2026 South & Central Asia Regional Institute Downloads
2026 South & Central Asia Regional Institute Attendee List
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Session 1
9:00 - 10:00 AM
College counselling is increasingly shaped by pressure, comparison and transactional expectations. Families seek certainty, institutions focus on outcomes, and counsellors can find themselves responding to rankings and admission results rather than the individual student in front of them.
This interactive session invites school-based and independent counsellors to examine how they can remain student-centred within a highly competitive and emotionally charged admissions environment. Through case discussions, reflective exercises and role plays, participants will explore the “invisible backpacks” carried by students, parents and counsellors, including the fears, aspirations, social pressures and professional expectations that influence admissions conversations.
Participants will learn how to acknowledge parental anxiety without becoming directed by it, maintain professional boundaries without damaging trust, and bring the student’s voice and agency back into decision-making.
The session will introduce practical tools including:
- a framework for responding to difficult parent conversations
- a diagnostic tool to distinguish mentoring from managing or reacting
- a student-centred practice audit for counselling systems
Participants will apply these tools to real-life scenarios and identify one change they can implement in their own practice. The session ultimately asks counsellors to reconsider how professional success is defined, moving beyond outcomes towards trust, student growth and informed decision-making.
- Katherine Ernst Mehta, Edvanta Consulting
- Chandni Singh, Vasant Valley School
- Rashi Thakur, Vasant Valley School
TRENDS IN STANDARDIZED TEST PATTERNS (No Presentation)
The SAT and ACT have both changed substantially over the last three years. The Switch to digital tests brings it own set of complexities and new found challenges that were previously unknown.
A couple of them being:
1) An ever-changing test and 2) Use of Item response theory in evaluating tests. The proposed session presents an expert’s insight and will help the counselors advise their students better.
- Abhinav Garg, SAT n paper
WHAT ADMISSIONS OFFICERS CHECK, AND WHAT COUNSELLORS CAN DO ABOUT IT
Students are encouraged to present their achievements and experiences authentically, but how do U.S. universities determine whether the information in an application is accurate and credible? While a recent high-profile case involving Caltech's application review practices has brought renewed attention to how institutions verify what students submit, verification has long been a growing priority across U.S. admissions, not a one-time response to a single story
This session explores what "trust but verify" actually looks like in practice. Admissions officers will share what information their institutions may verify, what prompts further investigation, how verification is conducted, and how they distinguish between an unusual claim and an implausible one, across academic records, awards, competitions, research, internships, extracurricular involvement, leadership roles, and recommendations
We will also examine the counsellor's role: how to help students and schools present information that is accurate, contextualized, and able to withstand scrutiny, all without inadvertently discounting legitimate achievements. The goal is a shared understanding of verification not as an obstacle, but as a standard that strengthens how students tell their stories.
- Tannaz Daver, TZD Advisory
- Alexandra Salcedo, Boston University
- Erika Perez, University of California, Los Angeles
Session 2
10:15 - 11:15 AM
UNSPOKEN TRUTHS IN CAREER AND HIGHER EDUCATION CHOICES
"Are students truly choosing their own futures—or are their decisions being shaped by grades, parental expectations, limited access to quality counselling, societal definitions of success, and the pursuit of prestigious university brands?
Students often believe they are choosing a career; in reality, many are choosing a degree, a university brand, or an identity shaped by rankings, trends and external expectations. This session brings together two powerful perspectives: what school counsellors observe behind students’ choices and what university admissions officers evaluate beyond grades and polished applications.
The Unspoken Truths We Will Confront
- Can a “dream university” become the wrong destination when course, culture and student fit are overlooked?
- Can admissions officers distinguish authentic exploration from carefully manufactured profiles—and when equally strong candidates compete, how much of the final decision comes down to institutional priorities, timing and the uncomfortable truth of “Lady Luck”?
- Are counsellors courageous enough to challenge prestigious choices when they are poorly aligned with the student?
