Measuring Return on Investment in International Student ...€¦ · Measuring Return on Investment in International Student Recruitment NAFSA Annual Conference, GS142, 3 June 2010

Measuring Return on Investment in International Student Recruitment

NAFSA Annual Conference, GS142, 3 June 2010 1

Measuring Return on Investment

in International Student Recruitment

Rahul Choudaha, World Education ServicesCheryl Darrup-Boychuck, USjournal.com, LLCRandall W. Martin, British Columbia Council for International Education

http://www.USjournal.com/en/educators/erecruit/10/ROI.xls

Return on Investment (ROI) = (Revenue-Investment)Investment

ROI (%)

0000Number of students recruited

$0$0$0$0Revenue (Net annual tuition/Student)

$0$0$0$0Revenue (Annual)

$0$0$0$0Advertising

$0$0$0$0Commissions / Marketing Fee

$0$0$0$0Registration Fee

$0$0$0$0Travel (Flight, accommodation, food)

$0$0$0$0Investment (Annual)

OtherAgentsOnline

PromotionInternational

FairRecruitment Channel Presenters

Rahul Choudaha, World Education Services

Cheryl Darrup-Boychuck,USjournal.com, LLC

Randall W. Martin, British Columbia Council

for International Education



Learning Objectives

• Measure the results of a promotional campaign designed to recruit international students

• Learn how other campuses measuretheir results

• Identify trends in measuring ROI in international student recruitment

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Generating inquiries * Generating ideas * [email protected]

Brief History of International Student Recruitment

• Then: No need for metrics

• Now: “Show me the numbers”

• Soon: Culture of Evidence will prevail


International Enrollment Management

• Nurture connections on campus

• Target particular countries and language markets

• Manage limited resources

• Take a deliberate and intentional approach

• ROI metrics potentiate IEM




• Some intangible aspects are not measurable • Difficulty in defining the scope• Complicated process• Raises expectations• Overlap of activities to isolate the effect

Challenges in Measuring ROIChallenges in Measuring ROI

9© 2009 World Education Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

But somebody measuredBut somebody measured……


Measuring ROI is Measuring ROI is notnot perfect scienceperfect science

√ HappinessX Height

“A set of observations that reduce uncertainty where the result is expressed as a quantity.”

Douglas W. Hubbard (2007) How to Measure Anything Brand Rank Brand value ($millions) Revenue Rank Revenue

($millions)

Coca-Cola 1 68,734 259 31,944

Shell 92 458,361 1 3,228

Measuring Brand ValueMeasuring Brand Value


All figures are for 2009




Source: www.InterBrand.com

• Exposure: – To what degree has the campaign created exposure to

your content and message?

• Engagement: – Who is interacting or engaging with your content? How

and where?

• Influence: – To what extent have exposure and engagement

influenced the attitudes of the target audience?

• Action: – As a result of the social media effort, what actions—if

any—has the target audience taken?

Social Media Communication ModelSocial Media Communication Model


Don Bartholomew (2009) Social Media ROI: Separating myth from methodologyhttp://www.iabc.com/cwb/archive/2009/1009/Bartholomew.htm


performance and ROI

consistently and diligently

scope and parameters

SummarySummary


Measure

Improve

Define

“It is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong.”Sunil Gupta & Donlad R. Lehmann in Managing Customers as Investments (2005)



How Institutional ROI Expectations Compare with those of Larger Jurisdictions

Abstracts and IntangiblesDifferent Vantage Points

* from the street level* from the bird’s eye

Streamlining efforts: Collaboration vs. Individual Efforts

In praise of intangiblesAssessing benefits

Abstracts and Intangibles

ROI assessments are made by everyone: students, offices, institutions, the state, society at large

The forest and the trees - the closer you are to the action, the more attention you pay to the details

Immediacy of institutional analysis and expectations

Less immediacy and longer term from the state

Different Vantages:Street-level ROI

Investment in education is experienced differently by students, educators and institutions, governments and society at large

There are important reasons that front line offices and institutions need to care about ROI

They have concrete and immediate rationale, concerns and risks

Another Vantage:A Bird’s Eye View

The state also cares about ROI

More abstract and longer term rationale

Concerns and risks both immediate and longer term



Streamlining Efforts

Governments tend to want to ‘collectivize’ efforts

Institutions tend to want to ‘individualize’ efforts

Why listen to the state?

In praise of intangibles

Intangibles are fundamental …More and better access at home and abroad Larger supply of pooled resources Complements market intelligence Consolidates the sectorMore global impact

Assessing Benefits

The state will push its agenda.The institution will push its agenda.

And so …

How to assess the benefits of the investment?What factors to use?How to assess the benefits of collaboration?

And so …

• http://www.nafsa.org/MRforums

• Rahul Choudaha, [email protected]

• Cheryl Darrup-Boychuck, [email protected]

• Randall W. Martin, [email protected]

Questions and Answers / Share your Case Studies / Continue the Conversation



• NAFSA’s Guide to International Student Recruitment, 2nd Edition, Chapter 3.5: “Measuring Results”http://www.nafsa.org/interactive/core/orders/product.aspx?catid=5&prodid=187

• NACAC (National Association of College Admissions Counselors), creators of the annual State of Admissions: http://www.nacacnet.org/

• Interbrand Corporation: Global Branding Consultancy and Research Firm: http://www.interbrand.com/

• The BrandBuider Blog: http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/

Additional Resources• Don Bartholomew (2009) Social Media ROI:

Separating Myth from Methodology http://www.iabc.com/cwb/archive/2009/1009/Bartholomew.htm

• Lawrence A. Crosby (2009, May/June). Getting Serious About Marketing ROI, Marketing Management, 18(3), pp. 10-11.http://www.marketingpower.com/

• James Lenskold (2003). Marketing ROI: The Path to Campaign, Customer, and Corporate Profitability. McGraw-Hill.http://www.mhprofessional.com/product.php?search_crawl=true&isbn=0071413634

Additional Resources (cont)

• OECD Education and Economic Indicators http://www.oecd.org/document/30/0,3343,en_2649_39263238_39251550_1_1_1_1,00.html#summary

• Economic Impact of International Education in Canada (Kunin Report)http://www.international.gc.ca/education/assets/pdfs/RKA_IntEd_Report_eng.pdf

• Branding a Country - Canada Brand Managementhttp://imagine.cmec.ca/en/

• Best Practices on Managing the Delivery of Canadian Education Marketing (Guhr Report)http://www.international.gc.ca/education/practices-pratiques.aspx?lang=eng

Additional Resources (cont)

Measuring Return on Investment in International Student ...€¦ · Measuring Return on Investment in International Student Recruitment NAFSA Annual Conference, GS142, 3 June 2010

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