Enriching the experience of international exposure of the students by providing quality education - Interview with Neharika Kataria, Student Recruitment Advisor, U Windsor

Ms. Neharika Kataria is the Student Recruitment Advisor at University of Windsor. In the interview she takes us to a journey of her personal life that shows how she, as a small town girl, rose up to the ranks by working hard and following her passion. She describes her role as the advisor as how she helps the students to take the right decision while opting for courses. Also, what students look for while opting for an international degree. Thereon adding how University of Windsor becomes the support system for the students during their stay and how they celebrate by bringing together the diversity they have of international students. The University makes sure to provide an adequate environment for the student to prosper and propel in their career interest. In the later segment of the interview, she highlights the practical stats and why to opt for the University of Windsor. Also,the mindset the parents have during the admission process and how the vision has evolved over the years. Lastly, she talks about the rapid actions they have taken for the admissions to happen at a rapid pace.

The journey from a small town to handling international clients and business has been extremely fascinating

I belong to a small town in Uttar Pradesh, called Lucknow, which is known for its Mughlai cuisine. I did all my schooling there and decided to come to the ‘Big Bad World’ of Delhi for my Graduation. I got admitted into one of the finest institutes, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, which made me an independent, curiously thinking woman. My Post Graduation from JNU moulded me into a self-critiquing individual. I joined the Foreign Education Industry in 2005 and have stayed here ever since for the love of interacting with young questioning minds and the excitement to travel all across India!

Starting my career in the Northumbria (UK) University Liaison office, I put together a comprehensive database and application filling system. I developed strong links with key agents by ensuring a quick turnaround of applications and visa letters.

In my second job profile, I initiated the offer making process in the India office and trained staff for the same. Mapped the entire offer making process and customized a student database system which was used later to feed into the CRM system directly. I researched, explored and developed new and upcoming markets for the University. Initiated and led conversion activities at different stages of the application process.

In my third job, I tried to increase the pan-India footprint of the University by inducting new channel partners. Identified key partners and initiated talks with concerned persons in educational institutions. I increased UG applications by developing relations with reputed schools throughout the country. I started a quarterly newsletter to provide market research/intelligence to University colleagues and departments. I also harnessed the alumni database to promote them as University ambassadors at various internal as well as external events.

At the personal level, I like reading books, love to travel and try new cuisines. During the weekends you’ll find me at a food festival or lazing around with a book in the comfort of my home.

We put a lot of emphasis on targeting the right audience for particular streams that are in demand

We are given targets by the faculties of different schools and streams asking for a certain number of students from particular countries. Here, we bifurcate our recruitment from South Asia into various streams like IT programs, which are being promoted in South India as it attracts interest. We take care of all sorts of marketing activities not only in Tier-1 cities but also in Tier-2 and Tier-3 like Lucknow, Kanpur, Bhopal etc. Majorly, we enroll agents to help in spreading awareness about our University of Windsor to the various parts of the country. We do extensive travelling to various corners of the Country to promote, to train counselors, do interview sessions with students. We have been also linked with some of the renowned schools such as - Lancers International, Scottish High Intentional, St. Columba’s, Birla Vidya Niketan etc

Students look for an international exposure when they are in search for a foreign degree

When students are looking for foreign degree they are actually looking for international exposure. Here, we have faculties, staff, and students from 90 different countries. At University of Windsor degrees are experiential degrees that provide a lot of learning apart from classroom. We have Co-op programs, where an industry mentor is being assigned with the student from 2^nd year onwards to help in nurturing the student. We are right at the border of the USA or Canada. Proximity makes it very attractive and Detroit is nearest. It's a research oriented university even at the undergraduate level, 65% of our faculty of science are involved in research projects and students are also part of those researches.

We build the foundation in the first year for the students and from second year onwards they take up their majors

We provide a 4 years degree at undergraduate level and 2 year degree at graduate level. For example, the 1^st year of Business undergraduate course is the foundation building year where students are given exposure to finance, economics, and business studies. From 2^nd year onwards students can choose majors for their degree.

