Trinity increases spending on international student recruitment to €1.4 million

Recruitment agency fees comprised majority of the spending

College spent over €1.4m on recruitment of non-EU undergraduate and postgraduate students during the 2018/19 financial year, according to figures obtained obtained by a request from Trinity News under the Freedom of Information Act.

The €1,432,705 bill marks an increase in spending on international student recruitment of around €300,000 from the previous year, which saw College spend €1,149,335 in this area.

In a statement to Trinity News, a spokesperson for College explained that this spending has all been on “essential activities for the College in continuing to grow Trinity’s global connectivity and campus diversity”, adding that “being a global university is about pursuing strategies that engage the College with the world”.

The statement highlighted that Trinity’s rankings for most international university in the world according to Times Higher Education has risen from 40th in 2016 to 16th in 2019.

A large proportion of the spending, over €700,00, was on “agency fees”, the money College spends to hire recruitment agents in countries that are either highly competitive, or where Trinity’s Global Relations Office does not have a large presence.

Trinity also spent €455,153 on “In-Country Operations”, where Trinity employees staff within a particular country to work on recruitment as well as other internationalisation
activities, such as partnership management and alumni relations.

The travel bill to get members of Trinity’s Global Relations and the academic staff around the world to promote recruitment was €186,336 . This year Trinity sent staff members to the Middle-East, Latin America, and Africa, as well as what College describes as its “major regions for recruitment”, which are the USA, India and China.

Trinity spent €52,893 to participate in fairs and conferences, including the China Education Expo (CEE), the National Admission for College Admission Counselling (NACAC), and theCouncil of International Schools (CIS).

According to College’s most recent report, international students currently account for 26% of the student body.

Finn Purdy

Finn Purdy is the current Deputy Editor of Trinity News. He is a Junior Sophister English Studies student, and a former News Editor and Assistant News Editor.