Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate international student recruitment from an institutional perspective and to consider institutional factors that may affect recruitment. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative study is undertaken in which education marketing practitioners are interviewed regarding aspects of international student recruitment at their institutions. Interview data are analysed by NVivo and categorized into four institutional factors: marketing department size, employee qualifications, institutional recruiting experience, and institutional focus. Findings - Differences are found to exist between universities and secondary schools in terms of their current international education recruitment practices. The percentage of international student cohort appears to be largely responsible for sectoral differences. Research limitations/implications - Findings presented are from a sample of secondary schools and universities in Australia and New Zealand. Further research is required to determine applicability of the findings to other education sectors. Practical implications - Implications are considered from the viewpoint of the international education marketing practitioner, education manager and policy makers. The theoretical contribution of the study is also discussed. Originality/value - This paper fulfils an identified research and practitioner gap through investigating international student recruitment from an institutional perspective. Keywords Students, Recruitment, Education