Strategic Impact of Benchmarking University International Operations 1400 HMR3 Olsen.pdf · ·...

Strategic Impact of Benchmarking

University International Operations

Stephen ConnellyAlan Olsen

Aims

Two aims• Present high level findings from the Australian Universities’ International Directors’ Forum benchmarking study

• Examine impact of the annual benchmarking study on the operational activities and strategic planning of International Offices

Operations and Planning• What international offices need to do in

order to fulfill the (self-imposed) reporting requirements of benchmarking

• What systems they use • What the implications are of the recording

and reporting activities undertaken. • How the results of the benchmarking are

used in planning processes

History

• Dr Irene Irvine AIEF 1997

• Professor Tony Adams CANDIP 1999

• McKinnon Walker Davis DEST 2000

• VUI/VIDC 2000

• AUIDF 2002 and 2003

Methodology

• La Trobe International Programs Office

• Six other Australian universities

• Banks Consulting

Benchmarking 2004• International Office costs• Staffing of marketing and admissions• Admissions policies, procedures and quotas• International student services• International student mobility• Costs of recruiting for key source countries• Conversion rates• Structure of International Offices

Benchmarking 2004

• International students in higher education on campus in Australia

• Data 2003

• 34 universities

Sample Sizes• 34 universities with 94% of the market for commencing international students in higher education on campus in Australia

• 21 universities costs by key source countries

• 13 universities costs in Australia as a source country

• 17 universities recruitment channels

International Office Costs

• 31 universities • International Office costs and income from international on-campus student fees

• Including commissions, costs as a proportion of international student fee income in 2003 aggregated to 11.1% of income, up from 10.7% in 2002.

Cost including Commissions

14.9%13.5%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Statistics 101

Cost including commissions

• The aggregate figure of 11.1%

• The average figure of 14.9%

• The median figure of 13.5%

Size of International Student Program and International Office Costs

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

$0 $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 $120 $140Revenue $ million

Cos

t inc

l Com

mis

sion

s

Staffing of Marketing

• Across Australia, it takes 3.5 marketing staff to achieve 1,000 commencements

• 288.5 commencements per year

• a little more than one commencement per day

Staffing of Admissions• Across Australia, it takes 4.8 admissions staff to achieve 1,000 commencements, down a fraction from 5.0 in 2002

• a slight improvement• 209.4 commencements per year, up a little from 201.7 in 2002

• a little fewer than one commencement per day

Admissions Staff per 1,000 Commencements

4.9 6.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Admissions Policies, Procedures, Quotas

• 17 universities have policies to impose application fees

• 27% of revenue

• application fees waived in 73% of cases?

Quotas

• 20 universities• Not widespread• Medicine etc• Creative and Performing Arts• 4 universities quotas in Business• 2 universities quotas in IT

International Student Services

• 34 universities • 226.1 (fte) student advisers and other support staff

• 124,846 international students• 552.2 students per staff member• 1.81 staff members per 1,000 international students

International Student Services Caseloads

3.02.0

0 5 10 15 20

Size of International Student Program and Student Services Staff

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000International Students

Stud

ents

per

Sta

ff M

embe

r

International Student Mobility

• 30 universities • 56.65 (fte) staff • 7,461 exchanges (incoming exchanges plus outgoing exchanges)

• 131.7 exchanges (incoming exchanges plus outgoing exchanges) per staff member

• 0.8 staff members per 100 exchanges

International Student Mobility Caseloads

1.20.7

0 2 4 6 8 10

Size of International Exchange Program and Exchange Staff

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800Exchange Students

Exch

ange

Stu

deht

s per

Sta

ff Me

mbe

r

Broader Mobility• Exchanges• Study abroad • Study tours • International study as part of Australian

degree• International research as part of Australian

degree • Internship• Language Proficiency Tour

Broader Mobility• 5,830 non-international students undertook an international study experience in 2003

• 85,917 completing non-international undergraduates in 2002.

