Tuesday, October 6th: HO CHI MINH CITY
Wednesday, October 7th: CAN THO
Friday, October 9th: HUE

I must admit that I’m a bit baffled as to why EdUSA is organizing fairs in Can Tho and Hue.  Nice places to visit but not exactly hot “markets” for StudyUSA.  (At least one has quite a few students with a high visa denial rate because of the attempts on the part of many to use the F-1 as a ticket to emigration.  Google “sestak, hue, visa scam.”)

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is a no-brainer but why not Hanoi, where the US Embassy organized a very successful US higher education fair last January? What about Danang, where there’s a lot of interest in StudyUSA, a growing ability to pay and a paucity of events?  (Most colleagues fly over Danang on their way to events in the country’s two largest cities, i.e., markets.)

It’s like an experiment though one not likely to be successful if student recruitment is your goal.  From the official (EdUSA/State Department) perspective it’s yet another opportunity to exercise soft power in places other than Hanoi and HCMC, and to do so on the dime of the participating US colleges and universities.  What’s not to like – from an official perspective?

At 1k per school it’s quite inexpensive – a chance to discover why those may be your first and last fairs in two off-the-beaten path locations that are worth visiting and maybe recruiting in on a targeted basis but probably not fertile recruitment grounds via traditional fairs.  Let me know!  Prove me wrong!

MAA