We make sure students develop a befitting personality and get the support they require

We rank in the top 3 universities in offering support services to the students. The ranking that we have achieved is because of the students' support that they believe in us. Additionally, we hire students in various departments to provide them exposure and ensure they have a befitting personality for the on-campus jobs. Moreover, we make sure students enjoy their stay here. We, as a community, celebrate all cultural festivals like Holi, Diwali, etc and also the meal festivals are being celebrated. We have Indian students association at the university available to offer support and culture services to the student.

I guide students and lend a helping hand in filling their application and explain them about the courses

I help students in filling applications as well as explaining them the admission process. I guide students about courses they should opt for and also help in choosing their streams in tandem to their interests. Majorly orienting them about Canada as a country, We do counselling sessions for both parents and students to prepare them. Pre departure sessions are being conducted to explain things that to be done and that not be done, even faculties are being invited to conduct sessions to clear all doubts of parents as well as students. Recruitment and brand building is also part of my job.

Our top priority lies in providing quality education and a safe and secure environment to the students to flourish

Our top most priority would be giving out quality education and providing them a safe and secure environment to flourish in their education. Providing them a good return on investment through internship and co-op programs, We have a dedicated legal team that helps in visa and PR related queries.

Our vision has evolved over time with quality students from across India being the harbinger of diversity

My vision was to gather quality students for the university by studying each student profile with precision and care. I went on to interview them to know their vision and purpose, which was the next step. Bringing in diversity from India was also one of the areas that required immediate attention which has now significantly improved. Earlier, we were getting a lot of applications from Gujarat and Punjab, but now in the last 2 years, we have diversified our recruitment. Currently, we have good applications from the region of Hyderabad and Kerala as well.

We make sure to provide a quality atmosphere to the students for them to grow and prosper in their lives

Our core strength lies in the people working with us and our ambassadors for change, our students. Also, the campus atmosphere matters a lot. An adequate atmosphere ensures quality students being prepared for the future. Our staff and professors make sure they give proper nurturing to the students. Also, our university is a research based university. Thus, it forms a pillar of great success to our name. Another aspect that forms the core is to take care of each other and take care of the international students have witnessed from my eyes where the Director has stopped the meeting in between to be with an international student who met in an accident.

We are continuously diversifying our recruitment along with exploring markets of South Asia

We are continuously diversifying our recruitment along with exploring markets of South Asia. The reason for the same is that our major chunk of South Asian students is from India. It helps to bring in the best quality crowd to our university. We are also building the UWindsor brand in India by doing various tie-ups such as school tie-ups is one great example to build our brand.

The applications for Postgraduate courses is much higher than Undergraduate courses

The conversion ratio is pretty decent. The average Conversion that we witness is precisely 1:15. Not to forget, we get more PG applications as compared to UG. At present, we have close to 1000 applications for UG and PG is almost three times the number of UG.

Students and parents carry an investigative mindset because they want to invest their money in a quality institution

Any student or the parent at an early stage of admission keeps an investigative mentality. It is quite evident because they want to invest their money in a best-in-class educational institute. We, as a brand, have grown with time and have the assurance in the placement statistics. Thus, our stats speak for itself where the year 2018-2019, 87% employability across universities was a promising figure. Also, we have a great career cell which has exceptional connections with employers. Additionally, we have co-op programs, where the return on investment is 10000 to 11000 dollars for 4 months of work every year.

There is a lot of variety in the programs and courses the university has to offer

The courses comprise of Engineering Programs, which includes Automotive, mechanical, and aeronautical streams. Also, the university provides Business programs, which ranks in the top 10 business school in Canada. Moreover, we have Science programs which put emphasis on the research oriented programs.

We took rapid decisions to create and effective impact during the whole scenario of lockdown

UW took very rapid action. Since May 19, our intake moved online and information was relayed to students. We proved our mettle in March as well. We will be doing Fall intake as an online intake. We have to make quick decisions for everybody. From 1st June we are holding a webinar to inform students about online education till 31st Dec, there won’t be any physical classroom sessions.