Organized by Ball State University, the second annual fair held on Feb. 6, 2007 utilized IHETS audio and video conferencing to virtually promote programs to Middle Eastern students.

February 16, 2007
Contact: communications@ihets.org

Martin Bennett, director of international services at Ball State University's Rinker Center for International Programs, developed the Live Video College Fair as a method for Ball State to interact with students in the Middle Eastern countries of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, and United Arab Emirates.

Using audio and video conferencing, Ball State and five other higher education institutions, Indiana University, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, DePauw University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and Valparaiso University, were able to "virtually" reach these geographically distant students.

"Conducting this Live Video College Fair through IHETS was a common sense decision," Bennett said. "The five centers we connected with spanned three time zones and around three thousand miles across North Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf. To conduct a similar five city tour to meet these students in their home countries would have cost several thousand dollars and taken at least a week to complete. In the course of five hours the university representatives had real-time interactive connections with students in five countries. The nominal cost of the event per university was less than $500 per institution," noted Bennett.

According to Bennett cultural interaction and diversity is one of the program goals video conferencing technology helped facilitate. The interaction the Indiana officials had with students and educational advisers at these remote sites by definition allowed the students to see the diversity of the campuses and what they could bring to the institutions.

"The video connections help to break down stereotypes and correct false impressions of reality that students in this region have of the US. Just as the majority of the US population judges the Middle East as one enormous danger zone full of people who hate America based on what they see on the news every night, students in this region have reservations about whether the US will be a welcoming place for them. The video college fair helped to assuage some of their fears and dispel many of their pre-conceived notions of life in the US," said Bennett.

As two of the attendees noted to Dina Kanan, EducationUSA adviser in Dubai, UAE, "We found the conference very stimulating and engaging. It provided us with a great deal of information about prospective colleges in the US and allowed us to clarify any doubts about education and student life in the US. The arrangements and preparations made were highly satisfactory and we look forward to further opportunities and events."

"The experience at the second conference was everything I expected it to be," said Bennett. "Our technical staff worked with IHETS to ensure that the details were taken care of so that we could focus on our presentations. IHETS was truly outstanding and very patient as we conducted tests prior to the event, and on the day itself everything ran smoothly."

The college fair is sponsored by Destination Indiana, of which Ball State is a founding member. Destination Indiana's goal is to elevate Indiana as a destination for international students, Bennett said. It partners with EducationUSA, a network of educational advisers sponsored in part by the Department of State. To learn more about the fair, contact Marty Bennett at 765.285.5422 or mabennett@bsu.edu.

For more information on IHETS audio and video conferencing, contact George Khazal, IHETS digital media services consultant, at gkhazal@ihets.org or 317.263.8870