Recruitment and mobility of international students: spotlight on a Chinese university

ABSTRACT

Globally, international student recruitment has been one of the main features of higher education internationalisation. Institutions, therefore, continue to devise strategies to attract and recruit international students. Within a globalisation discourse, the current study explores strategies utilised in recruiting international students at a Chinese institution – Southwest University. Data analysis of the university’s admission brochures, web pages and semi-structured interviews, reveal scholarships, English-taught programmes, digital channels, university collaboration and student advocacy as main recruitment strategies. Influenced by globalisation and government-led efforts, institutions worldwide are increasingly employing similar strategies at varying emphasis to drive international student recruitment. While globalisation continues to wield significant influence on international student recruitment and mobility, its influence relies greatly on the involvement of governments and higher education institutions. Ultimately, institutions must specifically define their target market, and understand how international students make choices about where and what to study.

KEYWORDS:

• International higher education
• recruitment strategy
• student mobility
• globalisation
• China

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Southwest University, particularly the interviewees, for their valuable insights. We would also like to acknowledge the helpful suggestions from the anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).