Raising awareness of Grand Valley in India

There was the family who traveled 11 hours to meet Grand Valley representatives. Another family was trapped by a monsoon in India and had to abandon their car and use public transportation to get to the reception.

This type of dedication and excitement was common during a week in July when a contingent of faculty and staff members traveled to India to meet with incoming students, enhance existing relationships and build new ones, and raise awareness of Grand Valley in a country that sends 200,000 students to study in the U.S.

Danny Vélez, associate vice president for Admissions and Recruitment, said the trip was focused on building on the success Grand Valley has experienced in India.

"We started planning this trip last winter," Vélez said. "This trip was an essential part of our international recruitment strategy to develop new relationships and revisit existing ones to ensure that we are successful in growing enrollment of this population of learners in the years ahead.”

At Grand Valley, students from India comprise 41 percent of the international student population. Chris Hendree, international admissions program manager, said of the 686 international students enrolled for the Fall 2023 semester, 285 are from India, up slightly from last year's number.

Traveling with Vélez and Hendree were Paul Plotkowski, dean of the Padnos College of Engineering and Computing; Kingshuk Majumdar, professor of physics; and Mark Staves, professor and chair of cell and molecular biology. Once in India, they traveled with Kirthi Kondapalli, Grand Valley’s in-country recruiter for the Admissions and Recruitment team, who was instrumental in making the arrangements.

Kondapalli said throughout the week the group met with four stakeholders: high school students, undergraduate students, admitted students and their parents, and staff at the U.S. Consulate in Hyderabad, the capital of a southern Indian state. He said they gave presentations and connected with more than 1,200 people during the week.

Staves and Majumdar led interactive master classes for audiences of, at times, 200 eager students. Majumdar, a native of Kolkata, said it was important for students to see how Grand Valley faculty taught classes.

"With the presentations, they can see us and have an idea of what sitting in a class at GVSU would be like," he said. "They may be scared of faculty and how we teach. It was really a good, positive experience."

Staves said interacting with high school and college students was a great experience. "I gave them an exercise and said if this were my class, we would do these next steps," he said. "Students from India are heavily recruited. We had a great group there and were able to share our experiences about Grand Valley classes and campus."

Plotkowski said the contingent possessed a lot of institutional knowledge. He added he was most impressed with the admitted students and families who attended what they called "Grand Valley Engage" events, providing students with information and opportunities to connect and ask questions.

"The turnout was outstanding but also impressive was the dedication of the students and their families. One family drove 11 hours to get there," Plotkowski said. "I think it helped them a lot to meet us and set the parents' minds at ease."

Hendree said the Admissions and Recruitment office has received some applications and many inquiries as a result of the trip. The key, Hendree said, is to keep connecting.

"We plan to host virtual events with these students and our current students to keep them engaged. The best recruiters we have are current students," Hendree said. "For the high school students we met, this is the start of a two- or three-year relationship."

B. Donta Truss, vice president for Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach, said this trip helped grow and enhance the university's presence in Mumbai, Delhi and elsewhere in India.

"India is the second largest exporter of students to the U.S.," Truss said. "Trips like this, which include engagement from faculty and personal interactions with staff, go a long way in developing relationships with students and their families and help GVSU to continue to grow enrollment."