Mgt216 Market Research And Analysis Assessment Answers

Introduction

The leadership statement for International Education in New Zealand released in 2011 outlined the framework for achieving the targets of doubling the economic value of the international education by $5 by 2025. By so doing, the New Zealand economy would be boosted by the education sector through student markets, the engagement of the new technologies, new products related to education and the competitors in the education sector (Verger et al., 2016). For New Zealand to ensure that the attainment of more than 10,000 people is attracted to the Southland by 2025, a market research and analysis was conducted to ensure that a clear roadmap with well-structured frameworks are put in place to facilitate this objective.

The international education being the 5^th largest import in the country, the Southland Regional Development Strategy (SORDS) was formed and funded by the Mayoral Forum which whose main aim was to get more people to live in the Southland by 2025. This could be achieved by persuading people against the negativity in the region such as the unconducive climate and the tyranny of distance through the benefits that would come along from the working in the region among others. Internationally, the reasons why people would move and settle in a place is majorly due to work, seeking to study, and an assurance of a bearable lifestyle. The research undertaken by the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) indicated that the best way to get more people to settle in the Southland was through the international studies. Through education, there would be young educated people who will bring in new ideas, cultural, and social integration into the current population, which, are vital for the economic growth of a given region (Helve and Helena, 2018).

Influence of International Education to New Zealand

The ability to attract students around the world by New Zealand and incorporating them into the society in Southland is a crucial element for the achieving of the country’s objectives. Through the international studies, the country has been able to establish diplomatic relationships through the students from overseas such as the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, China among others. The educational organizations in the country have channelled the exchange of knowledge, people, expertise, culture, and economy, with the potential to foster the mutual understanding among countries, thus opening up conversations to other forms of trade (Volante, 2016).

Concisely, the international education can introduce innovations to workplaces, filling of the domestic shortages of skills, and developing entrepreneurial ventures as well as establishing the global links for New Zealand. In addition, the international students also provide a window for the regional population of the world and some who were unlikely to travel back due to expenses and long travel hours. This could lead to some students settling in after their studies thus ending up practising their learnt professional in the country. The international studies also increase the check-ins in travel, tourism, and wildlife industries as well as the housing sector, which boosts both the regional and the national wide economy.

Reasons why students chose to come to SIT and Invercargill

The research conducted by the Southern Institute of Technology indicated that most international students joined the institution due to a number of reasons with the major ones being the following. The institution offered flexible programs offered with multiple intakes during the year, which was convenient for most students. The affordable fee charges due to the strong community support unlike other institutions offering the similar quality education. Additionally, the Invercargill and Queenstown campuses are situated in New Zealand’s most stunning landscape features thus attracting more student’s enrollment in SIT as well as the safe and friendly reputation of the Southern region.

The research further indicated that most students chose the SIT due to its organizational culture where the institution has a dedicated SIT employment officer who helps the eligible students willing to work in New Zealand to find employment opportunities. The report further claims that the Southland has the lowest rate of unemployment in the country thus an incredible motivation to the students. The choice of students to the institution is also influenced by the lower cost of living in the Southland than in other cities in the country. It is reported that the Southland is a simple and great place to live due to the conducive living standards that can be afforded by most students.

How to attract more students and integrating them into the community

The SIT has an established international team that is aimed to help the overseas students to settle in comfortably into the society. The team comprises the functions such as the pastoral care, the accommodation functions, administrative functions, and marketing functions. The accommodation team is the one responsible for providing the international students with accommodations, pick-up from airports, and offering the orientation of the students to the society. Additionally, the pastoral welfare team is mandated to ensure the New Zealand Government’s code of practice for the international students is followed. The team is available for the 24-hour free-to-call service to the students to ensure the students are attended to as soon as possible.

Concisely, the pastoral welfare team offered free chaplaincy to all students irrespective of the culture or religion thus integrating the students into the community. There is also the provision of counselling available to discuss any challenges facing the students in any aspect as well as the course advice, which guides the students to identify their suitable programme of study. Moreover, there is the existence of the disability liaison team, which assists the students who have any impairment or disability. The international team provides employment support to the graduate students as well as free non-discriminating health care to all the students.

The team also has the native speaker support with a range of languages offered free of charge for any interested student. There is a lot of information provided in different languages by the institution. However, there are the sporting and cultural activities for all the students, which forms an integral platform for integrating the students into the society. During these, events the students get a chance to interact amongst themselves and with the local students (Van and Russo, 2017). Finally, the team is constantly helping the new applicants with their visas as well as providing them with the information on what to expect in the country. By doing this, the SIT will be able to achieve the population target by 2025.

The student’s Demographics, Psychographics, and Geographics

Data collection and analysis

During the research, both the quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were deployed. The quantitative analysis utilized the primary and secondary sources of data collection to obtain the demographic trends in the population of the international students in SIT.

Quantitative data

This is the numeric type of data collected from the primary and secondary sources of data collection. The secondary sources included the published articles and journals, websites, data from statistics bodies, questionnaires among others while the primary sources of data are the first-hand information collected through interviews and questionnaires. According to (Quinlan et al., 2019), the quantitative method provides the techniques that handle the continual accumulation of data, which highly support the decision-making in the economic aspects.

