Consider a student in Ho Chi Minh City beginning her search for a university abroad. Her options may look very different from those available to a student making the same decision a decade ago.
Alongside long-established destinations such as Australia, the UK or the US, she may now be looking at South Korea, Japan or other growing education hubs closer to home.
That expansion of choice is one of international education’s great successes. It has also made the decision-making process more complicated.
Students are weighing changing visa policies, rising costs, new study destinations, employment prospects and an enormous amount of information. Institutions face a related challenge as they try to reach students who are likely to thrive in their programs, including those in markets they may not traditionally have served.
For our sector, the next phase of student mobility is about making those choices easier to navigate and more meaningful.
Today, the student journey is still surprisingly fragmented. Test preparation and assessment may happen in one place, university research in another, followed by applications, financing, admissions and enrollment through an entirely different set of systems.
Along the way, counselors, advisers, agents and institutions provide essential guidance. Yet the information available to them does not always connect as easily as it could.
Bringing more of that information together can create a clearer path for students. It can help them discover institutions, programs and destinations they may never have considered and better understand how those opportunities align with their skills, ambitions and circumstances.
It can also help institutions see talent in places they may not previously have reached.
Technology has an important role to play in making those connections possible. AI can help surface relevant opportunities and bring together information that would otherwise be difficult for a student or adviser to navigate alone. Its value, though, depends on how it is used.
International education is deeply personal. A decision to study abroad can involve family expectations, finances, career aspirations and a willingness to move thousands of miles from home. No technology can fully understand all of those considerations.
That is why human judgment, trust and transparency remain so important. From my perspective, the most promising use of technology is one that gives students and the people advising them a clearer picture of the opportunities available, while leaving the decision where it belongs; with the student.
The most promising use of technology is one that gives students and the people advising them a clearer picture of the opportunities available, while leaving the decision where it belongs; with the student.
This thinking is also reflected in ETS’s recent partnership with Passage. By connecting trusted TOEFL and GRE assessment insights with Passage’s matching and engagement technology, we are looking at how institutions can more effectively connect with students whose strengths and goals align with their programs, while helping students move more easily from discovery through enrollment. ETS continues to maintain its role in the development, delivery, scoring, security and research behind its assessments.
Progress will also depend on collaboration across the international education community. Institutions, counselors, agents, assessment organizations and technology providers each bring a different perspective and different expertise. Students benefit when those pieces work together more effectively.
Think again about that student in Ho Chi Minh City. Success is not simply giving her a longer list of universities to consider. It is helping her discover opportunities she may have missed, understand why they could be right for her and make a decision with confidence alongside the people she trusts.
International education has always been built on connections between countries, cultures, institutions and people. As the map of global mobility continues to change, strengthening those connections can help turn an abundance of choice into something much more valuable: a clearer sense of possibility.
About the author: As the general manager (GM) of TOEFL, Omar Chihane drives the strategic direction and growth of the TOEFL iBT, using his global experience as a tech entrepreneur and executive to lead teams across various functional areas of the business.
Prior to joining ETS in 2024, Omar founded englease – an English teaching startup that serves the Middle East and Africa through synchronous online classes. Before his startup journey, Omar held various leadership roles with multinational corporations including Siemens, Nokia and Microsoft. Omar holds an MBA from the London Business School and is a venture partner with Antler, where he coaches and mentors up and coming tech startups.