April 2018 Newsletter - Letter from Executive Director
Dear CSIET Member,
Below is a review of the 2017-2018 CSIET evaluation cycle. By the end of next week, the 2018-2019 Advisory List will be fully updated on www.csiet.org.
- This year's evaluation process was thorough. We received 126 applications for listing this year compared with 117 last year. Of the 126, 16 programs were new applicants. By the deadline of February 28, 2018, five F-1 programs had either withdrawn their application or had not submitted an audit report, and therefore were not eligible for listing. This is two more than last year at this time, resulting in a slightly lower rate of retention (93%, down 2% from FY 17) of F-1 programs throughout the evaluation process.
- In March, CSIET reviewed 70 audit reports and accompanying application materials – 63 F-1 inbound (four more inbound audits than FY 17), 7 outbound (one more than FY 17) and zero short-term (two fewer than FY 17).
- Of the 62 J-1 programs, 61 were in compliance according to the requirements for listing, and organizations were issued the appropriate listing letters.
- Of the 62 F-1 audit reports submitted, 60 were in full compliance. One was given a Conditional Listing, and one organization was denied listing
- Of the 126 applicants for listing, 24 organizations received Provisional Listing. Of note, Staff and the Accreditation Committee have recognized F-1 organizations’ improvement in 2017-2018. CSIET attributes overall improved performance to better oversight of programs, but also, improved training/guidance at the CSIET Annual Conference and during the overall evaluation process.
For more information, navigate to the Advisory List or CSIET's Program Finder. The CSIET Accreditation Committee will conduct a review of the F-1/Outbound Audit Templates during the month of June.
On April 19, the CSIET Advisory Board on International Student Recruitment met to discuss a potential evaluation process for international recruiting agencies. Representatives from NAFSA, NACAC, AIRC, AISAP, NAIS and the international student exchange community agreed to continue on the path toward a review process and will meet in May to discuss next steps.
On April 27, CSIET Director of Membership and Conference Programming (Anna Damewood) and CSIET Executive Director (Chris Page), along with Board Members Clare Sisisky and Louise Reaves, attended the annual meeting of the Global Education Benchmark Group. Anna engaged with GEBG members to discuss CSIET’s listing process and the importance of program vetting/oversight. Chris presented on the results of CSIET’s survey of 427 private schools:
- 90% of schools agree “There needs to be more oversight of non-U.S. based international agents/agencies at the secondary school level”;
- 76% cite “testing for English language capability” as one of the main reasons for additional oversight. 61% cite “verification of application materials”. 55% cite “mental health”
- 84% report recruiting students from China, 65% from South Korea, 45% from Vietnam, 25% from Germany, 20% from Brazil, 20% from Spain, 18% from Mexico.
In response to the advice from the CSIET Advisory Board and the above mentioned statistics, CSIET has included plans for additional oversight of international student recruitment agencies/agents in the 2018-2023 Strategic Plan (due to be released by July 1, 2018 at the latest).
Thank you for your engagement with CSIET during the 2017-2018 evaluation cycle. Your enthusiasm for the process and your willingness to demonstrate quality programming are central to the integrity of the CSIET Seal of Approval. Thank you for all you! We wish you and your colleagues a safe and successful placement season.
Sincerely,
Chris Page
CSIET Executive Director