Presentation
- 1. UNDERSTANDING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS, MAKING RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES Katia Hua
- 3. Dichotomy of Analyzing International Students • Region (macro level): due to economy of that country, culture, educational structure, and language fluency level. • Individual perspective (micro level): purposes of the study. Offers information about the demographics and aspirations of potential customers, and shows how these characteristics are associated with certain patterns of behavior.
- 4. Region Economy Place of Origin Rank in 2012 (Change of rank from 2004) Undergrad Enrollment in 2012 % change from 2004 China 1 (↑6) 74516 828% South Korea 2 (-) 38232 68% Saudi Arabia 3 (↑28) 14344 609% India 4 (-) 13059 -3% Canada 5 (↓2) 12866 -8% Vietnam 6 (↑22) 11244 405% Top 6 Source Countries of International Undergraduate Students in the U.S., 2012 vs. 2004 Source: WES
- 5. Region Culture • Selection of majors: Asian students are driven by employment rate instead of their interests. Asian students are less talkative. They are less likely to choose majors require a lot of talk. • Selection of college: In Asian countries, parents play a very important role when students choose college. Asian students care ranking very much. It is the first factor when they choose college, more than faculty, tuition, location, and students’ life. If they received admission from top ranked university without financial aid, they would rather pay by themselves instead of choosing lower ranked with financial aid. Parents consider education as investment. • Application process: Asian students care more about standardized tests. They put great deal of effort on preparing TOEFL, IELTS, and GRE. They are more likely to hire agents to write personal statement, recommendations and essays.
- 6. Region English Fluency Level • European students have the highest average TOEFL score, therefore they are able to choose majors have higher language, especially speaking requirement. Such as political science, journalism. Asian students, on another hand, have high reading and writing scores, and low speaking and listening scores. They prefer to choose majors don’t require too much speaking. Students from middle east prefer to start with English program due to low average TOEFL score.
- 7. Individual perspective • For the purposes of the study, WES segmented the international students along two dimensions: academic preparedness and financial resources. Based on these two dimensions international students can be classified into four categories: Source: WES
- 8. • STRIVERS: Among all segments, they are the most likely to select information on financial aid opportunities. Financial challenges do not deter these academically prepared students from pursuing their dreams: 67% plan to attend a top-tier U.S. school.
- 9. • STRUGGLERS: They have limited financial resources and need additional preparation to do well in an American classroom. They are relatively less selective about where to obtain their education.
- 10. • EXPLORERS: Explorers are likely to need language and academic support. They are interested in the experiential aspects of studying abroad. 19% of this segment reported that information on student services was in their top three information needs. They are also the most likely to use the services of an education agent (24%).
- 11. • HIGHFLIERS: are academically well prepared students who have the means to attend more expensive programs without expecting any financial aid from the school. They seek a U.S. higher education primarily for its prestige: almost half of the respondents in this segment (46%) reported that the school’s reputation is among their top three information needs.
- 12. Combine region and individual
- 16. Making strategies • Understanding yourself • Understanding international students • Understanding competition
- 17. Understanding yourself • Strategic objectives and challenges. • University commitment of internationalization. • Know institutional strengths and weaknesses
- 18. Understanding yourself • Strengths: 1) Liberal arts college 2) Good location 3) High ranking 4) Great potential
- 19. Understanding international students Preferences (Source:WES)
- 22. Use of agents • Chinese students are the most likely to use educational consultants. Indian and Saudi students are No.2 and No.3 often use the services of agents. Indian students use agents to shortlist universities, whereas Chinese students are more likely to use agents for application assistance and essay editing. • Academic achievement was low among agent users: 40% are “Explorers” and 22% are “Strugglers”.
- 23. Understanding competition • 5% of universities host 66% of total number of international students. • Doctorate-granting universities host 64% of international students. • The top 3 host states (California, New York and Texas) host 32% of all international students in the U.S. in 2011/12. (Source: Opendoors)
- 24. Executing strategies • Using technology • ESL program • Building Partnership • Emphasizing other features of university
- 25. Using technology Overall, especially Highfilers, Strivers • Functional website: 1) Cost calculator: having tuition and cost calculators on the website in order to help students better understand the process of financing their studies. 2) Different languages: for parents and friends 3) Students ambassadors: International students tend to obtain information from students come from their home country due to sense of empathy and similar background. • Social media: 1) facebook 2) twitter 3) Renren.com 4) Sina microblog
- 26. Building ESL/IEP programs Explorers, Strugglers • ESL program benefits academic programs. • Keeps students stay at same university
- 27. Building Partnership (school) Strivers, Highfilers • Partnership with schools: working with local high schools and higher education institutions. 1) In top expert countries (China, Indian, South Korea), working with reputable education institutions creates a direct pathway for international students, and guarantees good quality of students. 2) In countries export less number of international students partnership strengthens diversity. 3) Working with higher education institutions releases students’ financial burden (2+2 programs) 4) Hire staff who are able to do credit conversion, familiar with grading scales.
- 28. Building Partnership (agents) Strugglers, Explorers • Use of agents is controversial because of lacks of informational transparency and low level of mutual trust. • Hire staff familiar with markets and working process of agents, work with selective agents. There are good agents, but we need to be able to find them.
- 29. Emphasizing other features of university Explorers, Highfilers • Explorers and highfilers not only want to earn a degree abroad, but also to gain valuable life experience. Institutions should emphasize information about student life and location in their marketing materials, such as students organizations, recreation center
- 30. Evaluating strategies Research empowers universities to make more targeted decisions in their recruitment efforts. As U.S. institutions are increasingly defined by tight budgets, data and research will increasingly shape strategic decisions.
- 31. Historical Trend Data Store and analyze 3-5 years of comparative data. • Prospects (students who have not yet expressed interest in the institution, such as students whose names and addresses were purchased from a list vendor) • Inquiries (students who have expressed interest in the institution) • Applicants • “Stealth applicants” (students who made their first contact by submitting an application without inquiring beforehand) • Applicants who fully completed the application process • Accepts/admits • Deposits/confirm
- 32. Market Research • Prospects • Inquiries who did not apply • Applicants who did not complete the application process • Admits who did not enroll • Enrolled students who did not return • Alumni • High school counselors • Parents • Businesses/employers • Graduate schools
- 33. Predictive Modeling Predictive modeling for admissions identifies individual prospective students who are most likely to enroll. Universities can use this research to: • Acquire qualified names from list vendors • Focus limited admissions staff travel, time, and resources on students who are most likely to enroll • Increase conversion and yield rates • Enroll the desired number of students
- 36. Use of agents • Most students who use agents do not know whether the consultant would receive a commission. Although students from China pay more than other students for agent services, only 7% of Chinese respondents ranked them as the most trusted source of information, compared to 12% of overall respondents. They are also the most likely to be aware of agents “double dipping,” or collecting a commission from an institution while being paid by the student or their family for their services.
- 37. Student segments by country and academic level (Source:WES)
- 38. Region Educational structure • Chinese and Indian schools focus more on math and science, comparing to other regions. • Korean high school graduation date is in February. They have more time to apply for colleges in the US. • European high schoolers have more choices of further education. • Chinese high schoolers finish all school works in two years.
- 39. Applying different strategies to different countries • China • India • Saudi Arabia • Saudi Arabia