Communications Preferences Among International Students: Strategies for Creating Optimal Engagement in Programs and Services

As U.S. institutions continue to welcome larger and more diverse populations of international students, campus support offices are also expected to adjust their programming and outreach strategies to engage a wider student audience and provide them with key information and services. This quantitative study examines the communications preferences of degree-seeking international students enrolled in a mid-size U.S. university. It specifically investigates students’ preferred methods of communication, patterns and frequency in sending and receiving messages, and the types of information they prefer to be informed of. The survey also looks across a number of communication media including email, social media, print communications, and face-to-face interactions to better understand how resources may be directed to individual channels. The authors argue that the most impactful engagement model requires an accompanying, analytics-driven communications strategy to support international students during their stay on campus.