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Increasing international student enrollment at an East Asian university: a gap analysis

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Content Running head: INCREASING INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT

1

INCREASING INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT AT AN EAST ASIAN
UNIVERSITY: A GAP ANALYSIS

by

Iris Chang

_______________________________________________________________________

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

August 2015

Copyright 2015 Iris Chang

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, I give praise and thanks to my Heavenly Father who has generously
supplied me with everything I needed to go through this incredible journey. He gave me courage
and strength to stand up against all odds.
I would also like to acknowledge several people. My dissertation would not have been
made possible without their support and encouragement. My friend Peggy Wang first informed
me about the Global Executive Doctor of Education (Global Ed.D) program at USC, and she
provided me with the necessary information to help me make my decision. Her own academic
achievements inspired me to pursue education beyond an Executive MBA degree.
I am deeply grateful to my father for supporting my decision to join this program at this
world-class university (USC) and also for opening my eyes to the field of education. His
profound knowledge inspired me to discover the joy of learning while maintaining academic
rigor.
I want to express my appreciation to my dissertation chair, Dr. Robert Filback, for
motivating me throughout the dissertation process. His insightful guidance enabled me to
understand the foundations of research and the beauty of academic writing. His patience and
valuable advice helped me to build my self-confidence. He made my dissertation writing process
truly enjoyable.
I especially would like to thank my brother, Seaton Chang, for all the time he spent
reading my dissertation and for the numerous suggestions he gave to improve my writing.
My brother in the Lord, Daniel Liu encouraged me to complete this study. I would not
have developed persistence and eventually achieved success without him believing in me from
the very beginning.
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I would like to thank Howard Hsia and Lena Huang from Global Ed.D Cohort One for
sharing their experiences about the dissertation writing process. Always starting early and never
waiting until the last minute was the key. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to all
the professors and the entire administrative team of the Global Ed.D program. Thanks to all of
them for their tremendous assistance and support. Because of their professionalism, I was able to
enter the academic world and to develop a great passion for it.
I can never forget the members of Global Ed.D Cohort Two, Fawzi Alajji, Russell
Brodie, Leeanne Dunsmore, Luke Hamid, Kenneth Iong, Kenneth Ito, Abdulhannan Kareem,
Dulcie Kermah, Patrick Liew, Michael Lozano, Rhonda Parks, Kathryn McFarland, Ing
Phansvath, and Brenda Sinclair, for constantly motivating and reminding one another of the
importance of grit until the very end. I want to especially thank Patrick Liew, Brenda Sinclair,
Luke Hamid, and Fawzi Alajji for stimulating me into thinking outside of the box. They have all
set a high standard for me to follow. I was able to take on this new and exciting challenge with
their company in a pleasant environment.
The tremendous experience in the Global Ed.D program has truly been a turning point in
my life. The dissertation writing process has reshaped my ways of thinking, studying, learning,
and searching for the truth. I raised expectations for myself to achieve greater heights in my life.
I cannot describe how important it was to go through this journey for the benefit of my
professional career. Again, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who has
contributed to the achievement of my goal.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments 2
List of Tables 6
List of Figures 7
Abstract 11
Chapter 1: Statement of the Problem 12
Introduction of the Problem 12
Organization Context and Mission 13
Organizational Problem 13
Related Literature 15
Importance of the Problem 18
Organizational Goal 19
Stakeholders and S take h older s’ Goals 21
Stakeholder for the Study and Stakeholder Performance Gap 25
Purpose of the Project and Questions 26
Methodological Framework 26
Definitions 27
Organization of the Dissertation 27
Chapter 2: Literature Review 29
Internationalization of Higher Education 29
International Student Mobility Trends 34
Benefits Driving International Student Mobility 36
Barriers to International Students 38
International Students Studying in Asia 40
International Students Studying in Taiwan 43
Impediments to International Student Recruitment in Taiwan 47
Summary and Conclusion 55
Chapter 3: Methodology 58
Purpose of the Project and Guiding Questions 58
Framework for the Study 59
Assumed Causes of the Performance Gap 60
Validation of the Causes of the Performance Gap 66
Participants 87
Procedures 88
Data Collection 92
Role of the Investigator 94
Data Analysis 97
Delimitations 98
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Chapter 4: Results and Findings 100
Results and Findings for Knowledge Causes 101
Results and Findings for Motivation Causes 127
Results and Findings for Organization Causes 150
Summary 169
Chapter 5: Solutions, Implementation, and Evaluation 172
Validated Causes Selection and Rationale 172
Solutions for Knowledge Causes 178
Solutions for Motivation Causes 186
Solutions for Organization Causes 190
Summary of KMO Validated Causes and Solutions 198
Solution Integration 202
Evaluation Plan 225
Strengths and Weaknesses of this Study 232
Limitations 233
Future Research 234
Conclusion 236
References 238
Appendices 261
Appendix A: The Projected Decline in Number of Taiwanese Domestic 261
College Age Students from 2011 to 2025
Appendix B: Historical and Projected Number of EAU Student Admissions 263
Appendix C: International Education Office Organizational Structure 265
Appendix D: Historical and Projected Number of Domestic and International 266
Student Admissions and IEO ’s Performance Gap
Appendix E: The Growth in the Number of Degree-Seeking International 268
Students in Taiwan
Appendix F: Assumed KMO Causes and Coding Acronym 269
Appendix G: Interview Protocols 270
Appendix H: Survey Items 276
Appendix I: Document Analysis Protocol 283
Appendix J: Responses to Survey Question 1 284
Appendix K: Responses to Survey Question 2 285
Appendix L: Responses to Survey Question 3 286
Appendix M: Responses to Survey Question 4 287
Appendix N: Means and Standard Deviations of the Motivational Survey 288
Responses
Appendix O: Means and Standard Deviations of the Organizational Survey 290
Responses