• 6.8% of non-international students in Australian universities undergo an international study experience during the course of their studies

International Study Experiences

6.0%3.7%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

Costs of Recruiting: Key Source Countries

• Fixed costs: salaries, publications, scholarships

• Variable costs: commissions, travel, accommodation, exhibitions, advertising, courier/freight

• Marginal costs

Costs of Recruiting: Key Source Countries

• 31 countries• 21 universities • 45,302 international students • Marginal cost of $934, up from $895 in 2002

• Commission of $640, up from $593 in 2002

Cost and Yield: Marginal Cost and Number of Commencements

ZimbabweSri Lanka

Vietnam

Taiwan

Sth KoreaUK

Pakistan

Sweden

Norway

Thailand

Nepal

Singapore

Malaysia

USA

FranceHong Kong

Germany

Kenya

Fiji

Botswana

Brunei

India

Canada

Bangladesh

AustraliaJapan

Indonesia China

Sth AfricaMauritius

$0

$200

$400

$600

$800

$1,000

$1,200

$1,400

$1,600

$1,800

$2,000

0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000

Conversion: Applications to Commencements

• 31 universities, 236,273 applications, 161,925 offers, 55,655 starts

• 68.5% of applicants received an offer, 34.4% of those who received an offer commenced, 23.6% of applicants commenced.

• 23.6% 2003, down from 25.0% 2002 • 4.2 applications to get a starter, up from 4.0 a year earlier

All Levels: Starts/Applications %

24.6%23.6%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Recruitment Channels

0.5%

5.5%

23.9%8.1%

9.0%

11.3%17.6%

24.0%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%In Oz Twinning

In Oz No Agent

In Oz Agent Not IDP

In Oz IDP

OS Twinning

OS No Agent

OS Agent Not IDP

OS IDP

Conversion Rates

26.7%

29.4%

67.1%

18.6%

23.3%

23.0%

56.8%

29.3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%In Oz Twinning

In Oz No Agent

In Oz Agent Not IDP

In Oz IDP

OS Twinning

OS No Agent

OS Agent Not IDP

OS IDP

The Structure of International Offices

• In 22 of 33 universities, International Office responsible for marketing and admissions and student support, at least in the first instance

• In 20 of 33 universities, International Office responsible for marketing and admissions and student support, at least in the first instance, plus education abroad

2004

• Group of 8

• ATN

• IRUA

• Ad Hoc Group

What Does It Mean for an International Office?

• Source countries (as distinct from citizenship), with Australia a key source country

• Recruitment costs per country

• Channels of recruitment – via agents, direct applications, feeder programs etc

What Does It Mean at La Trobe IPO?

Systems at La Trobe and other Australian universities

• Finance System

• International Student System

The Finance System

• 13 of 34 participants in the 2003 benchmarking study were unable to report costs by key source country

• Collection of expenditure data on a country basis is becoming standard business practice in International Offices

The Finance System• Gap between data recording and reporting mechanisms in place in universities, and the business needs of international offices

• Tension between institutional mantra about integrated whole-of-institution systems and the needs of business units such as international offices

The International Student System

• Only half the universities participating in the 2003 benchmarking exercise were able to report on recruitment channels for international students

The International Student System

• Enquiry, application, offer/reject, acceptance and enrolment data

Data on Conversion Rates

The ratio of applications to starts:

• a workload issue - how many applications do we need to process to land a student?


The ratio of applications to offers

• a productivity issue – what capacity do we have to deal with the workload we have created for ourselves in generating enquiries and applications?


The ratio of offers to starts - one measure of success:

• Was it worth the effort?• How effective are we in closing the deal?

Banks 2003

“Resources may be represented merely by a shift in staff thinking and deployment of human effort away from management of enquiries and applications to close of sale initiatives, improved and better resourced student support initiatives and loyalty based marketing initiatives.”

How Are the Benchmarking Results Used?

Operations

or

Strategic Planning?


Operational Issues• Staffing of student services and education abroad functions

• Development of KPIs such as improved conversion rates

• Delegation of admissions decisions • Increases in the marketing budget


Strategic Planning• Recruitment channels: targeting high

conversion/ low cost cohorts • Direct marketing and e-recruitment

initiatives• Diverting expenditure from high to low cost

countries, from high to low cost activities• Shift focus from generating applications to

converting offers


Information Sharing• New initiatives such as enquiry management

systems or introduction of application fees• International Office efficiencies (e.g. cost

of an international office)• Internal PR – highlight achievements (e.g.

conversion rates)• The fact that the international office

participates in such a study often impresses


Operations

or

Strategic Planning?

Key Outcomes 2003

• International Student Services –primarily to argue for more staff

• International Student Mobility – to argue for more staff, and to set KPIsfor increased student mobility

• Cost of an International Office, particularly commission payments

• Conversion Rates

Groups

• The larger sample size of the national comparison was seen as being more robust

• The attempt to measure like institutions was of benefit to most who participated

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