Dublin International Foundation College (DIFC) has tied up with Levant Education to establish a Regional Office in Istanbul serving Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan.
Levant Education announced its Higher Education Regional Office (HERO) service last year, and with a number of clients interested in the model, DIFC has become the first to put pen to paper.
“Higher Education recruitment is an intensive and complex activity requiring local market knowledge”, David Mitchell, Levant Education Founding Director explained, “so having an office and dedicated team on the ground will vastly improve DIFC’s ability to service agents and students in this region.”
Ireland has seen a significant increase in the number of language students from Turkey, and factors including EU membership, post-study work visas, quality and value money make studying at university in Ireland an attractive option for international students.
The Levant Education service provides partners with a Product Manager in-country, working from the Istanbul office and able to manage agent support and marketing campaigns locally, in local languages. The Product Manager is trained in close liaison with the partner, works to recruitment targets and reports to the HERO Director and the HERO client college.
DIFC offers foundation programmes in Dublin and Cork, working closely with Irish HEI’s as well as UK universities through its provision of NCUK programmes. Students studying Health Sciences, Business & Management, Engineering & Technology, and Sciences at DIFC have gone on to study at top universities in Ireland, the UK and globally, and are guaranteed to progress upon successful completion of the programme.
“The HERO service provides recruitment reach and marketing support in a challenging but fascinating region”
President of DIFC Diarmuid Moroney is enthusiastic about the link up: “The HERO service provides recruitment reach and marketing support in a challenging but fascinating region in the coming years, as DIFC focusses on expansion from its Dublin base, to new campuses in Cork and Galway.”
White Labelling Student Recruitment
The service reflects a growing trend in Higher Education recruitment, as skilled third parties provide marketing and recruitment services ‘white labelled’ for HE providers. Briefly, white labelling means a product or service that is outsourced to a contracted company but presented to the market by the established brand. In the UK, Uniquest has developed a white label service to boost onshore university enrolment, while Study Group have begun offering white labelled enquiry conversion in partnership with THES university rankings.
Visitors to DIFC’s website from Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan will be directed to contact the Istanbul Regional Office, which is outsourced to Levant Education.
DIFC’s HERO in Istanbul has begun 2018 building an agent network, training counsellors on product and visa matters, and promoting study in Ireland.
# Levant Education has been providing education marketing and recruitment consultancy since 2009, focussing on Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Azerbaijan
# Dublin International Foundation College is Ireland’s leading HE preparation college for international students since 199. DIFC has placed over 1,000 students onto graduate and postgraduate courses in partner universities and colleges in Ireland and the UK.
Contacts
DIFC Nerilie Duffy Nerilie@difc.ie +353 45 866 671
DIFC Regional Office Istanbul istanbul@difc.ie +90 212 231 2543
Study Abroad Agency Enquiries: Leila Esmaeili +90 212 231 2543
Levant Education david.mitchell@levanteducation.com +90 212 231 2543
Khayala Pashayeva lead a session on social media and the classroom, and subjects also included the ‘fallacy of the native speaker’ and preparing students for international language exams.
