US universities slow to respond to prospective international students

US and Canada ranked below four other regions for communicating effectively with prospective international students

North American universities are lagging behind their global rivals when it comes to responding to queries from prospective international students, a study has found.

According to a report from Study Portals in collaboration with the British Council IELTS, more than one in five (21 per cent) of US and Canadian institutions do not respond to requests for information from prospective international students, more than two-thirds (68 per cent) do not send a follow-up email after an initial reply and a third (33 per cent) do not have mobile-friendly websites.

Overall, institutions on the continent are ranked fifth out of eight regions when it comes to communicating effectively with prospective international students, behind Benelux and the Scandinavian countries, Australia and New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, and German-speaking Europe. North America is ahead of the rest of Europe and Asia.