international education
campusreview.com.au
doesn’t lead on any of those attributes, it’s
still well placed. It’s still sitting in a positive
position, whether it’s second or third. You
look at that and say, across all attributes,
we’re sitting in a very good space among
international students from an Australian
brand perception perspective.
You also looked at the way prospective and
current international students interacted
with universities online, and you identified
two main modes of interaction: cautious
clickers and carefree chatterers. Can you
talk me through these modes?
The cautious clickers have a stronger
preference towards more personalised
support by human interaction. They made
up about 37 per cent of the student sample
we surveyed.
The carefree chatterers are a larger
proportion of the sample at 63 per cent.
They don’t tend to differentiate between
offline and online. For them it’s all about
utilising all the available channels to achieve
their goals.
For the carefree chatterers, it’s that whole
omnichannel presence and being able to
engage with them when and how they
want to. It’s having the choice on their
terms. Whereas the cautious clickers are
looking for that human interaction or a
single point of contact.
It’s really thinking about how you have
that point of engagement, particularly when
they’re at that decision-making stage of
their international student journey.
Photo: Lars Hagberg. Source:AFP
Campus Review asked Jacka how
Australia can better itself in the eyes of
international students, based on the
survey’s results.
CR: Where does Australia stand in relation
to comparable countries, and has this
changed over recent years?
LJ: Australia is perceived positively
across those five key drivers we look at:
affordability, quality of education, safety,
graduate employment opportunities, and
welcoming visa requirements.
We’ve seen little change since last year,
though Australia did move forward in terms
of being seen as more safe. While Australia
Overall, you found that people still prefer
to rely on personal recommendations as
opposed to random online reviews. How did
you come to that finding? Was that just part
of the survey?
It wasn’t really a preference of one over the
other. What we’re finding is that it’s more
about utilising all available channels. Yes,
they’re going online and they’re reading
reviews, but what we also find is in addition
to that, it’s that validation. That comes from
interactions.
There’s so much material online, and
they can access it in various ways, but they
also want to seek that validation through
a personal connection, whether that be
someone they know in the study country,
or other international students. They want
that trusted advice from someone they
know or people like them, someone who’s
also been through that experience.
One of the issues reported about Australia
was the difficulty in international students
gaining jobs. Is that something universities
can address, or is it more of a government
initiative?
It’s a whole-of-sector approach. Whether
it be an institution, city or on a national
level. We all need to work together to
ensure students have the opportunity to
work part-time.
They’re paying significant amounts of
money for tuition and living costs. Again,
it’s how we bring all those factors together.
It’s not easy. There’s no single answer.
Based on the results of this survey, are there
lessons Australian universities can learn?
At the end of the day, it’s an incredibly
competitive environment. We can’t
become complacent. We’ve still got to
promote brand Australia, making sure our
perceptions are still strong, that people
know us. Students are seeking a quality
education, but they’re also looking at
where their outcomes are, and whether
we’re preparing them for success in the
future world of working.
It really is about keeping up with students’
needs and making sure we stay ahead of
the game.
Is there anything you’d like to emphasise?
We know today’s students are digital
natives, and we think they may want to do
everything online, but we can’t lose sight
of the importance of human connection.
Choosing a university is a massive
decision that students and their families
We can’t become
complacent. We’ve still got
to promote brand Australia,
making sure ... that people
know us.
make, and they’re looking across
multiple channels to find and validate this
information, and to make that decision.
We must ensure that we provide, or we
have those channels available for them
to interact in the way that they want to,
whether it be offline or online. ■
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