Abstract

International student recruiters have not ignored the fact that the Japanese outbound educational exchange market has consistently grown year after year since the 1980s and is now said to be one of the most productive educational travel markets in the world. Partly due to the current Southeast Asian economic crisis, educational institutions are trying to make up for declining foreign student enrollments by recruiting more fervently in Japan. As over seventy percent of Japanese students consult study abroad agencies at some point in their decision and preparation to study abroad, an increasing number of international student recruiters are seeking to enlist the support of local agents in their recruitment initiatives. This report explores the role of the Japanese study abroad agency and its importance to international student recruiters. After a brief overview of the current issues in the Japanese outbound educational market, this report discusses the role of the international student recruiter in Japan and the various advantages and disadvantages of working with Japanese agents. With consideration to the different marketing perspectives of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, this report will provide recommendations for how international student recruiters can more effectively work with Japanese study abroad agents. Resulting from an extensive literature review and a detailed analysis of the data gathered herein, a checklist of questions covering five axes is presented for the recruiter to consider when initially screening an agent as a possible representative for the home institution. Research data include both primary and secondary sources. A series of unstructured interviews were conducted with several Tokyo-based international education organizations. Semi-structured interviews were held with six major Japanese study abroad agents. To serve as the principal source of research data, fifty questionnaires were collected from international student recruiters currently active in the Japanese market.

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