Marketing Research of International Admission and Advising of Golden Gate University

Golden Gate UniversityInternational Admissions and Advising

International Student SurveyArevik Agadzhanyan Linda Campos-Allen

Piyanuch Kangwankijwanich April Tseng

Professor Jason Jacobson

Marketing Research

April 2013

Outline

About IAA

Management problem and research objectives

Methodology

Timeline

Exploratory research

Sample interview results

Survey results

Questions

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International Admissions and Advising - IAA

IAA: Works with students on F-1 and J-1 visas.

Recruits international students domestically.

Assists students with academic advising and other retention issues i.e., probation, academic advising and course scheduling.

Advises students on immigration related issues.

Helps students to integrate in the community.

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Management Problem and Research Objectives

IAA lacks knowledge about students’ satisfaction and perception of the International Admissions and Advising services.

Marketing Research Objectives: Learn overall student satisfaction over IAA office.

Learn what services matter most to students.

Determine unmet students’ needs.

Learn what communication tools students prefer when reaching International Advisors.

Learn about other communication tools used by students.

Learn about student participation in events organized by IAA.

Learn what is preventing students from participating in events organized by IAA.

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Methodology

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Step 1: Qualitative Research: In-depth Interviews

Objective: Listen to students’ insights about international students’ life and use insights to develop online survey.

Reason to use: - Convenient method for students due to time constraints

- Approachable method to get insight about students’ personal attitudes towards IAA.

Step 2: Quantitative Research: Online Survey

Objective: Gather data on a larger scale about students’ attitudes towards the IAA office, international students’ life, and students’ needs.

Reason to use: - Access to students’ database enable us to conveniently and rapidly deliver the survey to all international students. - Statistical tools provided by SurveyMonkey effectively gather data.

Timeline

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Exploratory Research

In-depth interviews Sample Selection: Collected qualitative data from

students from diverse backgrounds e.g. gender, age, nationality, major, etc.

Sample Size: Reached out to 10% of the international student population.

• We received 25 responses (via phone, in-person and e-mail).

Collection time: 1 week.

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Sample Interview Results

Post-graduation goals “Work as an event planner in San Francisco”.

“Work in the IT industry”.

“Work for an Investment Bank”.

Overall satisfaction Rapid responses.

“Kwoledgeble about issues important to international students”.

“Umm, I can say 7 out of 10”.

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Personal Information

Attitudes toward IAAActivity Participation

Sought Topics for International Events/Seminars:

OPT/CPT

Job fairs

Social events

Survey Results

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Attitudes toward IAA

Online Survey Information

International student survey was administered on SurveyMonkey.

Survey was e-mailed to all international students on March 1, 2013.

We surveyed to 444 students.

We received 92 responses.

Online survey closed on March 17, 2013.

Margin of error 9.11.

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Popularity of IAA Services among International Students

The International office provides the following services. List all the services that you have used. N=92

Most respondents have used the following services: academic advising, immigration advising, and admission information.

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Importance of IAA Services for International Students

Rate the importance of the following services. N=92

Immigration and academic

advising are the most

important services for

international students, while

community events are the

least important.

Reportedly, probation is one of the least important services. Presumably, very few international

students are on probation, and most have not used this service.

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International Students’ Satisfaction with IAA Services

Rate your satisfaction with the following activities. N=92

More than 70% of the students are satisfied with Immigration and Academic Advising. Only 2.2% of respondents

are extremely dissatisfied.

Less than 50% of the students are satisfied with Community events.

None of the respondents skipped this question.

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Reasons for not Using IAA Services

If you have not used any of these services, check all reasons why? N=92

More than one fourth of the students are not aware of all services provide by IAA. More than 20% of respondents

are very independent and find solutions to their queries without the assistance of IAA.

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Forms of Communication

Please check all the channels that you have used to contact your advisor. N=92

Email is the most popular way to communicate with advisors and receive information. Social media is the least popular communication method.

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Most Convenient Forms of Communication

Rate the following channels you feel are most convenient to communicate with your advisor. N=92

Emails, phone calls and in-person meetings are the most convenient forms of communication. Students do not want to communicate with advisors via social media sites.

