Shaping Futures, Not Filling Seats: Building Long-Term Trust with African Students

Africa is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world for international student mobility. With a young population, expanding middle class, and rising interest in global education, the number of students from sub-Saharan Africa who are looking abroad for higher education opportunities is on the rise.

Too often, educational institutions mistakenly consider Africa as a single, uniform market—an oversimplification that can lead to one-size-fits-all messaging that ignores country-specific academic systems, family expectations, and visa realities. As institutions ramp up their recruitment efforts across the continent, they must balance ambition with ethical practices of transparency, cultural sensitivity, and a student-first approach.

At its core, ethical recruitment is about honesty and respect. For Ashley Tankersley, chief international recruitment officer at Hillsborough Community College, it starts with ensuring students know exactly what they are signing up for.

“At the community college level, that means being very clear about affordability, transfer pathways, and the kind of close-knit support students will find on campus,” she explains. “Exploitative recruitment is when information is hidden or promises are made that simply are not realistic.”

Building Trust

Trust is a crucial component to ethical recruitment—trust between potential students and institutions, as well as trust with partners on the ground—and managing expectations is foundational to building that trust.

Recruiters sometimes “oversell outcomes like job opportunities or residency after graduation,” says Tankersley. “That kind of messaging creates disappointment and damages trust.”

Damaris Clark, data analytics consultant at Studyportals, adds that transparency isn’t just about sharing facts, but about helping students