Marketing and recruitment strategies used by regional Australian universities in Thailand: a mixed methods study investigating their influence on Thai students’ decision to enrol

Marketing and recruitment strategies used by regional Australian universities in Thailand: a mixed methods study investigating their influence on Thai students’ decision to enrol

This thesis addresses the research problem of how regional Australian universities can develop marketing and recruitment strategies to influence Thai students’ decision to enrol. It shifts attention from large metropolitan universities, which are the focus in the existing literature, to the perspective of regional universities with regard to examining international student recruitment. Unlike previous research that emphasises high-volume source markets like India and China, this study investigates student recruitment within an emerging source market by using Thailand as a prime example. Utilising a mixed methods, exploratory approach, the study investigated regional universities’ marketing and recruitment strategies in Thailand, and then it examined how these strategies influenced enrolment decisions. The first qualitative phase involved interviews with recruitment practitioners employed by regional universities, which uncovered the strategies used by regional universities in Thailand. Predominantly, it highlighted their prioritisation of short-term recruitment outcomes, due to resource limitations and pressures from senior management. The second phase then involved the completion of a survey that was distributed to Thai students and recent alumni of regional universities, which gauged their opinion on how regional universities’ strategies influenced their decision to enrol. Notably, it was discovered that respondents viewed regional universities’ marketing and recruitment efforts in Thailand as sub-optimal. These findings were later analysed using factor analysis, which uncovered underlying factors of influence, such as education agent relationships, university reputation and country-specific marketing resources. By incorporating these overall findings, this thesis provides recommendations and a framework for regional universities seeking to optimise marketing and recruitment strategies in Thailand. The research enriches our understanding of student recruitment dynamics and the interplay between short-term goals and long-term sustainability within regional universities’ international student recruitment operations.

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