WholeRen Education participated the American International Recruitment Council (AIRC) Annual Conference, held on December 5-8, 2018 in Weston, FL. AIRC was founded to safeguard the interests of both international students and enrolling institutions through the promotion of ethical, standards-based international recruitment strategies.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of AIRC. For 10 years, AIRC has been committed to promoting American international enrollment, with nearly 300 member institutions and more than 80 global certification agencies.
WholeRen Education received its AIRC certification in 2015, when only three US-based institutions were certified at the time. In 2019, WholeRen will recertify for the 5th year.
At present, 80 organizations in the world have received AIRC certification, and four of them have offices in the United States. As one of the longest standing AIRC certified agencies, WholeRen is widely recognized amongst the U.S. international education community with its CEO being quoted in the NY Times, Newsweek and PIE News on issues related to Chinese international students in the U.S.
All AIRC-certified organizations can be viewed here:
WholeRen’s AIRC Presentations:
At this year’s AIRC conference, WholeRen’s CEO participated in two presentations.
Chaired by the former President of AIRC, WholeRen’s first presentation introduced China’s college entrance examination (the Gao Kao) along with the marketing efforts WholeRen Education used to promote the utility of the Gao Kao score in lieu of other standardized test scores for the University of New Hampshire (UNH). WholeRen CEO Andrew Chen was joined by the Vice President for Enrollment Management at the University of New Hampshire and the Director of International Recruitment at the University of North Texas.
With WholeRen’s marketing support, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) announced plans to offer direct entry for qualified Chinese Gao Kao students into its fall 2018 class. Gao Kao students, numbering 9.75 million (98% of China’s high school seniors) in 2018 remains a largely untapped market of highly competitive candidates for study abroad. WholeRen will continue to assist American higher education institutions in exploring and expanding their reach into the Gao Kao student pool.
Andrew Chen’s second presentation at the AIRC Annual Conference focused on international student recruitment, targeting ideas of best practices that go beyond recruitment. As WholeRen’s student support work does not end at matriculation, this presentation highlighted efforts that must be made to support student success once a student enters college. He and colleagues from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and Full Sail University presented strategies to retain students through successful partnership programs.
