Designing a culturally inclusive information system for Canadian universities to enhance international student recruitment

The number of Asian students getting their post-secondary education abroad has doubled over the past decade to around 2.5 million. In the same period, the number of agents in the admission business in China has increased ten times to nearly 400. High school students in China find it difficult to make informed decisions independently about application and admission to foreign universities because the western university websites and information sessions are not designed keeping their cultural practices in mind. This research project undertakes an iterative, user-centered design of an online, real time information session and related international student information web pages to make them culturally inclusive of prospective students from China. The benefits from such a system for the students could include higher efficiency and reduced time for information seeking and bypassing of third party agencies. The anticipated benefit to Canadian universities would be facilitation of international student recruitment and increase in the number of international student admissions.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Jutta Treviranus

Student:

Zheng (Jane) Yang

Partner:

Discipline:

Design

Sector:

University:

OCAD University

Program:

Globalink Research Award