Advisors Newsletter – Summer 2014

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Ah Summer, the time to…
…invite recently returned students to submit their program reviews!  Last week alone, the Abroad101 system sent 1065 invites to students, coming from providers, advisors and host institutions.  Now is the ideal time for advisors and students to catch up on “paperwork” and reflecting on their recent education abroad experience is a perfect summer task.

Nearly 90% of the reviews on Abroad101 originate from an invite, making this a vital part of the process.  FYI – 70% of the reviews come from advisor invites, 20% from provider invites and the remaining reviews come from students who discover us on their own.

As a reminder, the most effective way to generate reviews is to use the “invite tool” in your account with Abroad101.  Using the invite tool not only makes it easy, it sends reminders to those that don’t complete a review and it doesn’t send reminders to those that do.  If your institution does not require reviews, you should expect that 15% of students you invite would complete a review.

Requiring reviews provides you with a wealth of data and tools to compare your students to the others that use Abroad101.  You can also add custom review questions to our standard set of 37.  You can see the review questions here: https://studyabroad101.com/blog/2014/05/advisors-and-providers-the-abroad101-study-abroad-review-questions/

Our latest guest blog posting identifies five reasons a students should complete a review.  We offer this to you as content to help students understand that completing a review is also good for the student, please read: https://studyabroad101.com/blog/2014/07/top-5-reasons-to-write-an-education-abroad-review/
Also, tips on writing a good review:
https://studyabroad101.com/blog/2014/02/tips-for-writing-a-review-of-your-time-abroad/

New: Home Students Only Programs 
For all programs listed on the Abroad101, we have a data field known as Program Management to help guide placement in the directories.  It has values of “Outside Provider”, “Direct Exchange” and “Faculty Led.” In response to feedback from advisors, we have added a new “Home Students Only” category that allows for a program to be listed and designated as available to only students at the home university.  Programs labeled as Home Students Only will still be listed in the directories for reviews, but they will not be open to inquiries from outside students.  This removes a big barrier for listing university programs that are not open to students from other universities and was added to support the growing number of universities that require evaluations through Abroad101.  If you would like your in-house or home students only programs added to Abroad101, please send them in a spreadsheet to: support@abroad101.com

Sharing Reviews – Part 1: THE WIDGET:
Abroad101 now has 2 widgets to bring our data to your web site. A widget is small block of computer code that when placed on your web page(s) easily displays review summaries on your page.

University Widget brings a list of the top reviewed pre-approved programs to your web site.  A box with up to 7 programs can be placed on your study abroad web home page or testimonials page that shows a sampling of the programs you designate as recommended or pre-approved.  Installing the widget is fairly simple:

  1. Visit: https://www.studyabroad101.com/university_widget
  2. Choose your university, the width and the number of programs to display, click “generate code”
  3. Copy that code to your web page and insert in a way similar to putting in a photo or graphic

Program Widget is designed as a badge and creates a small sized icon that highlights an individual program’s star rating and number of reviews.  It is an ideal addition to your directory of programs and can feature a provider’s program or one of your own.  Installing the widget is even simpler than the university widget:

  1. Visit: https://www.studyabroad101.com/program_widget
  2. Choose the width and the program to display, click “generate code”
  3. Copy that code to your web page and insert in a way similar to putting in a photo or graphic

Pre-Approved Lists:

To use the University Widget, you must also have created a pre-approved or recommended programs list.  To create a list:

  1. Login to your advisor account on Abroad101
  2. From your Administration Dashboard, under Program Listingsselect Approve More Programs
  3. Search for programs using region, country, organizer (provider) and Load Programs
  4. Check the desired programs and click the Approve Selected button

For those of you that would like us to create this list for you, please provide us with a spreadsheet of recommended or pre-approved programs and email them to: support@Abroad101.com

The pre-approved programs list is published on the Abroad101 home page for your university and is housed on the tab next to the summary of your student reviews.  Also, when your students visit the site and login, they will see these pre-approved programs highlighted as they browse the site, another benefit of using the pre-approved/recommended programs option.

Sharing Data – Part 2: THE API:
If the badges or content boxes aren’t enough, Abroad101 is delighted to announce its new API gateway.  We have created an advanced interface to automatically pass data (reviews and student inquiries) from our system to that of providers and universities.  API code and routines on your computer systems pull data from ours and post it where you’d like.  The data can go to your student information system, CRM system or back to your web site.  Documentation and your unique API Key can be found at the bottom left of your Abroad101 account dashboard, or here: http://www.studyabroad101.com/help/api-docs#reviews-getting-a-list-of-reviews

Training, Staff Development and private Webinars:
Your account on Abroad101 has basic information about using the system and suggestions for you to follow, but if you’d prefer a more personal touch, we’re available for training sessions either by phone or through a private Webinar.  Sessions take about an hour and can be scheduled at your convenience.  For more details, please contact: mark@Abroad101.com

Coming Soon: Search by subject!
Today the directories of programs on Abroad101 are organized by city and country.  By the time the Fall Semester begins, we will have a search by subject option and directories of programs by their subject area.  We have been working with providers to collect subject area data on programs and will reorganize the subject list in conjunction with the upgrade.  Look for details in our next newsletter.

Thanks to the Providers:
Abroad101 continues to offer its directory and publishing tools free of charge to advisors and students due to the support of our advertisers, the best of the study abroad providers.  The money they invest in advertising is the money we use to operate and further develop our industry leading program review and evaluation platform.  You will notice their support on the site through the Featured Programs listings.  Please encourage your students to use this part of the site and thank those providers; it’s because of them Abroad101 remains: Fast. Free. Easy.

Please don’t forget to follow and join our activity on Social Media:

Enjoy!

Mark Shay
Mark@Abroad101.com
+1-610-357-4648

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