Global Student Mobility: Insights and Implications for ...

© 2015 World Education Services, Inc. All rights reserved. wes.org/RAS 1

International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) Webinar

Global Student Mobility:

Insights and Implications for Your

Recruitment Strategy

Rahul Choudaha, Ph.D. Chief Knowledge Officer & Senior Director of Strategic Development

World Education Services, New York

[email protected] | wes.org/ras

May 21, 2015 | 11:00AM AEST


About World Education Services

• World Education Services (WES):

• Non-profit mission

• New York & Toronto office

• 40 years’ experience

• 215 staff

• Information, analysis and insights on international higher education systems,

institutions and students

• Research-based consulting solutions on student mobility, international

enrollment, and transnational education

• Access FREE research reports and free monthly newsletter at wes.org/RAS

http://www.wes.org/ras/team


How do you maximize the impact of your resources

to achieve international student enrollment goals?


The central message

• Complex, changing and competitive landscape of global student mobility is

making it difficult for institutions to meet enrollment goals

• Towards sustainable enrollment strategies by:

• Understanding student segments and adapting recruitment strategies

• Understanding student mobility trends and preparing for emerging markets


Towards sustainable international student

enrollment strategies

Quick-Fix Sustainable

Quantity Quality

Reactive Proactive

Disjointed Integrated

Anecdote Evidence

Source: Choudaha, Rahul (2015). Is your international enrolment strategy sustainable? University World News

http://bit.ly/WESframework


Student decision-making processes


“…higher education is a professional service

characterized by a high level of experience

qualities which make the purchase risky and

means that branding is important as a source of

reassurance to students about the quality of

what they will receive”

High stakes, high expectations…

Mourad, Ennew, and Kortam (2010) “Descriptive Evidence on the Role of Corporate

Brands in Marketing Higher Education Services”, Service Science 2(3), pp. 154-166.


Complex decision-making…

Cubillo, Sánchez & Cerviño (2006) "International students' decision‐making process", International Journal of Educational Management, 20(2), pp.101 - 115

Personal Reasons

Country Image

City Effect

Purchase

Intentions

Institution Image

Program Evaluation


Adapting to information search behavior and needs


Institutions need to make choices…

“Strategy renders choices about what not to

do as important as choices about what to do.”

Source: Michael Porter “What is Strategy?” Harvard Business Review


Questions to inform enrollment strategy

Informed Enrollment Strategy

Who? Identifying Segments

Where? Prioritizing Markets

How? Mapping Channels


Understanding student mobility trends and

preparing for emerging markets


Mobility drivers of push, pull and surprises

Two major external factors changed the dynamics between source and

destination countries:

• The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001

• The global financial in 2008

Destination US UK Australia

2000 23% 11% 5%

2009 17% 13% 7%

> Australia and UK became attractive, until recession hit

Source China Japan Korea India

2000 7% 5% 4% -

2009 19% - 5% 7%

> Demographics & economic growth fueling aspirations

Source: Choudaha, R. & De Wit, H. (2014). Challenges and Opportunities for Global Student Mobility in the Future. In Streitwieser, B. Editor,

Internationalization of Higher Education and Global Mobility (pp19-33).


The China effect

Michigan State University

• 3 out of 4 international undergraduate students are from China

• Up from 44 to 3,848 between Fall 2004 to Fall 2014


Economy trumps quality as mobility driver

Source: Perkins, R. & Neumayer, E. (2014). Geographies of educational mobilities: Exploring the uneven flows of international students,

The Geographical Journal, 180(3), 246–259.

• International student flows in terms of share of the global total in 2009:

• Developing to developed = 56%

• Developing to developing = 18.3%

• Developed to developed = 24.6%

• Developed to developing = 0.9%

• The newly industrializing economy (NIEs), a subset of developing countries,

accounted for two-fifths of all outflows to any destination country in 2009

• Destination “countries’ university quality...has a comparatively small

influence over student-based migration patterns. Far more important is per

capita income in the destination country, together with a number of relational

variables which affect the monetary and psychic costs of particular cross-

border mobilities.”


Diaspora attracts more students

• Strong network effect explains destination choice

• The presence of country nationals at destination tends to act as a magnet for

international students.

• The effects of diaspora outweigh the traditional role of previous colonial ties

Source: Beinea, M., Noëlc, R., & Ragotd, L. (2014).