- Why are seemingly “best-fit” students sometimes rejected—and what institutional priorities, competitive realities and contextual factors remain unseen?
- Are we preparing students to build multiple meaningful pathways—or making their future dependent on one career label, one university or one acceptance?
- Before guiding families towards a student’s future, have Counsellors confronted the unconscious biases shaping their own advice?
- Are students making informed global higher education choices—or are fearmongering, viral social media narratives and rapidly shifting geopolitical developments shaping perceptions of destinations, safety, visas and future employability?"
- Deepa Rao, Lighthouse Learning Group of Schools
- Deepa Dodani, Queen's University
- Deepali Shah, Foothill + De Anza Colleges, California
REIMAGINING CAREER GUIDANCE IN THE AGE OF AI
Artificial intelligence is transforming every stage of the student journey, from self-discovery and career exploration to university admissions and workforce readiness. Yet, as technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, the value of human guidance becomes even more significant. This session explores how schools can design career guidance ecosystems where AI amplifies, rather than replaces, the counsellor's role. Drawing on global trends and institutional practice, participants will examine strategies for integrating technology without compromising empathy, equity, or student agency.
- Nitina Dua, Shiv Nadar School
As application writing becomes increasingly polished and AI assisted, recommendation letters remain one of the few spaces where a student is seen through the eyes of someone who has taught, guided or worked closely with them. But what makes that voice credible?
This session brings together a school counsellor, a principal and English educator, and a US university admissions leader to examine recommendations from three perspectives: how schools build meaningful student advocacy, how teachers translate observation into authentic writing, and how admissions officers read and interpret these letters.
We will share how our school approaches recommendations as a process that begins long before Grade 12. Teachers create opportunities to know students beyond academic performance and record meaningful observations and anecdotes across Grades 11 and 12. These become evidence of intellectual curiosity, character, growth and contribution rather than a collection of adjectives.
Alongside the university perspective on what genuinely adds value, we will explore how schools can build systems that make recommendations more specific, credible and human in the age of AI. Through anonymised samples, practical worksheets and guided discussion, participants will examine and rethink their own approaches to recommendation writing, making the session interactive and applicable to their school contexts.
- Ripple Sethi, The Shri Ram School
- Daniel Marschner, Loyola Marymount University
Session 3
1:30 - 2:30 PM
U.S. ADMISSIONS IN A CHANGING LANDSCAPE: WHAT HAS CHANGED, WHAT HASN’T, AND WHAT WE’RE SEEING ON THE GROUND (No Presentation)
- Isthier Chaudhury, Swarthmore College
- Alexandra Salcedo, Boston University
- Sydney Wuu, Caltech
- Jon Edwards, Grinnell College
- Sonia Soni, Aditya Birla World Academy
Session 4
4:00 - 5:00 PM
UNDERSTANDING SOUTH ASIA STUDENTS WHILE RECRUITING
South Asian students are among the largest and most globally mobile groups applying to universities, yet many institutions still approach them through assumptions that flatten remarkably diverse experiences into a single “international student” profile. This session explores what universities may be missing when recruiting, advising, assessing, and supporting students from South Asia.
Drawing on counselling experience across Indian and international school contexts, we will examine the realities behind the application: family expectations, financial considerations, academic pressure, parental involvement, board and curriculum differences, identity, language, migration, and the often-unspoken tension between individual aspirations and collective expectations.
We will also consider how these factors shape students’ university choices, communication styles, decision-making, and transition to university and why behaviours that may be interpreted as disengagement, dependence, or lack of independence can have very different meanings within a South Asian context.
Through case studies, discussion, and practical reflection, participants will be invited to challenge familiar assumptions and consider what genuinely culturally responsive recruitment and counselling might look like. The goal is not to create another “South Asian student profile,” but to equip universities and counsellors to ask better questions, listen more carefully, and recognise the individual behind the application.
