Presentation given by Mike Elms, CEO of Hotcourses at NAFSA in St Louis, USA. Through the Hotcourses channels, we commissioned a questionnaire into how prospective students search online, the content they would like to see, views on different types of programme and feedback on universities’ response to inquiries. 6,000 students took part in the survey and these are the findings.

1. NAFSA Annual Conference 2013
May 31, 2013
03:15pm - 04:15pm America's Center Room 276
Student Insights: How Students
Research Study Abroad
Opportunities
Mike Elms, CEO
Hotcourses Inc.

2. A survey of 6,000 prospective international students
• Across 20 local websites
• With 12 million visitors
• In April 2013
• Search
• Content
• Perceptions on types of program
• Application expectations & response

3. Most international students search by program first
‘When researching information about study
options, what do you search by first?’
43.50%
22.50%
27.10%
Program Location University

4. However, for some countries, location and university are
also important
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Location Program University
Note: Thai
(40.5%)
Prioritise
Location
Note:
Koreans
Prioritise
Location &
University
Note: Middle
East (38.9%)
Prioritise
University

5. Most international students know the country they want to
study in
‘When choosing to study abroad, do you have a specific country in
mind?’
83%
17%
Yes No

6. Even down to a specific city or location
Average 63% have a clear idea of specific location
48.90%
81.70%
55.20% 53.90% 54.40%
63.10%
51.10%
63% 63.30%
75.40% 76.90%
70%
Yes No

7. How important is it to have information in your own
language?
o Just over half of all respondents
(53.2%) answered important or
very important
o 90% of S. Korean respondents
answered important or very
important
o 72% of Latin-American
respondents answered
important or very important
o 50.8% of Indonesian
respondents answered ‘5’
(‘Very Important)
Tip: Do you offer content in local
languages on your web, FB or
other marketing materials? Can
you offer local language reps to
speak to/IM?

8. The role of parents – who may not speak English…
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 Not Involved 2 3 4 5 Very Involved
Abroad Vietnam Indonesia India Malaysia Latin America Middle East Singapore Brazil Thai China Korea
Vietnam (53.2%), India (51.2%)
and Singapore (52.9%) answered
4 and above – parents more
likely to be involved in decision
S. Korean applicants are
slightly more independent
than other countries
45.16% of all applicants replied involved or very involved

9. Word of mouth “very important”
‘How helpful would you find reviews by students from your
country, who have studied abroad?’
81%
19%
Very Important less important

10. The influence of „other‟ student views highly rated
overall
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 Not Helpful 2 3 4 5 Very Helpful
Abroad Vietnam Indonesia India Malaysia Latin America Middle East Singapore Brazil Thai China Korea
92% of Vietnam
respondents answered “4”
and above
Reviews considered “Very Helpful” by Indonesian
(75.4%), Brazil (76.9%) and Thai (76.6%) especially.

11. Nearly 70% of students rate video as Helpful or Very
helpful
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Abroad Vietnam Indonesia India Malaysia Latin
America
Middle East Singapore Brazil Thai China Korea
1 Not Helpful 2 3 4 5 Very Helpful
Very
Helpful
Helpful

12. Why is video important?
37%
Of internet Usage is
made up of video
streaming
72%
Prospects more likely
to “purchase” when
video is used
94%
Of people who view a
video they received
same day, will share it
Video = Emotion
The decision of where
to study abroad is a
highly emotional one
Source: Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania 2011

13. Overall students would like to see students, and from their
own country…
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Abroad Vietnam Indonesia India Malaysia Latin America Middle East Singapore Brazil Thai China Korea
1 Not Helpful 2 3 4 5 Very Helpful
Helpful
Very
Helpful
How helpful would it be to see a video of a student from your country?

14. 1. A ‘Day in the Life’ video of an average International student, 40.5% of all respondents
2. A video showing the university’s facilities, 36.1% of all respondents
3. A video interview with alumni of that university, 23.3% of all respondents
Indonesia, India,
Malaysia, Lat-Am
& M. East wanted
to see university
study facilities
Vietnam, Singapore, Brazil, Thai, China
preferred a ‘Day in the Life’ video
In addition to people – videos showing university study
facilities are also popular
This included 91.7% of Chinese applicants, and 75.6% of Latin American
applicants.

15. If you do have video of your school – focus on study
facilities
Additionally, of those who
wanted to see university
facilities featured in
video, almost all markets
wished to see a
university‟s study
facilities rather than its
accommodation or social
spaces/sports facilities.
However 60% of Thai
applicants were more
concerned with seeing
accommodation featured in
such a video.

16. How do International students feel about
studying US programs overseas?
‘Some US universities offer their courses to students at overseas
universities. Would you consider this option?’
Additionally, of those who said ‘No’, 31% would reconsider
if it meant a reduction in tuition fees.
58.10
%
20.30%
21.60%
YES
NO
Uncertain

17. Is the quality the same?
….overall, there didn’t seem to be a significantly
prevalent opinion across all markets:
Is there enough information available to students?
17.80%
27.40%
27.90%
26.80% Better
Worse
Same Quality
Uncertain

18. Is the future online?
‘Do you believe the quality of an online degree to be the same as a campus-based
degree?
65.20%
56.10%
68.50%
64.40% 62.90%
76.10% 76%
55.90%
74.90%
52.40%
79.30%
66.70%
Yes No Uncertain
Average “NO” is
66.53%

19. Online Degrees – understanding international student
perceptions
Applicants from Latin America
(76.1%), Middle East
(76%), Brazil (74.9%) and China
(79.3%) clearly feel negatively
about them
Applicants from
Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia
and Thailand might benefit from
more information about online
degrees
Unsurprisingly, the majority of
most markets believed they
should be less expensive than a
campus-based degree (73.6% of
all respondents)

20. How many applications will you make?
‘In total, how many universities did you/ are you applying
to?’
Abroad
Vietnam
Indonesia
India
Malaysia
Latin America
Middle East
Singapore
Brazil
Thai
China
Korea
4+ 3 to 4 0 to 2
…while S.
Korean, Indian, M
alaysian applicants
applied to slightly
more

21. What are your expectations on response?
‘What do you consider to be a suitable response to your
application?’
•Email 2 – 4 weeks
after
applying
*Our Mystery Shopper research shows that
52% of queries go unanswered
Looking closer, Thai (51.1%) and Brazil
(53.1%) applicants felt a prospectus
through the mail would be suitable;
meanwhile 51.7% of Chinese applicants
felt a letter is official.

22. How far in advance did you start researching
study abroad before applying?
Average months per country
Months
Chinese students spend
longer doing research
ME/Saudi may be
influenced by scholarship
funding
10.6
12.9
11 10 9.8
8.1
5.6
10
11.3 11.5
18.8
6

23. How much of the process can be done online?
‘How comfortable are students when
completing certain tasks online?’
• Of all students fell
comfortable finding a
program
70%
• Feel comfortable applying to
a program
53%
• Feel comfortable finding a
scholarship
59%
•Of all students fell comfortable
applying for a VISA online
30%
•Feel comfortable finding
accommodation online
34.8%
•Would not feel comfortable
completing any of the above tasks
online4.6%
We envisage this increasing as future generations will be more internet-
savvy, and further processes become digitised

24. Thank you very much for your time
mike.elms@hotcourses.com
A small selection of sites from our network:

25. Take home summary…
The Good (free)
• List programs
• Student reviews/posts
• Student videos
The bad (almost free…)
• Translate content/microsite
• Translate video
• Student ambassadors
• Local area site
The Ugly (expensive)
• Online programs
• In-country visits
• Partnerships
$$$