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Most Convenient Days for Meeting with International Advisors

For an advising appointment what days are most convenient for you to meet your advisor. (check all that apply). N=92

Friday is the least convenient

day for the students to meet

with advisors.

Monday is somewhat more

convenient than any other day

of the week.

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Preferable Times for Advising Appointments

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Students prefer advising appointments between 2 – 4 pm.

For an advising appointment, what time is convenient for you to meet your advisor. (check all that apply). N=92

Reasons Preventing International Students from Contacting IAA

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International students seek advice from friends because advisors are perceived as busy and as providing confusing answers.

Some students are too busy to seek advise from the IAA office.22.4% have other unknown reasons why they do not seek advise from IAA office

If you do not contact your advisor frequently, what are the reasons why you don’t contact your advisor more often? (check all that apply). N=88, skipped=4

Survey Results

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Participation in IAA Activities

Event Participation

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Only 53% of students have participated in events organized by IAA

Within the past six months have you attended any events organized by IAA office? (i.e. Coffee Time, OPT/CPT Workshops, etc). N=88, skipped=4

Students’ Interest to Participate in Events Organized by IAA

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Most students want to participate in IAA’s events, however, only 53% do. Students are more interested in events where they can learn something new or something that would help them achieve their career and academic goals.

Rate how interested you are in participating in the following events. N=88, skipped=4

Participation Frequency for Events Sponsored by IAA

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29% of the international student population has never participated in events organized by IAA.

51% of students have participated at least once or twice per term in an event organized by IAA.

How often do you participate in events organized by IAA office? (please select only one answer). N=88, skipped=4

Diffusion Channels for Events

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Most students find out about events via e-mail.

Students are infrequently informed about events through advisors and social media.

How did you find out about these events? (check all that apply). N=88, skipped=4

Barriers Keeping Students from Joining IAA Events

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50.6% of students have not participated in events because they are too busy.

Check any barriers that are keeping you from joining IAA’s activities? (check all that apply). N=88, skipped=4

Social Media to PublicizeIAA Events

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Rate the importance of social media as a way of providing information about IAA events. N=88, skipped=4

Responses show that 58% of students think social media is an important

channel to publicize IAA events.

5 = Most important

1 = Least important

Expectations for IAA Events

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What other events and seminar topics do you wish to see from IAA? N=25, skipped=67

The majority of

respondents (59%) are

looking forward to

receive career advice

from IAA.

18% of respondents

wish to have life-

coaching events,

volunteer information,

and how to create a

social networking.

Important Elements for Student Activities

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Rate the importance of these elements for student activities. N=88, skipped=4

Presenters or panelists are the MOST important elements for international

students when deciding to participate in events.

Raffles and Music are not very important elements for international students,

when participating in events.

Other Event Elements Important to International Students

According to students’ responses, these are some other elements that are important to

them for school events:

“Hospitality of advisors.”

“Sports.”

“FUN!! Balloons. Make it a real party! Dim the

lights. Non-formal. Costumes! Music!”

“Attendance -- when the events only have a small number of people they are not very good

(especially social events).”

“Seminars/Presentations on job/careers.”

“Food and drinks are the most important.”

“Location…time…participants.”

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Please list any other elements that are important to you. N=24, skipped=68

Convenient Days for Participation in IAA Activities

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What days are convenient for you to participate in IAA activities? N=88, skipped=4

Thursday is somewhat a more convenient day to participate in events.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are equally convenient.

Convenient Times to Participate in IAA Events

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What time is convenient for you to participate in IAA activities? N=88, skipped=4

The most convenient time for students is from 1pm to 4pm.

Respondents are unlikely to participate in events that are scheduled

from 9 – 12 pm.

Preferable Length of Time for Events

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How long would you like the event to last? N=88, skipped=4

Responses show that the majority of respondents (51%) would like to join a

one hour activity  instead of  less than 1 hour or more than 1 hour.

