Executive Director, International Admissions

Job Summary

Reporting to the Vice President for Enrollment Management - Admissions and Outreach, the Executive Director of International Admissions provides leadership for the strategic recruitment and enrollment of international students. The Director creates and carries out a strategic international enrollment vision to increase the enrollment of international first-year, transfer, online, and graduate students through direct recruitment, cultivation and management of agency agreements and establishing partnerships/pathways that build on the University's strengths and brand while collaborating with campus partners on outreach efforts and initiatives.

This position is responsible for meeting and quantitative enrollment goals while exhibiting professionalism, compliance and ethics, accuracy, and passion for higher education. Responsibilities include effective application generation, decision- modeling, process engineering, application pool management, communication strategies, customer service management, on-campus visit programs, yield strategy development, and implementation to meet enrollment goals. The Director develops and maintains relationships with academic, administrative, enrollment management partners, and international school counselors while serving as a member of the Enrollment Management division's leadership team. The Director of International Admissions ensures that the mission and values of Drexel University are clearly communicated to prospective students, family members, secondary school counselors, and community-based organizations while demonstrating deep academic program knowledge.

This is a Hybrid position with expectation to work primarily in-person. This position requires minimum travel of 8-10 weeks in the Fall and 4-6 weeks in the Spring. Additional travel may be required in the summer as well as working evening and weekend hours as needed.

Essential Functions

• Lead a team of admission officers focused on the recruitment and retention of graduate and undergraduate international students.
• Manage the admissions funnel for international students monitoring key performance indicators (prospects, applications, admits, deposits, and conversion rates by various subpopulations, etc.) from prospect through enroll.
• Collaborate with the Vice President for Enrollment Management - Admissions and Outreach on the creation of a data-informed strategic lead generation and recruitment plan that may include name purchases, search, travel, social media, on- and off-campus events and visits, electronic and print publications, etc.
• Work closely with Slate and systems colleagues to create a segmented and personalized communications plan including reports for tracking performance, which constitutes a critical element of the lead generation and recruitment plan for international students.
• Create and implement a plan with measurable outcomes for engaging key influencers such as parents, secondary school counselors, independent counselors, and community-based organizations for the international audience.
• Monitor the progress of international students, in partnership with the International Students & Scholars Services team to ensure a streamlined experience for new international students from point of acceptance through matriculation.
• Create, implement, and track metrics for a multi-channel yield and melt prevention plan for international students.
• Vet and develop relationships with agencies in selected regions, manage agency contracts and fees.
• Partner with Drexel's Schools and Colleges to monitor progress towards net tuition revenue goals, and enrollments at the program level, as part of the university's responsibility centered management model.
• Manage and monitor vendor relationships, including lead generation vendors, memberships, and return on investment.
• Ensure that international recruitment objectives, plans, budgets, policies, practices and actions are consistent with university policies.
• Recruit and hire new staff, which includes interviewing prospects - ensuring quality hires and managing compensation and performance management programs.
• Adheres to laws and regulations governing student recruitment activities and ensures all compliance and data integrity.
• Demonstrates Drexel University values in the completion of all job assignments.
• Monitors regular reports to ensure progress toward goals and staff performance metrics.
• Stays updated on international events that impact recruitment such as currency fluctuations, administration policy changes, geopolitical conflicts, and competitor institutions' strategies.
• Maintain an understanding of the current landscape and future trajectory of higher education and international admissions.
• Completes other projects and duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of Bachelor's Degree or the equivalent combination of education and work experience.
  
  
  
  • Please review the Equivalency Chart for additional information.
  
  
  
  
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in university recruitment and enrollment
• Experience managing complex budgets.
• Experience in territory management and international admissions.
• Supervisory experience, including skills to train and develop professional staff and students workers.
• Ability to be a self-starter who thinks strategically.
• Ability to achieve success individually and as part of a team in a fast-paced environment.
• Persistence combined with a positive, solution-oriented attitude and approach to work.
• Thorough and demonstrable level of knowledge of international school programs, with a demonstrated ability to match a prospective student's needs to the correct program fit.
• Experience working with student-related immigration and VISA processes.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong time and project management skills.
• Ability to lead and manage a team.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines while working with team members across the university.
• Ability to work evening and weekend to support events and special situations.
• Ability to travel year-round both domestically and internationally. Some travel will require being gone for multiple weeks in a row.
• Valid Driver's License.
• Valid passport.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree.
• Ability to communicate proficiently in more than 1 language (excluding English).

Location

• Hybrid/Flexible Work Arrangement

Additional Information
This position is classified as Exempt, grade N. Compensation for this grade ranges from $90,430 - $135,640 per year. Please note that the offered rate for this position typically aligns with the minimum to midrange of this grade, but it can vary based on the successful candidate's qualifications and experience, department budget, and an internal equity review.

Applicants are encouraged to explore the Professional Staff salary structure and Compensation Guidelines & Policies for more details on Drexel's compensation framework. For information about benefits, please review Drexel's Benefits Brochure.

Special Instructions to the Applicant
Please make sure you upload your CV/resume and cover letter when submitting your application.

A review of applicants will begin once a suitable candidate pool is identified.

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