Customer Orientation in Higher Education: The Missing Link in International Student Recruitment?

Abstract

This paper suggests that the service mindset of academia needs attention to ensure that the potential of university–industry linkages for creating value is used strategically in building advantage in the increasingly competitive market for international higher education. Universities should clearly articulate the value of the higher education–employability interface in the context of growing competition for international students. The paper studies university–industry linkages by deconstructing the relationship with a focus on university–industry service interactions in international higher education service delivery and use and by analysing the relationship elements and dynamics that affect the market for international student recruitment, placements and employability. The relationship marketing paradigm is applied to explain that, by adopting a market-driven, customer-oriented mindset, universities could build strategic relationships with industry, communicate their international higher education services to industry better and more forcefully and develop competitive advantage in attracting and retaining international students.