Survey Results

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Demographics

Respondents are Generation Y

This generation prefers to communicate through e-mail and text messaging, rather than face-

to-face contact. They prefer webinars and online technology to traditional lecture-based

presentations.

What is your gender? N=84, skipped=8 ; How old are you? N=84, skipped=8

Majority of respondents are female, ages 24-29

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What country are you from? N=76 skipped=16

Respondents’ Nationality

The majority of respondents are from China and Taiwan, which reflects the current mix of international students at Golden Gate University. A large percent of students did not feel comfortable answering this question.

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What is your program? N=77, skipped=15

Respondents’ Programs of Study

Top 3 majors:

Finance 15% Accounting 13% Marketing 11%

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Nearly 40% of Students Have no Work Experience

Before you entered GGU, you were (please select only one). N=78, skipped=14

This generation of students study in the U.S. to practice English skills, experience business education in a world classroom, and find jobs in the U.S.

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Number of Trimesters Completed by Participants

New students need help with class registration.

On-going students need help with vacation terms, travel signatures, class registration, and general questions about I-20s.

Students approaching graduation need help with application for graduation, CPT/OPT, and information on how to obtain a Social Security number.

Students that have completed 0-1 terms at GGU are more willing to participate in events and contact international advisors.

How many terms have you already completed at GGU? N=87, skipped=5

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Over Half of Students Don’t Join GGU Activities

While at GGU, I completed the following activities (check all that apply). N=87, skipped=5

Students think that activities are interesting but they have too much schoolwork and they don’t have time to participate.

Students expressed a strong interest to work on-campus.

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Finding Jobs!a MUST after Graduation

What are your plans for the first two years after your graduation? (please select only one). N=87, skipped=5

Over 80% of respondents want to get a job after graduation, either in the U.S. or abroad.

Studying a master’s degree in the U.S. is perceived as a great investment. Students hope to improve their chances to get a better job (abroad or in the U.S.).

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Importance vs. Satisfaction

What is it?

We compared students responses in regards to satisfaction and importance for services offered by IAA.

Why we did this?

We wan to to know the gap between importance and satisfaction to identify what services need improvement and what services are over support.

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IAA Advising Services

In overall, students believe IAA services are important to student life (over 4.0). But most services do not reach the prefer importance/satisfaction level (below 4.0)

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Students are overly satisfied for community events.

Executive Summary

• Why to Conduct Survey – We surveyed international students to understand the attitudes towards IAA and to learn about unmet needs.

• In-depth Interviews - We used qualitative survey results

to learn students’ insights about IAA and to develop a quantitative survey.

• 92 Responses - We sent an online survey to 444

international students. We collected 92 responses over a period of three weeks.

• Career advising – Responses showed that many students want career assistance from the IAA office.

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Recommendations for IAA

Due to limited English skills, advisors should ensure that

students understand the information provided, they can do

so by asking questions about the information presented to

students.

IAA should work with the Office of Career Planning to

develop more career activities for international students.

IAA should help the Office of Career Planning to promote

career events target to international students, as this

department already offers events that are exclusively for

international students, and student participation is low.

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Recommendations for IAA

IAA should organize events that last one hour or less, as

students have busy school schedules and are unlikely to

participate on events that last more than one hour.

IAA should use social media to inform students about

available services.

Events should be organized between 1 pm and 4 pm.

Because many students have classes at 4 pm and

students in the PLUS program finish classes at 2:50 pm.

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Recommendations for IAA

IAA should inform students at the beginning of the term

about event programming. This will prevent students

from receiving multiple e-mails about events per term,

which in the long run may result in students’ ignoring e-

mails from advisors.

IAA should work with professors to increase event

participation, they should work with professors to make

some of the events as part of assignments, specially for

events that have guest speakers.

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Recommendations for IAA

IAA’s events should be held from Monday to Thursday;

not on Friday.

IAA should publish information about events on social

media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and

Instagram.

IAA should Invite panelists to events to motive students

to participate in activities.

IAA should provide food and drinks during events to

promote student participation.

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Thank you!

Questions

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