The NAFSA Annual Conference & Expo 2026 in Orlando brought together international education professionals from across the world - and while it was smaller than in previous years, that actually worked in its favour.
With more space for proper conversations (and a bit less rushing between meetings), the discussions we had were noticeably deeper and more reflective. Myself and the rest of the FindAUniversity team attended alongside colleagues from across the wider Keystone Education Group, and it was a genuinely valuable few days of reconnecting with university partners, meeting new institutions and hearing first-hand how universities are thinking about the year ahead.
I've summarised the key themes that emerged from our conversations with institutions and what they could mean for international student recruitment strategies moving forward.
One of the biggest themes was how universities are talking about performance and ROI.
Institutions are asking more nuanced questions about what success actually looks like in different contexts.
Across conversations, universities were increasingly interested in:
There’s a growing recognition that data on its own isn’t enough - it needs context to be useful, and outcomes are shaped just as much by the structure of a campaign as by its individual performance metrics.
That idea - that stronger results come from building the right foundations before optimisation even begins - came through repeatedly in discussions, and is something we explore in more detail here: https://info.findauniversity.com/blog/setting-the-right-foundation-for-campaign-success
Budget constraints were, and always have been, a consistent theme, particularly across established markets like the USA, UK, Canada and Australia.
The interesting part was how institutions are responding to it.
Rather than simply cutting activity, universities are becoming more intentional about where and how they invest. That includes thinking more carefully about how different parts of the student recruitment journey connect, from early awareness through to application and enrolment.
We’re seeing more focus on questions like:
It’s leading to a more strategic approach to planning, where top-of-funnel activity is increasingly seen as a critical part of overall recruitment performance (something we explore further here: https://info.findauniversity.com/blog/why-top-of-funnel-visibility-matters-in-postgraduate-recruitment)
A growing theme at NAFSA was the increasing emphasis on PhD recruitment, particularly in the USA and Australia where Masters recruitment has faced significant challenges.
PhD appetite across Asia is also growing very quickly, and markets such as Hong Kong, China and Singapore are all increasingly looking to recruit talent from Europe and beyond, as well as their usual source markets across Asia.
This is contributing to a more competitive global research landscape, where universities are not only competing for students, but for highly specific research interests and supervisory expertise.
In this context, visibility becomes a critical factor in shaping outcomes. Many prospective researchers begin their journey long before direct institutional contact, typically by searching for research areas, supervisors and funded opportunities through large-scale research discovery platforms.
FindAPhD.com - the world’s largest PhD discovery platform, with over 7.7 million annual users - sits within this early-stage research behaviour, where initial awareness and exploration of opportunities takes place.
For universities, this reinforces a broader shift already visible across postgraduate recruitment: engagement does not begin at application. It begins at discovery. Ensuring all of your different research opportunities, supervisors and institutes are visible at this stage plays an increasingly important role in shaping the quality and volume of eventual applications.
Alongside the traditional “Big Four” (USA, UK, Canada and Australia), there was a much stronger presence from APAC, the Middle East and emerging European destinations.
Competition for students has never been bigger and many of these emerging destinations are putting in place very progressive policies, attractive visa pathways, relatively affordable programmes and a clear strong commitment to internationalisation.
Turkey was a particularly visible example, with around 90 universities represented at the Study in Turkey booth!
The overall picture is a student recruitment landscape that is becoming more global, more competitive and more fragmented, presenting challenges for some of the older, more established markets, but new opportunities for institutions willing to adapt and in emerging markets.
One of the most consistent operational challenges discussed was not about demand, but discovery, particularly for research students.
Prospective PhD candidates often struggle to identify the right academic contact or supervisor early in their journey, particularly when applying internationally. This creates friction at a critical stage of decision-making.
Tools such as Supervisor Search on FindAPhD.com were frequently discussed in this context, as universities look for ways to make research expertise more visible and accessible at the point of initial exploration.
More broadly, this reflects a growing recognition that improving discovery pathways can have a meaningful impact on the quality and relevance of applicant pools, particularly in research-intensive recruitment.
If NAFSA highlighted anything, it is that international student recruitment is becoming less about isolated campaigns and more about connected systems - where awareness, engagement and conversion are increasingly interdependent.
Universities are operating in a more complex environment, but also one where clearer strategy, better insight and stronger alignment between stages of the recruitment journey can make a measurable difference.
We’ll continue exploring these themes at EAIE, where many of the same conversations are expected to evolve further in a European context.
If you’re attending EAIE and would like to discuss how these trends are playing out in your own markets or student recruitment strategy, it would be great to continue the conversation there.