- Carrie Udeshi, Dhirubhai Ambani International School
- Kimberly Dixit, The Red Pen
- Priyanka Reddy, The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet
- Harriet Coutinho, University of Connecticut
We've all seen it happen: a student fixates on a university's ranking, convinced it's the only path to success, while overlooking places where they might actually flourish. Meanwhile, counsellors find themselves caught between what families expect and what they know might serve a student better. And university reps? They're often reduced to sales pitches when what they really want is a genuine conversation about what their institution can offer.
This session is about those tensions - and how we might ease them.
We'll explore two connected questions. First, how do we talk honestly about "fit" when rankings dominate the conversation? How do we help students and families see that mentorship, learning environment, and support systems matter - especially at institutions that don't top global league tables?
Second, how do schools and universities move past the transactional back-and-forth of fairs and brochures toward something more like partnership? What does it look like when both sides are genuinely working together for students, not just processing applications?
This won't be a lecture. We'll share practical examples, make space for your reflections, and open up a real discussion. The goal is simple: a more honest, student-centered conversation about how we advise, how we perceive institutions, and how schools and universities in India's international education space can actually collaborate - not just coexist.
- Sandeep Bhalla, Xavier University
- Katherine Ernst Mehta, Edvanta Consulting
- Namrata Pandey, La Mentoraa
College counselling is as much about managing conversations as it is about guiding applications. Counsellors frequently navigate unrealistic expectations, prestige-driven choices, financial concerns, student-parent disagreements, and the emotional challenges that accompany the admissions process.
This interactive session equips counsellors with practical communication strategies to handle these high-stakes conversations with confidence and empathy. Through real-life case studies, role plays, and ready-to-use conversation frameworks, participants will learn how to manage conflict, build trust, and facilitate student-centred decision-making while maintaining strong partnerships with families.
Attendees will leave with actionable tools to address difficult topics, balance aspirations with realistic outcomes, support student wellbeing, and guide families toward informed and collaborative decisions. Whether working with first-time applicants or experienced families, participants will gain practical approaches that can be implemented immediately in their counselling practice.
This session is ideal for counsellors seeking to strengthen one of the most essential and often overlooked skills in college counselling: having difficult conversations that lead to positive outcomes.
- Ritu Dhingra, Heritage International Xperiential School Avenue Campus - Gurgaon
- Barkha Narang, The British School, New Delhi
- Nilanjana Shihn, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin
Session 5
8:45 - 9:15 AM
- Daniel Marschner, Loyola Marymount University
- Megan Mankerian, Global Leaders Collective
Session 6
9:15 - 10:15 AM
MEASURING COUNSELLING IMPACT
Too often in counseling the metrics used to measure success have nothing to do with the quality of counseling being extended to the community. This session will help to identify meaningful data points to guide best practice and shepherd your community toward informed decisions.
- Lukas Devlin, Independent Member
PREPARING BEYOND THE ACCEPTANCE LETTER: STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE, CAREER & LIFE
Values, skills, and a growth mindset form the foundation of a student’s readiness for college and beyond. Values help students understand who they are and what matters to them; skills give them the ability to navigate challenges, communicate, collaborate, and solve problems; and a growth mindset teaches them to view setbacks as opportunities to learn. When students develop these foundations early, they are better prepared not just to choose the right college or career, but to adapt, advocate for themselves, and thrive in an ever-changing world. Everyone is talking about AI but students do not even know how to use it.
Values + Skills + Growth Mindset + AI Literacy = Future-Ready Student
- Ruchi Saran, RuchiGSaran College n Career Coach
Students in South & Central Asia are often advised by three different voices — a school counselor, a private counselor, and eventually an admissions officer reviewing their file — and these voices don't always talk to each other. The result: mixed messages to families, duplicated (or contradictory) advice, and friction that can undermine the very student the system is meant to serve.
This panel brings together a school counselor, an independent educational consultant, and a senior admissions leader who reviews international applications at scale, to have the conversation the field rarely has out loud: Where does collaboration break down? What does healthy division of labor actually look like? How should IECs and school counselors coordinate without stepping on each other, and what do admissions officers wish both groups understood about how files are actually read?
