MARKET REVIEW:
Quantitative Research with International Students
Prepared for Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT)
POR 412-06
Contract # 08227-077274/001/CY
March 31, 2007
JWT Education (JWT) has been commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) to conduct market research among international students to gain an understanding of where Canada is positioned in the current market so that Canada can develop competitive recruitment strategies to attract foreign students. Key objectives are:
To meet these objectives JWT conducted an online survey among two groups of students undertaking study in Higher Education (HE); Vocational Education; or English or French as a second language (ESL/FSL) as defined below:
A total of 561 international students participated in the survey; 371 were current students and 190 prospects. Of the prospects, 44% were studying in Australia; 29% in France; 18% in the UK; 7.5 % in the US and the remaining 1.5% in other countries.
Nearly 90% of the participating students were undertaking higher education at either the undergraduate (56%) or postgraduate level (34%). Only a few students were undertaking technical or vocational education and even fewer undertaking language study.
The ratio of male to female participants was evenly split and the nationality split roughly representative of the total international student population with 28% of the sample Chinese. A total of 85 nationalities participated in the research.
Consistent with findings from other research conducted by JWT, country remains the first choice in the decision making process for the majority of international students (60%). This was followed by institution (21%) then city 15%. The data provides further evidence of the need for Canada to continue to build a strong and distinctive education brand.
Key factors influencing students' choice of country were most importantly the quality of education; followed by internationally accepted degrees; and good living and studying environment in the country. Students developed their perceptions of the quality of a country's education mostly on recommendations from industry professionals; current students; industry rankings; and research profile. In terms of people who influenced a student's decision the greatest source of influence was parents, although many students claimed to make the decision on their own.
The research revealed that more than half of the students studying in Canada had considered the US as a study destination and a significant number had also considered Australia and the UK - no other destinations featured prominently. A third of international students studying outside of Canada had considered Canada as a study destination. When asked to rank the attractiveness of the major study destinations, in looking at the combined results (current students and prospects) - the US, Canada and the UK were seen to be most attractive destinations. However, prospects ranked Canada as an equal third with Australia behind the UK and US. In terms of quality, the most important consideration factor in a student's choice of destination, the US and UK ranked highest - this is consistent with all other research JWT has conducted. Again, positively though Canada was ranked third by both current students and prospects.
Key sources of information used by students in searching for information about their overseas study included: university websites and prospecti – stated by 81% of the sample; followed by the internet; family and friends' recommendations; and search engines. Students also cited a range of other sources including agents and exhibitions. It is interesting to note that there were some significant differences in the information sources used by students undertaking different levels of study - reinforcing the need to tailor marketing communications plans to the various target groups.
Google was by far the most frequently used search engine with over 90% of students stating that they used it. Interestingly, networking sites such as MySpace.com were not widely used by students as a source of information about overseas study. Almost all the students searched for information in English on the web.
In terms of top-of-mind perceptions of the Canadian education brand - encouragingly, eight of the top nine most common responses were positive attributes (the exception being cold weather, which some students may not have said in a negative manner). The greatest percentage of students selected the following characteristics: diversity/multicultural (24%) - stated by a greater percentage of current students (30%) than prospects (12%); good education system (23%); attractive/beautiful environment (19%); cold weather (18%) - prospects (34%) were more likely to comment on Canada's cold weather than were current students (10%); peaceful/safe (17%) - current students (22%) were more than twice as likely to comment on the safeness or peaceful nature of the country (7% of prospects); excellence/high quality (16%); and welcoming/friendly people (16%). This highlights some significant differences in the perceptions of Canada as a study destination among those currently studying there and those who might/might have studied there - highlighting the need to continue to promote a clearly defined and consistent brand message for Canada.
These positive attributes were reinforced when students were asked to nominate Canada's strengths as a study destination with over 70% of students considering Canada to be a safe and friendly place to live and study. Other strengths nominated by over 50% of the participants included: Canada has a tolerant culture; is a good place to practice/learn English while studying; has a good reputation; and offers high quality, internationally recognized degrees. In terms of weaknesses, those receiving the highest responses were: high tuition costs (55%); high cost of living; and bad weather - stated by 47% of the students. Proximity to home country was also cited as a weakness by more than one in four students.