American University in the Emirates’ Student Recruitment Report

Summary of Project

For this project, 16 people working in the AUE in the fields of administration and education were interviewed to gather the information about AUE student recruitment policies and possibilities. The interviews show that the key competitive advantages of the University include its friendly environment, affordability, and flexible schedules among with many other positive features. The advantages can be demonstrated to the undergraduates through social media. It is also proposed to reach the graduates through the Alumni Department.

Introduction

For this project, the focus group of 16 people who have been working in the AUE for a prolonged time have been interviewed to glean information concerning the AUE student recruitments policies and possibilities. The interviews were meant to gather the data concerning the following outcomes:

1. To find out what media of advertising is especially successful in promoting the AUE.
2. To discover the specifics of the AUE student recruitment strategy.
3. To discover the competitive advantage of the AUE.
4. To find out the opportunities of the AUE in the field of student recruitment.

Participant Demographics

Of the 16 people who have been interviewed:

• 5 people have been working at AUE for three months;
• 2 people spent there between 2 and 3 years;
• 9 people have been working there for 3 years or more.

In relation to their occupation:

• 4 respondents have been working in the division of registration, 1 in the call center department, 1 in the student affairs division.
• 3 respondents are from the Administration.
• 7 respondents are teaching in the fields of business administration, computer technology, and diplomacy.
• 8 respondents have never participated in AUE student recruitment.
• 8 respondents participated by: by inviting students from a Dubai school (1 person), presenting the University programs at schools (1), and other activities (6).
• 4 respondents worked at another university before AUE,
• 1 respondent participated in student recruitment for another university.

Worker Perspectives

Outcome 1: What Source of Information Promotes AUE More Efficiently?

10 of the interviewees learnt about AUE through the Internet. 3 of them learnt about it through the LinkedIn site.

One of the interviewees learnt about AUE during a conference, two learnt about it with the help of printed media, four were told about AUE by friends.

The sample is too small to make suggestions about the best way of advertising, but the tendency of the Internet providing much information is visible.

Outcome 2: The Specifics of AUE Recruitment Strategy

2 of the respondents who had been working at another university agreed to compare the recruitment policies. One of them used to work at American University in Sharjah and states that the policies of the two universities are similar. The other one believes that the strategy in AUE has been changing to the best, but does not provide much detail: “I’m glad to see the changes that happened recently in the AUE as I was a part of it.”

In respect to the current university strategy, the respondents mentioned the university events: all of them believe that the events are a useful recruitment tool.

Outcome 3: Competitive Advantage of AUE

The respondents believe that the main benefits of the AUE include:

• friendly environment: “the administration listens to the students and solves their problems” (6);
• affordability (5);
• flexible schedules (4);
• extra activities (3).
• the American style of the University (2);
• the emphasis on practice (2);
• excellent teaching (2);
• the quality of service (2);
• innovativeness: “a new vision, new approach” (2);
• good student-faculty ratio (2).

These suggestions are mirrored by the suggested competitive advantages of AUE that include friendly environment (4), the quality of service (4), the brand name (2), the emphasis on practice (2), and the flexible schedules (2) along with fast growth (2), the American style, affordability, and innovativeness.

Outcome 4: Recruitment Plans and Possibilities

5 of the respondents believe that the faculty members can take an active role in student recruitment. The possible actions include informative (5 persons) and supportive (2 persons) functions.

The respondents suggested that the following factors attract new students to any university:

• knowledge (5);
• career building (5);
• friendly environment (4);
• service quality (4);
• the brand (2);
• financial incentives, for example, discounts (2).

Concerning the best marketing plan for AUE recruitment purposes, the respondents suggested using the social media (6) and the word of mouth (3).

10 of the respondents suggested that the best way of reaching undergraduates is visiting schools; 5 of them mentioned social media as a tool for the same purpose. Only one of the respondents suggested reaching student’s parents.

To reach graduate students, the respondents suggested:

• contacting them via the Alumni Department (7);
• advertising through media (5);
• visiting workplaces or gatherings (4);
• using word of mouth (2).

The respondents also mentioned the need for a first-class service that would speak for itself.

Recommendations

The opinion of the AUE employees concerning the university can be considered trustworthy. From their responses, it appears that there are no obvious difficulties in the field of AUE recruitment strategy, but there is always room for improvement. Summarizing the answers of the respondents, it can be suggested to:

• maintain the friendly environment (along with other competitive advantages);
• emphasize the maintenance of the quality of the service;
• promote the advantages primarily with the help of new technologies and social media while taking into account other advertising types;
• reach undergraduates by visiting schools;
• reach graduates with the help of the Alumni Department.
• target the students themselves, not their parents.