Qualitative data

This was the non-numeric data collected with the use of interviews and questionnaires. This was selected in addition to the quantitative data due to the ability to provide the first-hand information that is considered the most accurate data to be collected. The method was also preferred due to its methodologies that allow for the more in-depth and a richer understanding of the phenomenon or a process (Bansal, Pratima, and Wendy, 2018). With the combined methods, the following data was collected from different sources and analyzed below.

Statistical data of International student’s enrolment by provider groups

From the research, the data collected was between the years 2006 and 2012, which can be used to give a projection of the expected population trends in 2025. This will ensure that the necessary measures will be put in place to ensure that the target population in the Southland region is achieved for economic purposes. The source of the data obtained was from the Export Education Levy (EEL), which included all the educational institutions in New Zealand. These were schools, tertiary education institutions, and the private institutions.

Note: All the graphs and charts were generated by use of MS Excel.

From the data, the tertiary education institutions include the 8 universities, 20 institutes of Technology/polytechnics (ITPs), the private training establishments (PTEs) also known as Single Return Data (SDR) or non-SDR. This can be presented in the graph below.

The international students by origin

The trends in enrolment population can also be disaggregated by the origins with more than one providers. It was reported that some providers have undergone a positive increment within the previous six years from 2012 while some undergone a decrement in the enrolments. The data from the New Zealand EEL that shows these changes in the student population by origin is shown below.

From the table, the data can be represented as shown below. The GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) consists of Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) includes Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Laos, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.

The Chinese students, for example, had a progressively decrease in the number of enrolments in New Zealand by origin between 2006 and 2008 whereby a positive increment was observed from 2009 to 2012. The representation of Chinese international students in New Zealand is shown below.

Among the providers, South Korea had the most recorded decrease in the number of the students enrolled in New Zealand. This is shown in the figure below.

From the data above, it is apparent that China, South Korea, and Japan are the key sources of the international students enrolled in New Zealand education system adding up to 61.3% of the total international students.

New Zealand ITP international students’ statistics

The results from the collected data details the changes in key countries for the international fee-paying students enrolled in the institutes of Technology/Polytechnics (ITPs)

The line graph obtained from the data above indicates similar trends in the Chinese students’ enrolments from 2006 to 2009 and picking up again from 2010 to 2012. The results also indicate that the Indian students have rapidly grown to be the leading key market for the ITPs.

The comparison for the most grown in terms of leading key market for the ITPs in 2006 and 2012 can be shown using the pie charts below. The charts indicate that of all the countries, India had the highest percentage increment from 7% of the total students in 2006 to 26% of the total students in 2012.

The frequency analysis

From the above data, the frequency analysis was performed to determine the distribution, dispersion, and the central tendency of India as a variable among the other key countries.

Frequency distribution

This is the summary of individual ranges of values of a variable. The frequency distribution table for India in terms of percentage enrollment is shown below.

From the frequency distribution table above, the bar chart can be generated as shown below

Central tendency

This is the estimate of the centre of the distribution of values. It comprises the mean, mode, and the median.

Mean/average

The mean of the variable will, therefore, be given by;

From the data, the entries for India from 2006 to 2012 are given respectively

Therefore,

Students in every year.

Mode/median

The mode is the most occurring value in a list while the median is the value at the middle of a set of distribution obtained re-arranging the values in an ascending or descending order. The mode for India is obtained below.

The standard deviation

The standard deviation is given by

The relevance of the data

The collected data is relevant in the sense that it can be used to project the expectations of the population trends in 2025. However, when the projections are below the expected target, measures to ensure the target is attained could be put in place thus making the conducted research quite productive.

Limitations of the research

The research study is limited to the access of data from limited sources giving a minimal sense of comparison. Additionally, such kind of research requires a very long period of data collection, which interferes with the consistency of the data collected. This could easily result in biases due to the long period. This calls for more intensive and deployment of technology in data collection methods to record the data as soon as it is collected.

Conclusion and recommendation

For New Zealand to make an achievement towards the economic growth through education, the country will have to leverage the country band, the quality in market relationships and its full value of the business and alumni networks. The target population in the New Zealand by 2025 could drive the education sector up to the required standards only if more measures are put in place to aid in facilitating the relocating of the international students into the country firm their homeland. One way to entice these youths to apply for studies at the SIT in New Zealand is through reduction of the travel charges specifically for the students. Additionally, some regions of the competitor providers of education have registered very low enrollments into the country such as South Korea. One of the reasons could be due to the lack of awareness of the institution, which should be highly advertised through print media and on social networks. These could boost the rate of enrollment into the country, which will, in turn, translate to the economic growth of the country.

References

Bansal, P., Smith, W. K., & Vaara, E. (2018). New Ways of Seeing through Qualitative Research. Academy of Management Briarcliff Manor, NY.

Helve, H., & Wallace, C.  (2018). Youth, citizenship and empowerment. Routledge.

Quinlan, C., Babin, B., Carr, J., & Griffin, M.  (2019). Business research methods. Quinlan, Christina and Babin, Barry and Carr, Jon and Griffin, Mitch.

Van Den Berg, L., & Russo, A. (2017). The student city: strategic planning for student communities in EU cities. London: Routledge.

Verger, A., Lubienski, C., & Steiner-Khamsi, G. (Eds.).  (2016). World yearbook of education 2016: The global education industry. Routledge.

Volante, L. (2016). The intersection of international achievement testing and educational policy: Global perspectives on large-scale reform. London: Routledge.