Global Perspectives on Recruiting International Students

Challenges and Opportunities

Belal Shneikat, Cihan Cobanoglu, Cem Tanova, Belal Shneikat, Cihan Cobanoglu, Cem Tanova

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781839825194
• eBook ISBN: 9781839825200
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica comparata

Although many countries have created effective strategies to recruit more international students due to proven economic and social benefits, recruiting international students as a field of research lacks coherence. Filling this gap, this book provides a holistic and comprehensive overview of this emerging research area. 

Exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of recruiting international students, this edited collection considers the financial, administrative, legislative, socio-cultural and market related barriers to international recruitment. The chapters cover a broad range of topics such as the role of social media in recruiting international students, the impact of internal environment on the recruitment of international students and the internationalization of universities as a strategy for recruiting international students. Offering a wide-ranging snapshot of global policies on international student recruitment across Asia, Europe and North America, as well as a consideration of related issues such as student integration and cultural adjustments, the authors and editors equip readers interested in the theory and practice with a more sophisticated view of the field, empowering them to engage in further research and practical strategies.

Chapter 1

Key Factors in the Selection of an Educational Tourism Destination^*

Melissa Rikiatou Kana Kenfack and Ali Öztüren

Abstract

It is salient to be acquainted with the key elements that determine educational tourists’ decision in selecting an overseas destination while considering the rise of international competition amidst nations concerning international students. There has been a growth in the number of nations committed to attracting educational tourists. This issue is evident in countries involved in higher education (HE), such as Northern Cyprus, identified as an edu-tourism destination. Northern Cyprus can attract a whopping number of tourists, and the higher population is most likely to be made up of international students regardless of its interdiction on direct flights and political pressure. This chapter centres on analysing educational tourists’ motivators in selecting a tourism education destination abroad and on revealing effective recruitment and promotion plans towards attracting them.

The chapter includes the descriptions and discussions of educational tourism, the HE industry over the years, globalisation and internationalisation of educational tourism, factors influencing educational tourists’ decision-making process and key elements influencing educational tourists’ decisions in HE institutions.

At the end of the chapter, a case study is presented that reports the findings of interviews with educational tourists, overseas recruitment agents and Eastern Mediterranean University staff responsible for promoting the institution. The results identified eight factors affecting educational tourists’ decisions on study destination. Those factors comprise cost, ease of access, location, social factors, quality of education, instruction language, cultural environment and communication quality. The sub-factors of the main eight factors are scholarships, destination’s scenery, safety, friends’ and relatives’ influence and cultural differences.

This chapter brings a significant knowledge about the motives that affect educational tourists in selecting at a particular HE destination. Based on the study’s findings, educational institutions may consider various recommendations to redesign their strategies towards attracting educational tourists more effectively. Generally, this study promotes an apprehension about the diverse elements that affect educational tourists’ selection of a destination study. An in-depth understanding of these factors will help education institutions’ decision-makers better develop plans of action to provide desired services to educational tourists, attract and keep them in return.

Keywords: Educational tourism; higher education institutions (HEI); educational tourists; motivation; destination choice; North Cyprus

1. Introduction

The trade in international educational services in advanced countries constitutes a vital aspect of their economy. It has become a multibillion industry to those countries, thus, constituting their primary means of revenue (Cheung, Yuen, Yuen, & Cheng, 2011). International students have, therefore, become a feasible target for many countries.

Travelling with the aim of learning is not a new concept. Nevertheless, few studies have been conducted in this regard (Paul, 2010). The number of studies carried out to acquire an understanding of educational tourists’ travel decisions and motives behind destination preferences is very few. Abubakar, Shneikat, and Oday (2014) affirmed that studies were done by tourism researchers’ in-depth apprehension of educational tourism components in terms of choice motives, and recruitment strategies are few. Educational marketers’ in the higher education (HE) industry need to obtain an in-depth understanding of educational tourists’ preferences and motives behind their preferences to achieve their primary aim, which is to attract international students and acquire benefits.

Deciding to further education in a foreign land is a sensitive and compound decision, deriving from a set of motives from ‘why deciding to leave a country’, and ‘where to go’. It is a whole process in which some desires are birthed, arising from a need, and followed by the eagerness to satisfy the need. Many factors are involved in this process: the reasons behind the decision to travel abroad for educational purposes, the desired attractiveness in the future country and HE abroad, and the process of selection of the final country and higher education institution (HEI) (Eder, Smith, & Pitts, 2010). Therefore, educational marketers need to get acquainted with the specific needs of educational tourists to know how to provide them with services that will enhance their satisfaction.

Marketers may use various ways to gain knowledge of the educational tourists’ needs and wants (Joyce, 2012). According to studies, one significant tendency in the HEI is online marketing, targeting students’ needs and wants with regards to HEI. In reaction to this, hosting countries like the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia inculcate effective marketing techniques to attract international students (Taplin, 2012). Hence, education marketers need to be fully acquainted with the needs of students (Eder et al., 2010). The merge of tourism and education rightfully birth the Educational Tourism, adding to the tourism industry (Lam, Tong, & Ariffin, 2016).

HEI communicates the messages they want to convey through various media mediums, hence, the need to reckon these ways is due to the increase in the importance of marketing communications. HEI mostly use e-mails, websites and other digital channels to disseminate information amongst students, lecturers and the university. The first medium of information for prospective students and parents generally is often a website (Pugsley & Coffey, 2002). Websites are critical when it comes to choosing a study destination. By this, HEI has to review many areas in setting up messages that will be efficacious in passing the right knowledge needed digitally to those in need. This includes students from different cultural backgrounds and languages. This brings the necessity to consider culture while setting recruitments plans (Bagautdinova, Gorelova, & Polyakova, 2015). Studies have revealed the importance of protecting the information directed to various groups of students. The different communication methods and mediums used for student interaction need to be identified concerning cultural, linguistic and communication quality. In respect to this, modern-day studies can be termed to be a critical interrogation to highlight conditions that influence the decision of prospective students.

