Consulting

Our Consulting Services Division is staffed with a team of Senior Consultants, all of whom have been successful school heads across the globe. They bring expertise in a range of international school operations, including board governance, strategic planning, curriculum development, business & finance operations, marketing, and much more! This combination of practical knowledge, a global perspective and personalized attention that our Consultants provide sets us apart from any other recruiting firm.

For information about Business & Finance, HR, and Marketing services, please contact Rajiv Bhat, Senior Consultant.

BUSINESS & FINANCE: Implement Best Practices to help you achieve your mission.

  • Financial modeling and budgeting.
  • Divisional profitability and tuition analysis.
  • Procurement (purchasing) best practices.
  • Finance office staffing, policies, manuals, audit and compliance.
  • Enrollment analysis, class size, campus capacity.
  • Benchmarks and key ratios relevant for international schools.
  • Opportunities for income diversification.
  • Co/Extra – Curricular efficiency in fees and funding.
  • Balance sheet and loan portfolio optimization.
  • Webinars and online workshops on key business and finance processes.

HUMAN RESOURCES: Attract the best talent to your school.

  •  Assessment of the school’s overall value proposition for employees.
  • Improved recruitment, onboarding, and retention practices.
  • Compensation benchmarking.
  • HR policies and procedures including staff handbook and other materials.
  • Developing the optimal mix of overseas and host country national employees.
  • HR department staffing and budgeting.
  • Designing a new employee mentorship program.
  • Performance evaluation systems and procedures.
  • Review and recommendations of school  policies on DEI and child protection.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS: Enhance your school’s brand presence.

  • A marketing & communications strategic plan that creates a powerful narrative and story about your school.
  • Guidance on overall school branding and brand identity.
  • An improved communications toolbox, including website, social media and email marketing.
  • Marketing strategy to effectively compete in your market.
  • Managing communications for fundraising campaigns, school events, sports meets, student artistic events, school Annual Reports etc.
  • Developing an affordable marketing and communications budget.
  • Webinars and workshops on best practices in school branding.

For information about our other services listed below, please contact George Entwistle, Director of Consulting Services.

GOVERNANCE

  • Developing Good Governance: Includes roles and responsibilities, effective practices, and implementation methods.
  • Board Structure and Composition: Provides ways to move to a more "hybrid" or self-perpetuating board by reviewing and revising constitutions and by-laws.
  • Policy and Procedure Reviews: Includes “slimming” policy manuals to shift procedures to operational handbooks. Also includes aligning policies and practices, evaluating and recommending policies.
  • Board and Head Evaluation Methods:
  • Transition Planning: Provides information designed for heads, boards, and board chairs.

PLANNING

  • Strategic Planning: Includes school mission and vision, strategic goal-setting, action-planning, evaluating, and updating.
  • Start-up School Planning and Assistance
  • Feasibility Studies: Includes school expansion, additional programs (such as a high school program), etc. 
  • Survey Design and Data Analysis: Provides professional support and advice in audience identification, survey design, data collection, and analysis. 

ADMINISTRATION / PERSONNEL

  • School Institutional Assessments: Provides ideas from an external, objective, and professional perspective. 
  • Staff Communication, Decision-Making, and Team-Building: Includes cross-cultural methods, effective and efficient meetings, etc.
  • Community Involvement Strategies
  • Compensation Reviews
  • Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategies

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS & SERVICES

  • Guidance Services: Includes student advising, development, and leadership in areas re­lated to secondary guidance, life-skills, and col­lege counseling programs.
  • Curriculum Development: Includes introduction of IB, bilingual, experiential and service learning programs.  
  • Host Culture and Cross-Cultural Studies: Provides ways to integrate your host country into your regular curriculum. 

Did You Know…?

Senior Associate Robert Barlas is the author of the Teaching Overseas Handbook.