Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Student recruitment strategies in higher education: promoting excellence and diversity?

Student recruitment strategies in higher education: promoting excellence and diversity? Purpose – This paper seeks to analyse how excellence and diversity are addressed in student recruitment strategies, and how these strategies are developed in eight Norwegian higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilises a theoretical perspective that asserts that strategy is developed through practice. The authors have combined document analysis with qualitative interviews to investigate the development of institutional student recruitment strategies, their characteristics and their links to the individual institution's profile and ambitions. Findings – The study reveals that student recruitment strategies are often grounded in inherent institutional identities, while at the same time responding to external ideas about excellence and diversity. The study also finds that higher education institutions show significant creativity in trying to adapt to these ideas and general trends, while at the same time maintaining their own characteristics and traditions. Findings suggest that student recruitment strategies are also used for accountability purposes. Given the importance of student recruitment, many higher education institutions attach surprisingly little importance to this issue. Research limitations/implications – The study encompasses only a small number of institutions in a single country, limiting the possibility of generalising aspects of the profile and content of the student recruitment strategies. Nevertheless, the analysis indicates that the processes associated with the development of student recruitment strategies are quite similar, with more emphasis on specific quantitative analytical schemes and less emphasis on other ways of organising strategy development. Originality/value – The paper reveals the importance of placing greater focus on the ways in which strategic processes are organised and identifying the potential for improving the creative organisation of the strategising process. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Educational Management Emerald Publishing

Student recruitment strategies in higher education: promoting excellence and diversity?

Download PDF
12 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/student-recruitment-strategies-in-higher-education-promoting-CsVP0UFT2M
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0951-354X
DOI
10.1108/09513541011045281
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – This paper seeks to analyse how excellence and diversity are addressed in student recruitment strategies, and how these strategies are developed in eight Norwegian higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilises a theoretical perspective that asserts that strategy is developed through practice. The authors have combined document analysis with qualitative interviews to investigate the development of institutional student recruitment strategies, their characteristics and their links to the individual institution's profile and ambitions. Findings – The study reveals that student recruitment strategies are often grounded in inherent institutional identities, while at the same time responding to external ideas about excellence and diversity. The study also finds that higher education institutions show significant creativity in trying to adapt to these ideas and general trends, while at the same time maintaining their own characteristics and traditions. Findings suggest that student recruitment strategies are also used for accountability purposes. Given the importance of student recruitment, many higher education institutions attach surprisingly little importance to this issue. Research limitations/implications – The study encompasses only a small number of institutions in a single country, limiting the possibility of generalising aspects of the profile and content of the student recruitment strategies. Nevertheless, the analysis indicates that the processes associated with the development of student recruitment strategies are quite similar, with more emphasis on specific quantitative analytical schemes and less emphasis on other ways of organising strategy development. Originality/value – The paper reveals the importance of placing greater focus on the ways in which strategic processes are organised and identifying the potential for improving the creative organisation of the strategising process.

Journal

International Journal of Educational Management – Emerald Publishing

Published: May 18, 2010

Keywords: Students; Higher education; Universities; Recruitment; Norway

References

  • Access to higher education in the Nordic countries
    Aamodt, P.O.; Kyvik, S.
  • Organisational climate and strategic change in higher education. Organisational insecurity
    Allen, D.K.
  • Effects of age at entry, knowledge intensity and imitability on organisational growth
    Autio, E.; Sapienza, H.J.; Ameida, J.G.
  • Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage
    Barney, J.
  • Information and source preferences of student market in higher education
    Bonnema, J.; van der Waldt, D.L.R.
  • Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise
    Chandler, A.D.J.
  • Renewing the civic mission of the American research university
    Checkoway, B.
  • The Higher Education System: Academic Organization in a Cross‐national Perspective
    Clark, B.
  • Fra modernitet til tradisjon? Styring og organisering av virksomheten ved Universitetet i Tromsø
    Dahl, J.; Stensaker, B.
  • Implementation of new public management in Norwegian universities
    Frølich, N.