In light of the increasing competition between countries and institutions for international students, new ways to market post-secondary education progressively become more critical (McCarthy, Sen, & Garrity, 2012).

Recent studies have pinpointed that the three major English-speaking study destinations are Australia, The United Kingdom and The United States of America (Abubakar et al., 2014), predominantly in HEIs. Thus, various academicians from the aforementioned English-speaking nations have examined educational tourists and HEI recruitments plans (McCarthy et al., 2012; Taplin, 2012). Northern Cyprus, as a developing destination, currently is dealing with a lack of research dealing with understanding the needs of international students and deciphering efficacious mediums to reach out to these students. Therefore, there is an urgent need to interrogate the factors influencing the students’ decision and mobility, specifically for the student, agent and staff. Knowledge of these factors will facilitate HEI institutions to establish effective plans for inducing educational tourists. Therefore, this study attempts to fill the lacuna in the research about international students marketing strategies and international students’ decisions for an educational tourism destination like a Northern Cyprus.

Tourism actors are increasingly focussing on enhancing consumer information due to the rapid increase in world tourism (Brown & Hall, 2008; Tefera, 2015). In the same manner, the educational tourism sector has also expanded in size, and the growth has been attached to globalisation, increased global correctness, political freedom, civilisation and relative peace (Webster & Ivanov, 2014). There is a visible growth in the travel for the education sector, undisputed, but it remains largely ignored by both industry and academia (Abubakar et al., 2014). There is a need for academic institutions to align their services to meet the needs of the various international students’ segments and to take hold of the educational tourism market. To make the student’s experience enjoyable, students’ attractions to specific areas in the country have to be reviewed to meet their expectations. This helps the institutions to know how to configure their curriculum to meet the needs of overseas students. More importantly, institutions need to know the need to equip students with boundary spanning skillsets across industries, cultures and countries (Abubakar et al., 2014). A growing niche market cannot be ignored due to the population of students from various countries in the HE sector in Northern Cyprus (Abubakar et al., 2014). This research would be of great interest to academic institutions in the country and local governments of North Cyprus. Lai et al. (2014) noted the international students’ market to be highly heterogeneous and requires effort to the segment. This study will help the country and universities develop appropriate strategies that incorporate international students’ needs as a market segment. Educational tourism is an important economic activity for developing countries and all countries generally. As more and more governments are privatising or commercialising HEI (Antra & Seema, 2018; Kwong, 2000), HEI’s financial tenacity can be improved by the benefits of educational tourism (Antra & Seema, 2018). The attraction of several students coming into a particular destination can help institutions redeem poverty and foster economic growth (Hipsher & Bulmer, 2016). By this, the multi-dimensional facet of educational tourism can help to acquire a lot and draw interest from a diverse audience (McGladdery & Lubbe, 2017). The combination of education, tourism and movement of students for study purposes and the interrelationship with other economic variables make the research area appealing to interdisciplinary scholars (Lesjak et al., 2015). Moreover, Pitman et al. (2010) call researchers from various disciplines to explore this research scope.

2. Literature Review

The following section focusses on reviewing the relevant literature on educational tourism, putting an accent on educational tourists’ motives and preferences in choosing a destination for studies.

2.1. Educational Tourism

We may have been regarded as ‘tourists’ at some point in our lives. Conceptualising tourism varies depending on the source and person. There is no consensus with regards to the definition of tourism, and nearly every institution defines tourism differently (Lai, Gibson, & Muthaly, 2014); based on expatiating tourism with the basic terms, it can be seen as follows.

Tourism can be seen as the movement of people in or out of a country, with the intent of leisure and trade (Holden, 2000). A visitor can be taken to be someone who travels to a new destination outside his/her usual environment for a specific purpose and for a stipulated time. This include...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Chapter 1. Key Factors in the Selection of an Educational Tourism Destination
• Chapter 2. Study Hard but Do Tour to See the World: Tourism of Chinese Students who Studied in the United States
• Chapter 3. The Role of Social Media Marketing Activities on International Students’ Brand Preference: A Study on English-Speaking Universities of Germany
• Chapter 4. Use of Web Analytics and Social Listening to Attract International Students
• Chapter 5. Promoting the Internationalisation of Students in University Strategic Goals: A Case Study
• Chapter 6. Exploring Institutional Culture and Its Impact on International Student Recruitment Capabilities
• Chapter 7. Recruiting Educational Tourists from Countries Under International Sanctions: The Case of Iranian Education Market
• Chapter 8. Geopolitics and Global Events: International Student Recruitment in a Time of Disruption
• Chapter 9. Challenges to Admission for Indonesian Sponsored Applicants to a US Graduate Program in Education
• Chapter 10. The Qualitative Study of Factors Influencing to International Students’ Satisfaction: The Case of a Private University in Turkey
• Chapter 11. Are Chinese Students Studying at European Universities Satisfied? Performance and Challenges
• Chapter 12. How to Integrate International Students into the Local Society and How That Will Affect Their Satisfaction Level
• Chapter 13. Living Closely Together but in Parallel - Multi-dimensional Challenges to the Integration of International Students in a Danish ‘Muscle’ Town.
• Chapter 14. The Impact of Cultural Adjustment on International Student Recruitment and First-Year Success
• Chapter 15. International Chinese Students’ Cultural Experience and Cultural Support in the UK
• Chapter 16. The Future of International Student Recruitment
• Index