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LOCAL placement agencies could see more students participating in this year's BridgeUSA programme when compared to the last two years which have been impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.But Cavalee Freeman, public relations officer at Jamaican Association of Employment and Cultural Exchange (JAECE), said the recruitment process for participants has been very slow.The JAECE is a non-profit membership organisation founded in 2018, which promotes opportunities for students in the educational travel industry. The organisation is currently made up of approximately 40 local placement agencies."Overall, based on what the general consensus is for all the agencies, recruitment has been slower than previous years. It is better than last year as there has been improvement in the number of persons coming on the programme now," Freeman told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.She was unable to provide the figure, which accounts for the number of participants so far, as some agencies are still recruiting participants.But she confirmed that there has been an uptick in the number of participants this year in comparison to last year, although the numbers are nowhere near pre-pandemic levels.On average, the programme would see 8,000 participants annually before the novel coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, at least 60 per cent of that number of students participated last year, an increase from seven per cent in 2020.Pointing out different factors that have led to slow recruitment she said, "One aspect is that there is a mandate now for persons travelling to be vaccinated, we know that there are still a lot of Jamaicans who are concerned about COVID-19 and vaccination and still want to have more information before getting vaccinated. There are also still a lot of persons who are being affected [financially] by the pandemic, those people who are maybe out of work still or barely working when compared to when they worked before the pandemic and of course COVID-19 overall is still a major concern."Along with those factors, Freeman stressed that placement agencies have been pushed to develop new ways of promoting the programme and encouraging students to participate."As you know a lot of the universities are still not allowing a lot of agencies to come on campus. Everyone is still doing everything virtually. Because we are not on the campuses as usual, a lot of people, especially first-year students, don't even know about the programme," she said.Meanwhile, Freeman, who is also the director at placement agency HR Elite Limited, said agencies have now resorted to social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok to promote their deals."Another way we are trying to promote ourselves to the student population and their parents is by doing more community outreach. For instance, we have our JAECE sponsorship programme that we implemented last year being done by Students' Work & Travel Programme, First Class and HR Elite to sponsor students free of cost for the programme. We are trying to get our name out there so that more people will know that we are not just all about collecting money, but we are also giving back and showing our appreciation," she added.Three students from the The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, University of Technology, Jamaica and Caribbean Maritime University will benefit from the sponsorship programme this year.Freeman is anticipating a less stressful experience for participants in obtaining embassy dates, so that they will be able to leave as scheduled to benefit from the full duration of the programme this year.Formerly the J-1 Summer Work and Travel Programme, the exchange visitor programme brand identity was changed to BridgeUSA by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State following an executive order under the Donald Trump Administration.