Name: Frank Hu
Job Title: Chief Writer, Media
Joined EduGlobal in: 2010
Home Town: Ningdu, Jiangxi Province
Education: MA Comparative Literature, Nanjing University, MA of Higher Education, Indiana University

 

What is your role in your position?

My main role is to build a better image for EduGlobal’s brand in the industry. My role sees me writing a lot of articles for various publications and journals in China regarding the international education industry.

How would you describe your average day at work?

Every day is pretty busy for me. I spend a lot of time researching online and the editors from the various country departments in EduGlobal send me information on a daily basis that I need to go through in order to write informative articles.

 

Why did you choose to work for an international education company?

When I returned to China from my studies in the US in 2009 I was of course thinking about my career. I wanted to get into the education industry as I had such an exciting experience of studying abroad and I thought that this experience along with my writing ability allows me help other Chinese students to study abroad. I kind of see it as my responsibility to do this to enable more people to understand more about different cultures and to have a more globalised perspective.

 

What is your favorite part of the job? The most challenging?

II think the fact that it’s so exciting to be a part of this industry as I usually get first-hand information so I can see exactly how quick the industry is moving and any changes that occur I’m on the frontline of receiving. Keeping an eye on progress and understanding what Chinese parents are thinking is also very interesting.
The position I’m in as Chief Writer is a first for EduGlobal. There were always editors but they are always focused on one country of expertise and couldn’t really have a comprehensive view of the whole industry whereas with my position, I need to try to understand as much as possible from all countries to allow me to look at it with a wider view. This can be challenging sometimes but I enjoy it.
 

Traditional print publishing has seen a decrease in popularity in recent years due to blogs, iPhones, iPads, Kindle and other electronic products. What do you think the future holds for traditional paper publishing?

I think these products will definitely have a strong effect on print publishing in the future. A lot of my friends in the publishing industry regularly talk about this issue actually as they are involved in book publishing and it’s a large part of a publishing house’s revenue. Many students these days are turning to electronic materials for their study material especially because it’s convenient to read whilst commuting and it’s cheaper than books in many cases. This presents a big challenge to the publishing industry but this challenge can also be viewed as an opportunity too. Publishing houses will need to separate their content meaning the electronic content will be different from the printed content so this will entice people to use both mediums and the publishers won’t lose out.

You studied abroad. Could you describe the process that you went through when deciding on a school to choose?

Well, it was very tough time for me when I was deciding which school to go to because there wasn’t a lot of information available to enable me to make an informed decision. I mostly used books, such as the Peterson’s Guide, to help me decide. The internet was only beginning at that time so the library was my main source of information.

In your experience how has the international recruiting industry changed over the last 10 years?

When I was applying to schools in the US, I did it mostly independently. In the last few years the reputation of agents has increased and people trust them more than before so students are now turning to the experts in the application process. This means that there are more options available for the students and it gives them a wider variety of schools to choose from to best suit their needs.