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STUDENT SEGMENTATION FOR MASTER’S DEGREE-SEEKING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS Rahul Choudaha, PhD, Director of Research & Strategic Development (rahul@wes.org) Paul Schulmann, Research Associate (pschulma@wes.org) Li Chang, Research Associate (lchang@wes.org) World Education Services, New York (wes.org/ras)
International graduate enrollment is becoming increasingly complex and competitive in an environment of changing student profiles and mobility patterns. According to the Council of Graduate Schools, the overall growth in the number of applications from international students for fall 2013 was 2 percent as compared to 9 percent in 2012 and 11 percent in 2011. Even more disturbing is the fact that the number of applications from China, the primary driver of growth for many schools, witnessed a decline of 3 percent. In this context, it is important for international graduate enrollment professionals to stay ahead of the trends, better understand their prospective students and develop strategies that align with student needs.
High Low
Financial Resources
Through segmentation, institutions can divide international graduate student populations into identifiable categories
based on common characteristics. This process provides insight into the behaviors and preferences of these groups, and gives guidance to international enrollment professionals on how to optimize the effectiveness of their outreach efforts.
students which differ in terms of how they seek information on studying in the United States and what information they seek. The four segments are:
A recent research report, “Student Segmentation for an Effective International Enrollment Strategy,” published by World Education Services applies the principles of segmentation for international enrollment management (visit wes.org/ras for full report). Based on a survey of nearly 2,100 prospective international students applying for master’s degree programs in the U.S., we used segmentation to group graduate students by academic preparedness and financial resources and analyzed differences in student profiles along these proxies.
Strugglers: Students with low financial resources and low academic preparedness
Based on the segmentation, we identified four segments of international
Strivers: Students with low financial resources and high academic preparedness
Highfliers: Students with high financial resources and high academic preparedness Explorers: Students with high financial resources and low academic preparedness
Explorers Explorers constitute 24 percent of master’s degree applicants, and are characterized by their high financial resources, and lower academic preparedness. Seventy-eight percent of
EXPLORERS 24%
HIGHFLIERS 33%
STRUGGLERS 15%
STRIVERS 28%
Low
High Academic Preparedness
Figure 1. Segments of Master’s Degree-Seeking International Students continued on the next page ................. ................. ................. ................. ................. .................
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