Rather than a polished, conflict-free panel, we aim for candor — real tension points around referrals, credit, communication gaps, and trust — paired with concrete practices that have worked. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for building collaborative relationships in their own local ecosystem, whatever seat they sit in.
- Sweta Tibrewal, The Right Coll:
- Daniel Marschner, Loyola Marymount University
- Sutapa Dayal, JBCN International School, Parel
Session 7
10:20 - 11:20 AM
DEIB AND UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS
The socio-political landscape has evolved; have our higher education institutions? What's working? What's missing? Is there a vision for the future?
- Charushilla Narula Bajpai, ACS International School Cobham
RETHINKING SCHOOL–UNIVERSITY ENGAGEMENT FOR TODAY’S COUNSELLING NEEDS
School–university engagement has long relied on familiar formats—fairs, presentations, campus visits, webinars and information sessions. As pathways become more diverse and counselling conversations more nuanced, it is time to ask: are these formats still fit for purpose? This interactive workshop invites counsellors to rethink university engagement from a different starting point: the counselling conversation, not the university offering.
Participants will examine familiar models, identify missed opportunities and collaboratively reimagine approaches that are more purposeful, relevant and outcome-oriented
From exploration and programme fit to parent decision-making and conversations after an offer is received, the workshop will consider how schools and universities can create engagement that adds real value at different points in the counselling process
The focus is not simply on creating new formats, but on asking better questions: What should engagement achieve? When is it most valuable? And what could schools and universities do differently together?
- Sapna Goel, Mayo College
- Sandeep Bhalla, Xavier University
- Amrita Ghulati, IC3 Movement
THE LAST MILE PROBLEM: STRONG PIPELINES, WEAK CONVERSIONS
Institutions invest heavily in recruitment infrastructure - fairs, agents, digital outreach, CRM systems - yet conversion often falters at the most human moment: the conversation. This session argues that while institutional knowledge and programme information are table stakes, the true differentiator in student recruitment is the person delivering them.
Drawing on perspectives from international university recruitment professionals working in the South Asian market, this panel examines the interpersonal and communication skills that shape trust, credibility, and decision-making for students and families. We explore how empathy, active listening, framing, and cultural fluency influence counselling outcomes - and why these skills are rarely hired for, rarely taught, and rarely evaluated.
The session also raises an uncomfortable question: are recruitment teams building for the right capabilities, or expecting human-centred outcomes from process-centred people? Attendees will leave with a practical framework for identifying the skills that drive conversion, approaches for building and assessing those skills within their teams, and a shared language for raising the standard of ethical, effective recruitment practice.
- Deepa Dodani, Queen's University
- Kanika Khattar, Les Roches Global Hospitality Education
- Kanishka Ramani, The Emerald Heights International School
Session 8
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL UNIVERSITY TRANSITIONS
In today’s globalized education landscape, students often seek to transfer between universities, whether within the US or across international borders. This session will provide college counselors with an in-depth understanding of the transfer application process, covering key destinations like the US, UK, and India largely, and a few more. We’ll discuss specific requirements, key deadlines, and how to strengthen an applicant’s profile to ensure a smooth transition. Attendees will learn practical strategies for guiding students through the complexities of transferring between universities, including credit transfer policies, adjusting to new academic systems, and navigating visa and residency regulations. By the end of the session, counselors will be equipped to support students aiming for successful transfers both locally and globally.
- Punnya Vij, EduCoach Services
- Sapna Goel, Mayo College
HOW TO USE CIALFO & OTHER SIMILAR PLATFORMS TO LESSEN THE ADMINISTRATIVE WORKLOAD IN COUNSELLING OFFICE
College counselors today are balancing growing caseloads, increasingly complex application processes, and heightened expectations from students and families. Administrative overload often limits the time counselors can spend on what matters most: Meaningful student guidance.
In this session, we will explore two complementary approaches to making counseling work more efficient and impactful:
- Practical, ready-to-implement tools and workflow strategies that streamline daily counseling tasks.
