Dubai is among one of the most favourable places to recruit students because of its strong emphasis on foreign education as a way to fuel its growing nation.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

International student recruitment is a must to breathe new life into university campuses. Foreign students bring diversity and a global perspective to education, which reflects the changing business world. Dubai is among one of the most favourable places to recruit students because of its strong emphasis on foreign education as a way to fuel its growing nation. When targeting Dubai, it is important to consider the relationship between nationals and non-nationals as well as gender differences resulting from the culture and religion. Recruitment efforts have become increasingly difficult due to fierce competition from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Unlike Canada, these countries have government funding and support, which allow them to provide scholarships targeted specifically to the UAE, university fairs and tours, customized service and rapid application processing. Although JMSB’s AACSB accreditation, low teacher/student ration, and strong presence in the Middle-Eastern community make it a strong contender on the world stage, JMSB faces several problems in communicating these advantages. The main problems, which have been identified in Concordia’s past and current recruitment efforts include the lack of communication with educational advisors in Dubai, difficulty in providing information to students in a timely manner, lack of education information services at the Canadian embassy in Dubai, and poor assistance on the part of Concordia and JMSB in the foreign student integration process.  To mend these problems, JMSB must reassess its efforts and find ways to improve problem areas that are uncommon to its major competitors.  Fostering a closer relationship with Dubai advisors, installing JMSB online chat rooms specifically for foreign students, sending more JMSB representatives to Dubai during application season, and implementing an assistance program to ease the integration process have been recommended to refresh JMSB’s recruitment strategies.


CONTENTS

  1. Executive Summary                                                                II

  1. Introduction                                                                        1                                                        
  2. International Business                                                        2
  • What is international business in respect to education?                        2
  • Why should JMSB consider doing international business?                 2

3.  Dubai                                                                                5

  • Why does Dubai, a country that is rich culturally and very intelligent, encourage its people to seek Higher Education internationally?                5
  • How does citizenship and gender play a role in determining

where the students will study?                                                7

4. Government                                                                        9

  • Why is it important for the Quebec government to support

international recruitment?                                                        9

  • What are the government’s past and current efforts to help

universities enrol foreign students?                                        9

  1. Competition                                                                         12
  • Who are JMSB’s main competitors?                                        12
  • What are the competition’s recruitment strategies?                        14

  • Do these institutions have a competitive advantage over JMSB?        14

  • What are JMSB’s competitive advantages?                                16

  1. Past and Current Recruitment Efforts                                        17
  • In the past, what methods has JMSB employed to recruit students

from Dubai?                                                                17

  • What are JMSB’s current recruitment procedures and the drawbacks

associated with these methods?                                                17

  • What are the communication barriers that may put JMSB at risk of

 loosing potential candidates?                                                19

  1. Recommendations                                                                21

  1. Bibliography                                                                        26

  1. Appendix I                                                                        ii

  1.  Appendix II                                                                        iv

  1.  Appendix III                                                                        viii

  1. Appendix IV                                                                        x

  1. Appendix V                                                                        xiii

INTRODUCTION

Globalization has affected the world over, driving organizations to reevaluate their business strategies in order to maintain their competitive edge.  In keeping with this trend, educational institutions must also adapt to a constantly evolving international business environment.  Students around the World are showing an increasing interest in studying abroad. As other universities, Concordia’s John Molson School of Business has been participating in this globalization movement by establishing its own international recruitment efforts.

Foreign governments have also been actively encouraging their students to pursue higher education elsewhere in order to bring home new competitive knowledge.  One of these countries is Dubai; a constituent of the United Arab Emirates.  Due to its extremely wealthy economy and strong emphasis on the importance of knowledge and education, Dubai is probably one of JMSB’s most ideal current targets.  As the global market evolves, JMSB must look to new, innovative ways to attract the students of Dubai.

After extensive research from government publications, surveys, and in-depth interviews with students, as well as interviews with recruitment and University international student specialists, there is no doubt that Dubai presents a great opportunity for JMSB.  However, findings have also shown that much needs to be done to improve the school’s recruitment strategies in order to compete effectively.

The following report shall discuss the importance of international business within the educational system, as well as facts about Dubai culture and politics relating to recruitment opportunities and threats.  Government limitations, current competition, as well as past and current recruitment efforts will also be examined in order to identify some of the strengths and flaws of JMSB’s strategies.  Finally, we will explore some of JMSB’s most significant recruitment problems and outline various recommendations that JMSB should consider in dealing with these problems.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

  • What is international business in respect to education?

  • Why should JMSB consider doing international business?

What is international business in respect to education?

According to Jane Knight of the University of Toronto, “Internalization of higher education is the process of integrating an international/intercultural dimension into teaching, research and service of the institution”.

Why should JMSB consider doing international business?

There are many reasons why it is imperative that JMSB internationalize their campuses.

1.  Proactive reasons:

  • Acquiring international students is a key step in improving the quality of the education available at JMSB. These students promote classroom diversity as well as the international exchange of know-how such as different values, scholastic traditions and methodology, which can be incorporated into the curriculum and help it evolve.

  • It also reinforces Concordia’s “Real Education for the Real World” mandate by making students adapt early on to different cultures and viewpoints, become accustomed to the effects of globalization, allowing them to make contacts the world over and prepare them for the business world which - like it or not, is international.

  • By recruiting abroad, Concordia is doing their part for the economy. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, in 2000, international students contributed some $3.5 billion to the Canadian economy by investing in housing, furniture, electricity, computers, textbooks, food, restaurants, clothing, etc.

  • International student recruitment also serves to “brand” Canada, Montreal, Concordia and JMSB when they return back home.

2. Reactive reasons:

  • The new trend of studying abroad does not exclude Canada. Many years ago, Concordia’s competition was only McGill, then it extended to include all Canadian schools, later American schools became a threat, finally nowadays Concordia is competing internationally for Canadian students as well as foreign students.    

  • There were 42,000 international students in Canada in 2000, up 30% since 1998 and the numbers are still growing.  In Quebec only, there are currently 14,000 foreign students and 11,000 students from other Canadian provinces.  This is a trend that Concordia cannot ignore. If they do not focus their resources on recruitment abroad, other schools will invade this market, rendering Concordia’s business model obsolete.

  • Education is a service that may be plotted on the product life cycle; if Concordia does not continue to innovate and redefine itself it will lose students and begin to fade out of people’s minds. Figure 1 illustrates the weakening effects of the government price ceiling and subsequent importance of international recruitment efforts.  As in the life cycle of any product, the price ceiling (curve 1) implemented by the government made education more affordable, resulting in a growth spur that is on the verge of declining. Curve 2 shows how efforts in international recruitment are necessary to maintain growth trends.
Figure 1


DUBAI

  • Why does Dubai, a country that is rich culturally and very intelligent, encourage its people to seek Higher Education internationally?

 

  • How does citizenship and gender play a role in determining where the students will study?

Why does Dubai encourage its people to seek Higher Education internationally?

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Dubai offers an excellent quality of life as well as a welcoming and safe place to live. The relatively low cost of living is complemented by a delightfully multicultural and open-minded environment, which allows free practice of religion. So why do many students leave this wonderful country and seek post-secondary education elsewhere?

  1. To replace expatriate jobs with nationals

Since 1971, Dubai is the second largest of the seven emirates that form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As the center for international commerce and tourism, it has become the most populous city in the UAE. An ...

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