Call for Book Chapters| Leading International Enrollment Management in a New Era: Strategy, Innovation, and Collaborative Futures

2026-11-04

Book Series: AIRC Series on Enrollment Management, Volume 4
Editors: Clay Harmon and Krishna Bista
Publisher: STAR Scholars Press
Proposal Submission Deadline: February 15, 2027
Submit Online: Submission link

Introduction

International enrollment management (IEM) is entering a new era. Shifting policy environments, new competitor destinations, emerging source markets, AI-driven student discovery, and rising expectations of value and employability are reshaping how students choose where to study and how institutions recruit, admit, and support them. Inspired by the AIRC 2026 Annual Conference theme, "Strategic IEM Approaches for a New Era," this volume emphasizes the necessity of forward-thinking leadership within a rapidly transforming landscape. The realities of this era require stakeholders to unify and co-create innovative solutions, leveraging new tools, models, and ways of thinking to ensure a sustainable and purposeful future for international enrollment management.

Objective of the Book

This volume brings together research, practice, and reflection that help institutions and their partners lead strategically rather than react. It seeks chapters that offer evidence-based insights, tested frameworks, and actionable strategies for recruitment, enrollment, student success, partnership, and policy. Every chapter should close with clear implications for practice, policy, or leadership.

Target Audience

The book is intended for international enrollment and admissions professionals, senior international officers, institutional leaders, faculty and researchers in international and higher education, agency and pathway partners, policymakers, and graduate students preparing for careers in the field.

Recommended Topics

Topics below are illustrative, not exhaustive. Proposals on other subjects aligned with the book's theme are welcome.

AI, Technology, and Student Discovery

  • Generative AI and the transformation of international student search
  • Regional AI platforms and student decision-making in key source markets
  • Artificial intelligence in admissions and credential evaluation
  • Data-informed recruitment: analytics, triangulation, and forecasting

Strategy, Investment, and Return

  • Cost, value, and return on investment in international recruitment
  • Strategic market selection and portfolio diversification
  • Enrollment resilience and institutional strategic pivots
  • Global reach with limited resources: strategies for small offices
  • The institutional cost of internationalization

Partnerships, Agents, and Transnational Education

  • Ethical and quality-assured agency partnerships
  • In-country representation and overseas team models
  • Institutional partnerships, transnational education, and branch campuses
  • Pathway programs, three-year degrees, and emerging mobility models
  • Strategic use of external partners in enrollment operations

Student Success Beyond Enrollment

  • Defining and measuring international student success
  • Yield and conversion as a shared institutional responsibility
  • Student journey mapping across recruitment, advising, and support
  • Employability and the expectations of new student generations
  • Student perspectives on choice, transition, and belonging

Communication, Marketing, and Destination Branding

  • Communicating the risks and value of international recruitment across campus
  • Peer influence, digital creators, and student-led marketing
  • National destination branding and the future of the U.S. brand
  • Familiarization visits and alumni networks as recruitment strategy

Policy, Advocacy, and the Institutional Environment

  • Advocacy and the international education policy landscape
  • Academic policies as enablers or barriers to enrollment
  • Consortia, associations, and collective action
  • Scholarship, publishing, and knowledge dissemination in IEM

Sectors, Populations, and Emerging Markets

  • Community colleges in global education
  • English language programs as institutional infrastructure
  • Bridging K-12 and higher education in international recruitment
  • Engaging non-traditional and underserved student populations
  • Emerging markets in Latin America, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia
  • Trends from international student surveys
Who May Submit

Submissions are open to all conference participants, scholars, and practitioners, and to anyone working in or studying international education. Presenting at AIRC 2026 is not required. We welcome researchers at every career stage, enrollment and student services professionals, institutional leaders, agency and pathway partners, policymakers, and students writing alone or with co-authors. Co-authored chapters across roles, institutions, and countries are strongly encouraged.

Accepted formats include empirical research, conceptual or theoretical chapters, institutional case studies, practitioner frameworks and toolkits, and reflective or policy perspectives.

Submission Procedure

Authors are invited to submit a chapter proposal online

Proposals should include:

  1. Working chapter title
  2. Abstract of up to 250 words describing the purpose, approach or methods, key insights, and implications for IEM
  3. Three to five keywords
  4. Name, title, affiliation, country, and email for each author
  5. Short bio for each author (up to 100 words)

Authors of accepted proposals will be notified in two weeks and invited to submit a full chapter of 2,500–4,000 words, including references. Chapters should follow APA style (7th edition) and be written in American English for an international audience.

All submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under review elsewhere. Full chapters will undergo double-blind peer review. Acceptance of a proposal does not guarantee inclusion of the final chapter. Authors may submit no more than two proposals as lead author. There is no fee to submit or publish.

Important Dates
  • Proposal submission deadline: February 15, 2027
  • Notification of acceptance: March 15, 2027
  • Full chapter submission: June 30, 2027
  • Peer review feedback to authors: August 31, 2027
  • Final revised chapter submission: October 15, 2027
  • Anticipated publication: Nov 1, 2027
About the Series

The AIRC Series on Enrollment Management provides a timely and authoritative resource for understanding the challenges and opportunities of international student recruitment and enrollment in higher education. Edited by Clay Harmon, Executive Director of AIRC, the series brings together scholars, practitioners, and policy leaders to address pressing questions of ethics, access, and sustainability in global student mobility.

Each volume explores a core dimension of enrollment management, including recruitment, retention, market diversification, policy impacts, and institutional capacity building. Previously published volumes:

Inquiries

Please direct questions to the editors at publications@starscholars with the topic AIRC book Vol. 4