagement at Edinburgh Napier University, where he is a member of the university senior leadership team. He oversees a team of over 50 staff in seven countries, with responsibility for all global engagement activity across recruitment, mobility and TNE in addition to a significant online distance learning operation.
Stuart has worked in higher education for over 15 years, including living and working in China and holding internationalisation, recruitment, and partnership development roles at three Scottish universities. He has previously served on Chevening scholarship reading committees and as a member of the Scottish Universities International Group committee and the Universities Scotland International Committee.
Elected to the BUILA Executive in 2021, Stuart currently serves at the organisation’s chair and oversees its LEAD pillar, focused on strengthening the association’s governance, organisational resilience, and capacity to deliver for members. His portfolio also includes director engagement, bringing senior colleagues together to share insight and inform BUILA’s strategic priorities.
