On Aug. 1, 2024, the University of Oregon announced a five-year partnership with Kaplan International Pathways to boost international student enrollment.
Through a partnership with the UK-based agency, UO hopes to enroll roughly 90 international students from all over the world for the 2025-2026 school year, according to the UO Admissions Office.
According to their website, Kaplan International aids UO in recruiting international students for undergraduate degrees by helping students through the admissions process and promoting the university.
Alfredo Varela, the associate director of international admissions, and Erin Hays, the associate vice president for student services and enrollment management and director of admissions, said they both are excited about the partnership.
“Kaplan has invested a lot of time and effort and money with the hope of getting students and they’ve really done so much in terms of marketing. They send teams of people over here and they’ve arranged events overseas,” Varela said.
According to Varela, Kaplan International is primarily a testing and educational agency, which provides students with English language training and support for tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the Medical College Admissions Test and the Law School Admissions Test.
UO international enrollment was at a peak in 2014, but, according to Hays, it began decreasing after both the 2016 election and the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the new partnership with Kaplan International, UO hopes to enroll roughly 350 international students over the next few academic years.
“We’re hoping to see a steady increase [in enrollment] over the next few years and get back to close to where we were pre-COVID-19 and 2014. We’re really working to see a lot more diversity in our student body,” Varela said.
According to Varela, there are organizations similar to Kaplan all over the world, but the agency’s values closely align with the university’s.
“Kaplan is unique because they have a very limited number of schools that they’re working with, it’s only five in the United States and we’re the only school on the West Coast that they’re representing and working with. That gives us a real advantage,” Hays said.
Discussions about a potential partnership began after Varela reconnected with a former UO representative who now serves as a Kaplan International representative.
According to Varela, Kaplan International does not provide students with any form of financial assistance, but they do provide resources to international students studying abroad.
“They understand the system, they know the deadlines and GPAs. There’s dozens and dozens of different grading systems, so Kaplan really supports this process for the students and helps them understand when they should apply, how they should apply. It’s not just about recruitment, it’s about really supporting students along the way,” Varela said.
Varela stressed the importance of having international students on campus.
“One of the reasons we seek to have more international students is they really enrich the experience for our students here. They bring such a broad set of experiences and backgrounds, not just culturally, but in terms of what their educational background is,” Varela said.
