The NAFSA 2013 Annual Conference was held at St. Louis, Missouri between May 26 and May 31. With more than 8000 professionals in the field of international higher education offering their thoughts and sessions conducted by various experts – NAFSA 2013 was a grand success. Mike Elms CEO and founder of Hotcourses made his mark at the conference with a presentation on ‘online search trends based on student interactivity’.

Some highlights from the presentation and the results of a survey conducted on more than 600 students are given below.

It all starts with a ‘Search’:
Most students who land up on Uniguru for the first time search for information based on the following parameters:
• By program / course – 50.4%
• By location – 19.7%
• By the name of the institution – 29.9%

Points to Ponder:
• 78.4 % students were sure about which country they wanted to study in and 53.9% students were sure of which city they wanted to study.
• 38% students felt that reading about institutions in their own language was important while 30% students did not think that this was an important aspect and it did not impact their decision in choosing an institution.
• 50.6% students were willing to study in American universities who offered their courses to students at satellite campuses in other countries.
• Online degrees do not find much favour with students and nearly 64% students feel that an online degree is inferior to regular campus-based full-time degree.
• Nearly 48% students opine that their parents and family members play a major role in influencing decisions on which college and course to choose.
• A major portion of the survey respondents - 41% students said that they applied to one or two universities.
• 22% students applied to four institutions and 36% students applied to more than four institutions.
• Nearly 50% students began actual research on short-listing their institution just six months before their course start-date and about 15% students started their research work a full two years before their course start-date.

For detailed analysis of student preferences visit Uniguru.

About NAFSA:

NAFSA: Association of International Educators was established in 1948 as the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers with the aim of promoting higher education at the university level in the USA. Conferences are conducted regularly to gauge the needs of prospective students and to measure the efficiency and efficacy of institutions across the USA.

About Uniguru:

Uniguru is a part of Hotcourses, a company that maintains a portfolio of websites, English and translated, which feature useful information for students who aspire to go abroad to study. Uniguru caters to Indian students' need for reliable information and helps them make informed choices from the range of study options available to them. Uniguru has over 400,000 courses and more than 5000 higher education institutions profiled, across nine countries.