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Organizational Mission, Organizational Global Goal and S take holder s’ Goals 24
Table 2. Summary of Sources about Assumed Causes of Knowledge, Motivational, 64
and Organizational Issues
Table 3. Summary of Assumed Knowledge Causes and Validation 70
Table 4. Summary of Assumed Motivation Causes and Validation 75
Table 5. Summary of Assumed Organizational/Culture/Context Causes and Validation 84
Table 6. Summary of the Assumed Knowledge Causes and Validation Findings 125
Table 7. Summary of the Assumed Motivation Causes and Validation Findings 149
Table 8. Summary of the Assumed Organization Causes and Validation Findings 168
Table 9. Selection and Rationale of the Validated Causes 176
Table 10. Validated Causes, Solutions, and Implementation of the Solutions 200
Table 11. Strategic Planning and Recruiting Processes, Timelines, Validated Causes, 220
Implementation Plan, and Evaluations
Table 12. Level Two Checklist for the Strategic Planning Sessions 228

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Gap analysis process 60
Figure 2. Responses to survey question 1: From which countries do you think you 103
can recruit degree-seeking international students?
Figure 3. Responses to survey question 2: In which countries can you find people 104
to help you start recruiting degree-seeking international students?
Figure 4. Responses to survey question 3: What types of people, groups, or 106
organizations can you contact for assistance, in the countries where
you intend to recruit degree-seeking international students?
Figure 5. Responses to survey question 4: Which Taiwanese universities can you 107
learn international student recruitment from?
Figure 6. Responses to survey question 6: How important do you think of the 109
following factors are in affecting potential students choices of
universities?
Figure 7. Responses to survey question 7: How confident do you feel about using 112
the following recruiting methods?
Figure 8. Responses to survey question 9: I know which recruiting strategies for 113
degree-seeking international students to use in which countries
Figure 9. Responses to survey question 10: I know how to formulate a recruiting 114
plan based on the most important factors affecting international students’
choices of universities
Figure 10. Responses to interview question 1: How would you start recruiting 116
potential degree-seeking students in non-Chinese speaking countries?
Figure 11. Responses to interview question 4: How would you present the value 118
of EAU and its degrees to recruit degree-seeking international students
based on the social/cultural contexts of different countries?
Figure 12. Responses to interview question 3: How would you formulate recruiting 121
strategies based on the factors in which information students make their
choices of universities?
Figure 13. Responses to the first survey item about outcome expectancy (Q8): Even 128
if I try hard, I do not expect to see a successful outcome of recruiting
more degree-seeking students
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Figure 14. Responses to the second survey item about outcome expectancy (Q9): I 128
do not think the results of recruiting degree-seeking international students
will be satisfactory, even if I try hard
Figure 15. Responses to the first survey item about attainment value (Q11): It is 130
important to recruit more degree-seeking international students
Figure 16. Responses to the second survey item about attainment value (Q17): 130
Recruiting more degree-seeking international students is important
to me
Figure 17. Responses to the first survey item about goal content (Q13): We have 132
a goal to recruit a specific number of degree-seeking international
students each year
Figure 18. Responses to the second survey item about goal content (Q19): I know 132
my goal of exactly how many degree-seeking international students to
recruit each year
Figure 19. Responses to the survey item about employee turnover rate (Q15): There 134
is a high turnover rate in my department
Figure 20. Responses to the first survey item about extrinsic value (Q21): I believe 135
it is useful to learn new techniques to recruit degree-seeking international
students
Figure 21. Responses to the second survey item about extrinsic value (Q22): Learning 135
new techniques to recruit more degree-seeking international students is
useful to me
Figure 22. Responses to the first survey item about cost value (Q16): I often choose 137
short-term international student programs over long-term degree-seeking
international student recruitment
Figure 23. Responses to the second survey item about cost value (Q27): I am 137
preoccupied with short-term international student programs, so I do not
have enough time to recruit long-term degree-seeking international
students
Figure 24. Responses to the third survey item about cost value (Q24): I believe 138
long-term degree-seeking international students are more troublesome,
so I prefer not to increase the number of those students
Figure 25. Responses to the fourth survey item about cost value (Q31): Long-term 139
degree-seeking international students are harder to care for, so I do not
like to recruit more of them
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Figure 26. Responses to the fifth survey item about cost value (Q22): Learning 140
new techniques to recruit long-term degree-seeking international
students is important to me
Figure 27. Responses to the sixth survey item about cost value (Q33): It is important 140
for me to learn new techniques for recruiting long-term degree-seeking
international students
Figure 28. Responses to the first survey item about self-efficacy (Q23): I am confident 141
that I can recruit long-term degree-seeking international students in
unfamiliar countries
Figure 29. Responses to the second survey item about self-efficacy (Q36): I know I 142
will be able to recruit long-term degree-seeking international students in
unfamiliar countries
Figure 30. Responses to the first survey item about attributions (Q25): The outcome 143
of recruiting long-term degree-seeking international students is the result
of external uncontrollable causes, such as government policy, and not my
own efforts
Figure 31. Responses to the second survey item about attributions (Q38): The outcome 143
of recruiting long-term degree-seeking international students involves many
external factors, and thus, it is beyond my control
Figure 32. Responses to the first survey item about resistance to change (Q26): I do 151
not like to change my job from providing short-term international student
programs to recruiting long-term degree-seeking international students
Figure 33. Responses to the second survey item about resistance to change (Q28): 151
My department does not like to change from arranging a short-term
international student program to recruiting long-term degree-seeking
international students
Figure 34. Responses to the first survey item about an attitude of helplessness (Q29): 152
I feel helpless when trying to get support from the university for recruiting
degree-seeking international students
Figure 35. Responses to the second survey item about an attitude of helplessness 153
(Q32): I seldom get adequate support from the university for recruiting
degree-seeking international students
Figure 36. Responses to the survey item about negative belief (Q34): I feel negative 154
about my department, because the percentage of international students is
small
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Figure 37. Responses to the first survey item about competition (Q12): I am 155
competing against my department colleagues for better results of
recruiting degree-seeking international students
Figure 38. Responses to the second survey item about competition (Q37): There is 155
competition within my department, so that people are unwilling to share
their experiences of recruiting degree-seeking international students with
one another
Figure 39. Responses to the survey question (Q5): How many hours per week do 157
you spend on recruiting degree-seeking international students?
Figure 40. Responses to the first survey item about lack of resources (Q20): I am 157
able to get the resources I need to recruit degree-seeking international
students
Figure 41. Responses to the second survey item about the lack of resources (Q35): 158
I have enough resources to recruit more degree-seeking international
students
Figure 42. Responses to the first survey item about autonomy (Q18): I experience 159
autonomy and choice, in my job of recruiting degree-seeking international
students
Figure 43. Responses to the second survey item about autonomy (Q39): I am often 159
asked to share my views on recruiting degree-seeking international
students and an international student recruiting plan
Figure 44. Responses to the survey item about the lack of a strategic plan (Q40): 160
There is a strategic plan across departments to achieve a common goal
of recruiting degree-seeking international students
Figure 45. The components of a comprehensive strategic plan 224

