North American universities need to target their messages to tailored audiences if they hope to draw prospective Chinese learners
Targeted and culturally appropriate messaging is vital if North American institutions want to attract Chinese students to their universities, according to participants in a recent Times Higher Education webinar in partnership with digital marketing platform Sinorbis.
Ensuring that communications “hit the right target with the right messages in the right tone” has been integral to Western University’s success in increasing its volume of Chinese students, said Carolyn Ford, director of international undergraduate recruitment at the Canadian institution.
With its population of 1.2 billion people, China is a major source of international students for universities, but institutions often struggle to identify and engage with prospective students. Institutions require an online and social media presence and continuous investment in engagement, explained Sinorbis CEO Nicolas Chu.
“Unless you do something to drive demand and traffic to your website, it is as if you have a billboard in the middle of nowhere,” Chu said. “You don’t have to buy a lot of media and spend a lot of money to start engaging, but you do need to have activities to drive demand and traffic to grow your base in China.”
He said that university alumni are often an institution’s best “influencers”. “You can leverage your base, you can leverage your current students, you can leverage your alumni.”
The University of Notre Dame in the US uses Chinese messaging app WeChat extensively to engage with different target audiences, from prospective and current students to guidance counsellors and parents’ groups, according to Michael Pippenger, vice-president and associate provost for internationalisation at the university.
“All of these things have allowed us to get to know our constituents better and also to be responsive to their needs,” said Pippenger. “It’s not just about storytelling [and telling the story of the institution], but also about being responsive to their needs because we’re learning what kinds of things they need in real time.”
Responsiveness is essential when looking to engage with prospective and current students, the panellists agreed. During the pandemic, with its changing lockdown regulations and visa requirements, students have been desperate for timely information. For prospective students and their parents, universities that respond quickly to queries and their needs are increasingly attractive. “[They] feel part of a community, and that [their] voice is heard,” Pippenger said.
It takes up to two years for a prospective Chinese student to choose a foreign university, Chu said. For students from countries other than China, they may have up to five “touchpoints” with the university, which are points at which they engage with the institution, including online. For Chinese students, this can be up to eight.
The University of San Francisco is currently identifying all the possible touchpoints that prospective Chinese students have with the university to bolster engagement and attract new students, said Shari Wilson, the university’s senior director of international admissions for China.
To improve these different points of engagement, the institution, through a partnership with Sinorbis, is creating a Chinese website, as well as developing its WeChat digital marketing.
“We knew that we wanted to be more strategic, more intentional, and really reach a wider audience in China,” said Wilson.
The panel:
- Nicolas Chu, CEO, Sinorbis
- Carolyn Ford, director of international undergraduate recruitment, Western University
- Alistair Lawrence, special projects editor, Times Higher Education (chair)
- Michael Pippenger, vice-president and associate provost for internationalisation, University of Notre Dame
- Shari Wilson, senior director of international admission, China, University of San Francisco
Watch the session on demand above or on the THE Connect YouTube channel.
Find out more about Sinorbis.
