Page 6 - ELG1601 Mar Issue 434

ELdata
Page 6 March 2016
international student Reading the minds of students deem important when

hat would be the
choosing an institution abroad
minds of students in their target international students – the most important factors
ultimate
Wrecruiter’s
dream? A mind-reading tool
are academic programmes and
revealing what goes through the
scholarships (see graph below).
market. What motivates them Emails and social
to learn abroad, who they really media
trust in their decision-making, Claudia Civinini drills into new data from over 35,000 overseas Students are generally most
what their goals are, what time likely to check non-personal
they check their emails and are students to find out the factors behind their decision to learn abroad emails in the morning or evening,
active on social media. Knowl- with some differences across coun-
edge, after all, is power. tries and regions: Latin Americans
In 2015 students fair organ- the decision-making process, everyone’s first language. ‘We Motivations and In terms of the goals that stu- prefer reading non-personal emails
iser FPP EDU Media and and students start dreaming always advocate local language goals dents want to achieve by studying in the late evening, and so do
digital marketing firm Inter- of studying abroad much ear- use in marketing material,’ Wax- Nearly three quarters (74 per abroad, speaking English fluently Vietnamese and Thais. The same
national Education Advantage lier than previously thought. man told the Gazette. ‘It’s all cent) of all students reported that was the most popular – except in tendencies hold true for social
(Intead) paired up to move However, the most important about sharing – this is key in past international travel experi- the Philippines, Malaysia and the media browsing, except in Spain
closer to this vision. Surveying message, that the one-size-fits- digital marketing.’ ences fostered their interest in Middle East, where only a third and Italy, where non-personal
all 807,000 students in the FPP all approach doesn’t work in Here are some of the insights studying abroad. Four in ten of of the students chose it, the main email are generally read in the late
EDU Media database, 35,000 international recruitment, should from the survey (and see graph them started dreaming about goal being to achieve an advanced morning and social media browsed
responded within two days, already be a given. But in some below). it very early, between five and degree. For Italian, Spanish and in the late evening.
and it is on this sample that the cases it is not. As Waxman told fourteen years old. Vietnamese students the main Overwhelmingly, students said
‘Know your neighbourhood: the Gazette, the survey was Who do students The reasons for studying aspiration is to have a satisfying that the preferred subject has to
international recruiting fuelled motivated by ‘deeper market- trust? abroad vary across the source and interesting career – more than do with their academic interests
by regional insights’ report is ing questions that the industry ‘Trust is clearly an important markets. To get a good education half of the students in these coun- more than their reason to study
based, highlighting similarities needed to ask’. issue,’ states the survey. There and achieve important things were tries chose this goal. Surprisingly, abroad. Waxman told the Gazette
and differences between approx- The authors explain in the are six major figures that can popular across the board, whereas only 19 per cent of students in the that institutions should try to
imately fifteen source markets. report: ‘In student recruitment, influence a student’s decision: only Malaysian, Thai and Indo- sample chose the idealistic ‘mak- catch their potential students’
Besides the detailed local the university that succeeds is the recruiting agents, admission nesian students seem to pursue ing a difference in the world’. attention by mentioning their best
insights gathered by the survey one that best delivers its message representatives from the univer- international education in order programmes on offer. n
and its focus on diversification, in the way the target audience sity, a professional in the chosen to honour their families. A differ- What students
another element underlines its wants to receive it. Messaging field, academic advisers, stu- ent lifestyle is a popular reason in evaluate The full report is available at
uniqueness: China and India are that might work well in Brazil dents already living in the target Malaysia and in the Philippines, Geography and rankings had a http://info.intead.com/
missing. The reason, according is not necessarily going to be country and, of course, the fam- less so in the rest of the market. low influence on the factors that know-your-neighborhood
to Intead CEO Benjamin Wax- effective in Vietnam. How well ily. But not every student trusts
man, is not just logistics – FPP you anticipate and honour those the same figure.
EDU Media has not entered the differences in your communica- seem to have greater influence Top tip: mind your language
Admission
representatives
Chinese market yet – but also tion efforts may determine your
curiosity, as ‘there is already success at driving international in Latin America and in the Mid-
plenty of research on China’. student enrolment.’ dle East, and far less in South HERE IS A SIMPLE message from 35,000 ish, Italian and French, producing a different
There are a number of mar- Indeed, cross-cultural com- East Asia – except in Malaysia. international students: ‘If you want to sell us grammatical error in each language.
keting insights to gain from munication is a ‘wonderful This is the opposite for recruit- something, talk to us in our own language,’ The English used in many web sites is also
the results of this survey. Some challenge’ that must be faced at ing agents. The hypothesis writes Melanie Butler. For respondents to above the level of most learners. For exam-
might be new or surprising: the every level of marketing, with- behind this is that in Asian coun- the survey from FPP EDU Media reported on ple: ‘Here on Oxford Street only a minute from
family has a limited impact on out forgetting that English is not tries students seem to perceive this page, perfecting their English may be the Soho (considered to be the most creative
agents, who represent more than single most important reason for studying at a square mile in the world), you will experience
one university, to have a more university abroad, but when they are trying to the essence of London through its fashionable
impartial view than admission communicate with a prospective course pro- shopping areas and concentration of theatres,
representatives working for one vider they want to do it in their own language. museums and historic places of interest.’
institution specifically. Take publicity – an area which, as we report Other websites seem to have been trans-
Professional testimonials are on page 14, is the biggest single cause of lated into English from another language: ‘Lush
particularly trusted in Italy and concern for British Council inspectors. The parks, gardens and green spaces will freshen
Spain, where the second most main form of publicity is the website and, as up your afternoons, and when the city lights
trusted figure is a student in far as universities are concerned, these are are on and the pubs are open, they will colour
the country, and also in Peru, generally entirely in English. We looked at your evenings and nights out on the town.’ This
together with a university admis- the websites for the University of Edinburgh, reads perfectly in Italian, seems over the top in
sion representative. the University of Malta and Trinity College, Spanish and is downright weird in French.
Academic advisers also play and – apart from the name of the University of When we set out to design a website for
an important role in Asian coun- Malta appearing in Maltese – not one of them students – www.el-go.com – we wrote in B1
tries, except in Vietnam. Student used anything but English, even on the pages English, as research shows if readers are not
testimonials also have a big aimed directly at international students. familiar with 90 per cent of the text they won’t
influence on all source markets, Language schools should be better – after understand the content. We then rewrote it
especially Indonesia, Chile and all, their students are, almost by definition, in Italian, Spanish and French – all at native-
Brazil. Families, on the other not very fluent in English. However, an exam- speaker level and all with information designed
hand, seem to play a marginal ination of a random selection of ten websites for different national audiences. It can be done.
role. A huge 96 per cent of all of language schools in London found that And if you want to sell to students, it has
students said studying abroad five did not offer translations, and on one to be done. As German Chancellor Willy
was their own idea. As the report that did the translation button just didn’t work. Brandt once said, ‘If I sell to you, I will sell in
advises, students ‘want to be Another one managed to mistranslate the English; if you want to sell to me, Sie müs-
addressed as decision-makers – phrase ‘School in central London’ in Span- sen Deutsch sprechen.’
empowered and in charge’.

Courtesy Intead & FPPEDUMedia