Recruiting International Students to Non-Traditional Destinations

Recruiting international students to a non-traditional destination is a two-stage challenge. First you have to sell the country. Then the university. Péter Árvai, Head of International Student Recruitment at the University of Pécs in Hungary, has spent more than a decade working through exactly that sequence, and in Episode 36 of Higher Ed Chats he walks through what it actually takes to build enrollment at an institution most prospective students have never considered.

The core tension Péter identifies is structural: the bottleneck for non-traditional destinations isn't institutional reputation, it's destination imagination. A student who can't picture living in Hungary won't shortlist the University of Pécs no matter how strong its programs are. Péter describes the decision-making as tiered: destination first, then country, then city, then institution. For universities like his, that means the recruitment work starts much earlier and costs more per lead than it does for institutions in the UK, US, or Australia. The upside is real but conditional: "Once someone is interested in studying there, I have a much easier job because there are maybe 20 universities you could consider from the Baltics to Croatia, just because of the visibility."

That visibility gap cuts both ways. Non-traditional destinations face a harder entry point, but the competitive field thins sharply once a student's interest is activated. Péter explains how the University of Pécs uses Hungary's diplomatic infrastructure, consulate network, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs backing as concrete advantages for reaching students in markets where traditional recruitment channels are weaker. He also pushes back on one of the most common positioning mistakes: framing Central and Eastern European education as an affordable alternative to Western degrees. "People shouldn't think that studying in Hungary or Czechia or Poland is studying in the UK for a fraction of the price, it's a very different environment, a very different student life." Affordability alone doesn't hold students; institutional fit and genuine interest in the place do.

The conversation also covers the wider picture of international student recruitment across emerging destinations. Péter highlights Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Poland as destinations gaining ground, and points to Africa's youth population growth as a significant opportunity for institutions that can position themselves correctly before the competition catches up. He's candid about the broader shift in the market: the 2012-2019 window, when strong enrollment results were achievable with limited effort, is over. "It's important to understand as an institution that it has ended," he says. Recruitment budgets, contingency planning, and long-term relationship-building now matter in ways they simply didn't a decade ago.

For enrollment teams weighing how to recruit international students outside established markets, this episode is a grounded look at what the work actually involves.

Who’s in the episode?

Péter Árvai is the Deputy Director for Internationalization at the University of Pécs in Hungary. For the past ten years, Péter has worked in Pécs' internationalization department, transforming how students from around the world discover and engage with the university. Péter is experienced in recruiting international students in Hungary and the unique challenges of recruiting for non-traditional study destinations.

Scott Miller is the host of Keystone Higher Ed Chats and the Executive Director of Keystone's international division, bringing over 11 years of EdTech experience to conversations about global education.

After graduating from DePauw University, living and working in different cultures showed him that stepping outside your comfort zone doesn't just broaden your horizons; it reshapes them entirely. That belief in the transformative power of international experiences brought Scott to Keystone in 2010, where he's spent over a decade (and counting) helping higher education institutions reach students worldwide.

On Keystone Higher Ed Chats, Scott speaks with thought-leaders in the industry about what he's most passionate about: how education changes lives, how cultural experiences broaden perspectives at any age, and how Keystone's mission—connecting students with their ideal higher education institution—makes those life-changing moments possible.

Timestamps & Takeaways

Timestamps

Takeaways

Sell the destination before you sell the institution
Students considering non-traditional study destinations go through two separate decisions: first, whether the country is worth moving to, then which university to attend. Péter Árvai frames this as the primary bottleneck for institutions like University of Pécs. If your institution isn't investing in destination-level content and awareness campaigns, you're entering the conversation too late. Recruitment materials that lead with the university without first building the case for the country will consistently underperform.

Don't position your country as a cheaper version of somewhere else
Affordability can open the door, but it's an unstable foundation on its own. As Árvai put it, studying in Hungary or Czechia "is a very different environment" from the UK, not a discounted imitation of it. Institutions that anchor their value proposition entirely on cost leave themselves exposed to any exchange rate shift or tuition change at a competing destination. The stronger pitch centers on what students will actually experience: the culture, the city, the community, the career outcomes specific to that place.

Less competition is a structural advantage, but only if you're visible
Once a prospective student is interested in Central or Eastern Europe, they're choosing from roughly 20 recognizable universities, not the hundreds that actually exist. Árvai is direct about this: the institutions with visibility win by default because students can't consider schools they've never heard of. For any institution in an emerging destination, closing that visibility gap is the highest-leverage investment available. Paid placement, search presence, and platform partnerships matter more here than in saturated markets.

Hungary's diplomatic infrastructure is a genuine competitive edge
University of Pécs benefits from a network of Hungarian consulates and active Ministry of Foreign Affairs support that other Central European countries don't replicate at the same scale. This translates into practical recruitment advantages: on-the-ground presence in source markets, government co-investment in outreach, and credibility signals that a marketing budget alone can't buy. Institutions in countries with similar diplomatic infrastructure should treat it as a recruitment asset and build partnerships accordingly.

Watch Estonia and Africa, both are underestimated right now
Árvai singles out Estonia as possibly already ahead of Hungary on education quality and digital accessibility, while most international recruitment attention still flows to larger Central European markets. On the demand side, Africa's youth population growth is creating a cohort of students who need affordable international options and are increasingly mobile. Institutions that start building brand presence in key African markets now, before those students reach recruitment age, will have a meaningful head start on competitors who wait for the volume to materialize.

The low-effort enrollment era ended in 2019 and it's not coming back
Between 2012 and 2019, international student recruitment was, in Árvai's words, a "golden era" where limited effort produced strong results. That's over. The combination of geopolitical uncertainty, visa complexity, rising costs, and more competitive source markets means recruitment now requires contingency planning, "A, B, C, D plans," as he put it, and a higher cost per enrolled student. Institutions still budgeting and staffing at pre-2019 levels are operating on assumptions that no longer hold.

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Recruiting International Students to Non-Traditional Destinations

Who’s in the episode?

Péter Árvai

Scott Miller

Timestamps & Takeaways

Timestamps

Takeaways

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