The Durban University of Technology (DUT), International Education and Partnerships Directorate hosted an International Students Recruitment Benchmarking Hybrid Workshop at the DUT Hotel School Restaurant, Ritson Campus on Friday, 02 September 2022.

The purpose of the workshop was to share best practices with different universities in South Africa necessary to attract international students and address the challenges that are faced by South Africa’s Higher Education sector when it comes to recruitment and admissions in a post COVID-19 era.

Different universities representatives who attended were from Central University of Technology (CUT), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), University of Pretoria (UP), Durban University of Technology (DUT), Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), University of the Western Cape (UWC), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), University of the Free State  (UFS), Nelson Mandela University  (NMU), Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), University of Venda (UNIVEN), and the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

Giving an overview of DUT Recruitment was Alex Mdletshe, Manager: DUT Student Recruitment. He relayed that it has been rather challenging for DUT to achieve the desired international student recruitment numbers, hence the need to benchmark. Adding to the conversation was special guest speaker, Mr Wiseman Jack, International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) President who indicated that if African universities do not act swiftly on increasing and growing its international student numbers they will be left behind in the international trends, and intercultural dimensions in the higher education system won’t exist.

“We have a lot to do as IEASA which is an association looking at the broader higher education sector in South Africa interacting with their colleagues, and other organisations outside the country. It is important for us to focus on how to best integrate international people into our environment and this begins at universities, we are all aware of that but this particular approach that has been taken here today through this benchmarking, looking at the new normal and aiming for the growth of international student numbers in a post COVID-19 era is so important to us,” said Jack.

Further on into the workshop, there were group discussions, presentations by guest universities and a panel discussion on Reimagining recruitment strategies for international students in SA Universities (Mitigating recruitment and marketing challenges posed on long term international students’ mobility).

Deliberations from the workshop were that each university after the engagement would return  to their respective communities/environment and strategise. More collaborations from this initiative have emerged and many other fruitful and positive outcomes are anticipated.

Pictured: DUT delegates at the event.

Nomvelo Zulu