3 Questions With Travis Ulrich, SVP at Terra Dotta

Proposed limits to duration of status, the length of a time an international student has to complete their degree (among other immigration changes), create a broad institutional challenge: How do colleges preserve a welcoming, predictable experience for international students when the rules governing their ability to study in the U.S. become more complex?

This not only affects students’ learning and overall student success but also institutional operations, technology, communications and staffing.

I asked Travis Ulrich, a senior vice president at Terra Dotta, a company that works with universities to provide software to manage international programs and learners, about the challenges international offices face day to day handling questions from students and staff.

Q: International education professionals are passionate about globalization. How are they faring amid this tumultuous period of uncertainty?

A: International education professionals are exhausted, but they are resilient. With new detours to navigate at nearly every point in the international education ecosystem, they are juggling the uncertainty as their work becomes even more consequential. The expertise needed to stay on top of the many visa and immigration changes affecting international students––as well as the stops and starts of litigation’s impact on those changes––is critically important to student support and the institution’s reputation. And as much as protecting against noncompliance is high-stakes work, there is also the monetary value that international students provide institutions that are already dealing with significant budget pressures.

Our research at Terra Dotta has highlighted the staffing and resource pressures facing international education offices. The changes in the past year in today’s immigration policy environment is only intensifying those challenges, with advisers carrying greater responsibility while often working with limited resources.

Even amid the turmoil, international education professionals are passionate about globalization and committed to helping students get the most out of their experiences. They are the stewards of ensuring institutions provide adequate support to international students, as global education benefits not just the international students but American students, institutions and the country as a whole. That commitment hasn’t changed, even as the environment around them has become significantly more difficult.

Q: What does this new environment require from institutions that may be different from how they have traditionally supported international students?

A: The day-to-day work that international education professionals do to support students and ensure compliance remains, but the many dynamic factors impacting these responsibilities demands a more proactive and intense commitment to tracking legislative and legal developments and to understanding and communicating both known and anticipated changes with international students. While advising and compliance had been relatively predictable, today’s tenuous environment requires a more integrated approach across the institution.

Diligent coordination with academic services, legal, career services and enrollment management is critical to anticipate and evaluate risks and respond quickly. Compliance and student success must be in sync, as any changes to academic programs, enrollment decisions or experiential or other practical training opportunities can have big implications for an international student’s immigration status and ability to complete their education. Also, communication is equally critical. International students need timely, transparent information about what is changing, how it may affect them and what steps they should consider––even if we don’t yet know.

This tenuous environment requires international education professionals to have direct access to reliable student data. Institutions need technology to help quickly identify potentially affected students, understand individual circumstances and coordinate outreach without adding administrative hurdles on already stretched staff.

Perhaps the biggest shift needed is in the institutional approach. International education can’t operate in a silo, as supporting international students through this uncertainty is a shared responsibility that has direct impacts on not just student success but enrollment stability and the university’s ability to compete globally.

Q: What does the current policy environment tell us about how colleges need to rethink international student support for the next five years?

A: Continued policy uncertainty means universities and colleges need to look at ways to adapt and thrive, even amid the turmoil. Ensuring the people, process and technology are in place so that international education student information and data is easily accessible will ensure students that are affected by the policy changes can be quickly identified. It also allows the institution to better determine where they are in the student journey and how their programs and employment opportunities could be impacted. Quick communication is critical, as updates should be given in days, not weeks.

With international education workloads elevated for the foreseeable future, institutions need to rethink how to staff and support international offices. Our research has shown what we see day in and day out: International education professionals manage significant workloads. As compliance today is even more complex and thus consequential, institutions must recognize international student services as essential infrastructure for student success, rather than a back-office cost center. The human impacts to the students that have trusted your university as well as the compliance and reputational risks are too high to be put in the hands of staff with inadequate support and insufficient technology.

Beyond direct visa and compliance issues affecting current international students, institutions need to put more emphasis on academic collaboration and scenario planning for international students––especially for programs involving practical training––so they are designed and documented with regulatory considerations in mind. This includes proactively preparing for a variety of policy outcomes instead of reacting only after changes take effect.

International students and their families are making significant financial and personal investments in U.S. higher education. Institutions that can provide clarity, continuity and a strong support system despite external uncertainty will be better positioned to earn their trust, protect student success and sustain their global competitiveness.