Kyle Byrne's role in recruiting international students

Kyle Byrne graduated from Iona in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications

Going into his senior year, Iona alumnus Kyle Byrne received an opportunity of a lifetime: After working with international students who were participating in a media-focused camp at Iona over the summer, he was offered a job to teach English and develop a media program at an Argentinian school that participated in the camp. Byrne accepted the position and spent two years in Argentina after he graduated the following year. Months after he returned from abroad in 2017, he got a job as an admissions counselor at Iona.

It would turn out that the time that he spent in Argentina would come in handy for this new position, as Byrne is the only undergraduate admissions counselor at Iona who works with prospective international students.

Since 2014, there has been an average of about 21 first-year international students who have decided to attend Iona each year. Byrne thinks that having international students at the college is important.

“They add to the diversity of campus, they bring different perspectives to the classroom, [and] it adds to the quality of education, when you meet people from other cultures and backgrounds,” Byrne said.

While there was a drop in the amount of first-year international undergraduate students in comparison to total first-year students from 2015 to 2016, the amount of first-year international undergraduate students has gradually increased since 2016.

Some of Byrne’s duties for his job are traveling to schools to recruit students, helping prospective students submit all their application materials correctly and deciding which students within his territories will be accepted to Iona. He also works with prospective students from several domestic territories, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Byrne, who learned how to fluently speak Spanish in Argentina, believes that his experiences abroad have helped him connect with prospective international students.

“It’s great because I know what it’s like to live abroad and to move to a different country without knowing the people or the culture, so for these students I try to make them feel as comfortable as possible,” Byrne said.

Byrne also works with Iona Athletics to help recruit international students for the school, whether it’s going on international trips with an Iona coach to help scout students or working with a coach in deciding what students will be admitted to Iona.

“Usually, once I have targeted a potential international recruit, Kyle can help with the translation and evaluation of international transcripts and determine whether or not the student is an academic fit for Iona,” Iona men’s soccer Head Coach James Hamilton said.

While recruitment of international students is currently impacted by the political climate and the fact Iona has to compete with free higher education that’s offered in other countries, there was an increase in both non-athlete international students and international students as a whole this year, according to Byrne.

Jasmin Schons, a first-year international student from Germany who’s not involved in athletics, credits Byrne as part of the reason she decided to attend Iona.

“Because he made the process so easy and he kind of represented the school for me, he made the school look really good,” Schons said. “That is why I think I said yes in the end to the school.”