Building a Sector Reputation: The Strategic Communication of National Higher Education

Figures & data

Table 1. Countries represented in the sample.

Africa	America	Asia and the Pacific	Europe
South Africa	Canada, USA	Australia, China, Hong Kong,^2 Japan, Singapore, South Korea	Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK

Table 2. Informative and argumentative presentations.

Informative descriptions	Argumentative promotion
Italian higher education is structured in a binary system, consisting of two main articulations: - the university sector - the nonuniversity sector.	In fact, eight of Australia’s universities feature in the top 100 ranked universities in the world in the latest QS ranking (2014–15). And, if you have a specific study area of interest, there is every chance Australia has you covered, with at least three Australian universities in the top 50 worldwide across the study areas of Arts and Humanities, Engineering and Technologies, Natural Sciences, Life Sciences and Medicine and Social Sciences and Management.
Foreign students can enrol in one of five types of institutions of higher learning: Universities (undergraduate courses), graduate schools, junior colleges, professional training colleges (postsecondary courses) and colleges of technology. Furthermore, various types of Japanese language schools are available for those who want to study Japanese in Japan.	Ireland’s longstanding reputation for high quality education is built on a solid foundation of commitment to excellence. Today we have one of the best education systems in the world and an internationally renowned reputation for academic quality.
According to relevant Chinese laws, international students studying in China are forbidden to be employed, and work-study opportunity is relatively small. So, self-financed international students should make the financial preparation before arriving in China.	The entire Swedish higher education system is ranked as one of the best in the world, and several Swedish universities are ranked by the Times Higher Education and the Academic Ranking of World Universities as being among the world’s top seats of learning. In Sweden you’ll find a strong focus on rationality, reason and applying knowledge so that it makes a real difference. Look no further than the Nobel Prize, the world’s most coveted and prestigious academic distinction, for an illustration of the Swedish approach.

¹Hong Kong is an autonomous territory on the southern coast of China, defined as a “Special Autonomous Region.” However, on the THES list, it is treated as a country; therefore, it is also included in our sample.