Our increasingly interconnected world is opening up new possibilities for students and graduate schools alike — but with these changes come unprecedented challenges.
While there’s no denying that shifting demographics are reshaping the admissions landscape at southern graduate schools, it’s also true that emerging technologies can help your institution create a more effective enrollment experience that helps you deepen applicant pools and do a better job of recruiting next year’s class.
Leading the way
That’s why deans, faculty and staff members from schools across the region will join forces at this year’s Council of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS) annual meeting in Birmingham, AL, (March 5-7), to discuss the “unprecedented challenges that acutely impact recruiting and retaining graduate students and faculty, building new programs, and supporting students and their success.”
The overarching theme that will guide this year’s CSGS meeting — “Graduate Education Leading the Way with Courage and Inclusivity” — also underscores the message that Jeff Gibbs, regional vice president at Liaison International, will deliver on the morning of Saturday, March 7, when he hosts a breakfast talk called, “Where Will Your Next Class of Graduate Students Come From?”
Gibbs will explore the challenges faced by graduate programs across the country as they try to offset a decline in applications that has been attributed to shrinking populations of traditional students, immigration headaches for international learners and a strong labor market. He will then share examples of how innovative schools are evolving practices and adopting new technologies to overcome these challenges.
Bringing goals into focus
From expanding your reach, to modernizing recruitment and changing the way we communicate with prospective students, attendees will explore which strategies will help them meet the current moment, and what can be done to future-proof enrollment against uncertainty in the years to come.
“Achieving a graduate school’s goal of recruiting the best class each year now requires new thinking, new strategies and new technology,” Gibbs says. “Over the course of the past 25-plus years, Liaison’s market-leading technological and strategic innovations have empowered more than 31,000 programs to do a better job of identifying, engaging and enrolling prospective students. I look forward to speaking at the CSGS meeting about the insights we have gained while helping so many schools accomplish their most important class-building goals.”
You can learn more about the CSGS meeting here. The Liaison-sponsored breakfast, where Jeff Gibbs will discuss “Where Will Your Next Class of Graduate Students Come From?” takes place Saturday, March 7, from 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. We hope to see you there.