Media Release - 26 May 2009

IDP EDUCATION EXPANDS INTO UNITED STATES

Foreseeing a million international students, the world’s largest
student placement firm brings added capacity to the world’s largest higher education market

Los Angeles, CA – IDP Education today announced that the firm is entering the American higher education market, looking to place international students into American universities in Fall of 2010.  Now in its 40th year, IDP has placed over a quarter of a million students into education institutions in Australia and is expanding its international student recruiting operation to the United States at a time that American universities need students. 

Showcasing its plans for placing students into American universities at the NAFSA – Association of International Educators conference in Los Angeles this week, IDP presented college administrators with a solution to the growing problem of not enough money to recruit an increasing number of international students.  According to IDP’s North American director Mark Shay, “American universities, especially private ones, are seeing a real need for foreign students to account for softer demand in their traditional markets.  As schools look to cut their overhead, they are looking to vendors like IDP to help deliver students in a cost-effective manner.”

In the student placement model, IDP acts on the school’s behalf, working with families in IDP offices overseas to help them through the complicated maze of information and processes needed to enroll in an American university. 

IDP Chief Executive Anthony Pollock said he was pleased at the response shown by American schools to IDP’s offering. “There is a huge international demand for an American university degree, but lack of US investment in overseas recruiting has kept this market from reaching its true potential.  With a more proactive approach we think there can be a million foreign students in the US within the next decade,” Pollock says. There were 624,000 international students in US universities and colleges in 2008.

IDP has been a pioneer in the placement of international students, fundamentally inventing the business in its recruiting for Australian universities over several decades.  With a focus on finding the best fit for students, IDP has built a trusted reputation with families in nations such as India, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan.  IDP’s well-trained and professional counselors, working from 70 offices in 25 countries, help students and their families navigate the entire process of enrollment.  In exchange, universities pay IDP a placement fee.

“IDP’s integrity and professionalism is unparalleled.  At a time when university advertising budgets are being cut, IDP’s model of paying only for successful enrollments should resonate with the business needs of the universities,” Shay says.

“Further value comes from the in-depth counseling process, where we not only bring students into a university, we bring ones who are more likely to stay through and graduate.”

ABOUT IDP EDUCATION

IDP Education, the world’s largest international student placement service, is jointly-owned by 38 Australian universities and SEEK Limited, Australia’s leading online employment and training company.  In addition to the student placement division, IDP is a major sponsor of research into international education and pioneered forecasting of international student trends and growth.

Established by Australian universities in 1969 to channel aid to universities in Asian countries, IDP continues its founding vision by managing scholarship programs on behalf of various governments for developing countries.

IDP also is part-owner of IELTS – the world’s leading English language proficiency test – with the British Council and Cambridge University. More than 1.2 million people take the IELTS test each year. The IELTS test is recognized by more than 2,000 US academic faculties, colleges and universities. IDP conducts IELTS tests around the world in 247 locations and 44 countries.

For more information, please visit www.usa.idp.com or contact John McGauley at Gehrung Associates, at +1-603-352-5300 or johnm@gehrung.com