- AI-powered capabilities within the Cialfo platform that augment counselor effectiveness, reduce repetitive work, and provide smarter student insights.
- Swati Seth, Cialfo
- Vandana Murjani, The Emerald Heights International School
UNDERSTANDING GEN Z IN A REGION IN MOTION: STRATEGIES TO UNLOCK STUDENT POTENTIAL
Today's Gen Z students are exploring a world shaped by rapid technological innovation, shifting economic landscapes, career pathways, and increasing social complexity. They are entering the workforce at a time of rapid technological change, shifting job markets, and evolving definitions of success. As the region undergoes unprecedented transformation, career counsellors, educators, and school leaders must rethink how they engage with young people and prepare them for an uncertain yet opportunity rich future.
This session explores the defining characteristics, motivations, and challenges of Gen Z, drawing on emerging trends in education, admissions, and the future of work. Participants will gain practical strategies to identify student strengths, adaptability, build career readiness, and support informed decision making in an increasingly interconnected world. The discussion will also examine how changing employer expectations, interdisciplinary learning, and global mobility are reshaping career planning.
Through relatable examples, data driven insights, and interactive discussions, attendees will discover ways to create counselling practices that are empathetic, future focused, and responsive to the evolving needs of students. Counsellors and educators will walk away with actionable strategies, updated resources, and a renewed sense of purpose in steering the next generation toward fulfilling and sustainable career paths.
- Anjali Narang, The Shri Ram School, Aravali
Session 9
1:45 - 2:45 PM
NAVIGATING AN INCREASINGLY GLOBAL HIGHER EDUCATION LANDSCAPE
In this session we will look at the changing trends of international education - the shift from the Big 4 to the Big 14. This session will be co-presented by 2 counsellors from different parts of India, and UCAS, and focus on how to support students when their aspirations and dreams are growing beyond the precedent. The counsellor section will focus on how to guide and question your students towards best fit, while UCAS will explain how their Discovery tools can help support this journey, including extracts from a UCAS Project Next Generation report about what matters to students when selecting a country to study in.
- Becka Horsley, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)
- Shikha Singh, JBCN International School
- Poonam Maheshwari, Inventure Academy
CASE STUDY - STUDENT PROFILE PATHWAYS
Both counselors and universities are essentially looking for the same thing—whether a student's interests, experiences, choices, and aspirations come together into a coherent picture, and where they're most likely to thrive.
We'll give participants an anonymous student profile (activities, interests, experiences, etc.) and asking each table to predict possible futures. When we reveal who the student is, we'll consider their early journey and discuss the takeaway that admissions isn't about predicting a future CEO—it's about recognizing authentic patterns and potential. In short, there is no fixed linear growth, it’s more of coherence and how counselors on both the high school side and the college side can help students PREPARE (to connect their Passion, Readiness and Energy to a Pathway that leads to the Awareness of their options that are Right-fit so they can Engage fully on the campus to achieve their goals). To PREPARE in this way will lead to the most fulfilling educational experience for them.
- Steve Schaefer, Concordia College
- Kanishka Ramani, The Emerald Heights International School
BUILDING AUTHENTIC STUDENT PROFILES IN THE AGE OF AI
With the rapid rise of generative AI tools, universities are increasingly focused on authenticity in applications. For counselors and IECs, this raises new questions around ethical advising, maintaining student voice, and guiding students in building meaningful academic and extracurricular profiles.
This session will explore how counselors can help students develop authentic, intellectually driven profiles that stand out beyond AI-assisted essays or formulaic activities. Drawing from real advising experiences with students applying across the US, UK, and other global systems, the session will examine practical strategies to help students demonstrate curiosity, depth, and initiative.
The discussion will also include how universities are adapting their evaluation practices, what admission officers are paying closer attention to, and how counselors can responsibly navigate AI tools while preserving integrity in the application process.
- Sweta Tibrewal, The Right Coll:
- Sapna Goel, Mayo College
- Gayatri Sharma, Fordham University