Determinants of the international mobility of students. Economics of Education Review, 41, 40–54


Preparing for emerging source countries

with the rise in economic prosperity

Top 10

Countries of

outward

mobility

2012

Total number of

outwardly

mobile students

2012

Australia

Enrollment

(#Rank)

2012

UK

Enrollment

(#Rank)

2012

US

Enrollment

(#Rank)

Income Level

China 694,400 87,497 (#1) 76,913 (#1) 210,452 (#1) Upper Middle Income

India 189,500 11,684 (#3) 29,713 (#2) 97,120 (#2) Lower Middle Income

South Korea 123,700 7,529 (#8) 4,516 (#23) 70,024 (#3) High Income: OECD

Germany 117,600 1,497 (#21) 15,810 (#4) 9,053 (#11) High Income: OECD

Saudi Arabia 62,500 5,392 (#10) 9,773 (#12) 33,066 (#4) High Income: Non-OECD

France 62,400 1,161 (#27) 12,753 (#8) 7,973 (#14) High Income: OECD

United States 58,100 2,849 (#17) 14,810 (#6) N/A High Income: OECD

Malaysia 55,600 17,001 (#2) 12,822 (#7) 6,531 (#20) Upper Middle Income

Vietnam 53,800 11,081 (#4) 3,769 (#26) 15,083 (#7) Lower Middle Income

Iran 51,600 2,452 (#18) 3,372 (#31) 6,763 (#19) Upper Middle Income

Source: UNESCO & World Bank


Source: Ortiz, A, Chang, L. & Fang, Y. (2015, Feb) International Student Mobility Trends 2015: An Economic Perspective wes.org/RAS


Source: Fang, Y., Roy, M., & Ortiz, A. (2015, May) Top Emerging Markets for International Student Recruitment wes.org/RAS

Upper Middle Income

Lower Middle Income

Lower Middle Income

Lower Middle Income

Total Outbound (2013) 30,729 53,802 34,999 49,531

Enrollment in US (2013) 13,286 16,579 7,920 7,921

Enrollment in Australia (2013) 789 11,126 8,707 497


Understanding student segments and adapting

recruitment strategies


…to achieve desired results

“The secret to achieving a good

marketing ROI is simple:

give customers more of

what they truly want and less of

what they don’t.”

Kumar et al. (2006). Knowing What to Sell, When, and to Whom. Harvard Business Review.

Research


Informing strategic choices by…

Analytics: The New Path to Value (2010) MIT Sloan Management Review

• Focus on the biggest and highest value opportunities

Segmenting

• Within each opportunity, start with questions, not data

Asking right questions


Understanding student needs, profiles and expectations

Academic Preparedness

Fin

an

cia

l R

eso

urc

es

Low

H

igh

Low High

STRIVERS

Advancement

HIGHFLIERS

Prestige

EXPLORERS

Experience

STRUGGLERS

Immigration

Source: Choudaha, R., Orosz, K. & Chang, L. (2012). Not All International Students are the Same. wes.org/RAS


Adapt message and communication channel to target

student segment

48% chose reputation as one of the top 3

information needs

37% selected tuition or cost of living as one

of their top 3 information needs

40% chose location as one of the top 3

information needs

37% plan to attend an intensive English

program in the U.S.

n=4,481 international students applying bachelor’s or master’s degree programs in the US. Source: Chang, L., Schulmann, P., and Lu, Z. (2014). Bridging the Digital Divide: Segmenting and

Recruiting International Millennial Students. wes.org/RAS


Leverage university network with controlled and credible

digital communication

Bachelor's

(886)

Master's

(3,595)

Doctoral

(371)

University Network

(admissions officers, faculty,

current students, and alumni)

33% 44% 49%

Family 41% 32% 28%

Friends 12% 14% 15%

Educational Consultant 13% 11% 9%

Influencers in Decision-Making Process of Applying to US HEIs Source: Chang, L., Schulmann, P., and Lu, Z. (2014). Bridging the Digital Divide: Segmenting and Recruiting International Millennial Students.

wes.org/RAS


How do you maximize the impact of your resources

to achieve international student enrollment goals?


Summary and implications

• Complex, changing and competitive landscape of global student mobility is

making it difficult for institutions to meet enrollment goals

• Towards sustainable enrollment strategies by:

• Understanding student segments and adapting recruitment strategies

• Understanding student mobility trends and preparing for emerging markets

“It is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong” Gupta & Lehmann (2005) Managing Customers as Investments


Rahul Choudaha | [email protected]

Questions, comments, experiences…

Global Student Mobility: Insights and Implications for ...

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