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ABSTRACT
This project examines international student enrollment at an East Asian University (EAU)
located in Taiwan. The study focuses on the perspective of the recruiters, which consisted of
fifteen employees at EAU ’s International Education Office (IEO). The Gap Analysis problem-
solving framework is applied to develop strategies to help the recruiters achieve their goal of
increasing international student admissions beginning in the 2016 academic year. The purpose of
the project is to identify the root causes of knowledge, motivational, and organizational issues
that explained the gap between IEO ’s projected international student enrollments and the desired
number of enrollments. Surveys, interviews and document analyses were employed to collect
data, which were used to validate the assumed causes in knowledge, motivational and
organizational issues. Solutions to close IEO ’s performance gap are proposed based on the
validated causes. Lastly, an evaluation of the implementation plan is provided to conclude the
study.

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CHAPTER 1
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Introduction of the Problem
Declining student enrollment has been a widespread concern among colleges and
universities in Taiwan. According to the Ministry of Education (MOE), Taiwan has experienced
a drop in the number of eligible college students every year since 2010. In 2011, the freshman
student enrollment at all the Taiwanese colleges and universities was 264,434. In 2012, the
freshman student enrollment dropped by 4% to 253,243 (Ministry of Education of Taiwan
[MOE], 2014).
This downward trend will persist into the next decade because of a falling Taiwanese
birth rate. According to the Ministry of Interior (MOI), the number of births dropped by 17%
from 326,002 in 1997 to 271,450 in 1998, and by a further 20% to 260,354 in 2001 (Ministry of
Interior of Taiwan, 2014). The sharp decline will start to affect college admissions starting in
2016, when the first of these smaller generations turns eighteen. Based on the number of births,
the MOE (2014) has predicted that by 2016, the number of eligible 18-year-old high school
graduates ready to enter college will drop by 7%, and by 2020 that number will be 22% smaller
than in 2014 (MOE, 2015a). In 2014, there were 164 colleges and universities in Taiwan. With
this declining number of college students, the MOE has estimated that 60 colleges and
universities, or 30%, would be forced to shut down by 2020, leaving only 100 or so universities
and colleges in operation. The MOE further predicted that with 22% fewer students in 2020,
more than half of the colleges and universities, including the East Asian University (EAU) of this
study, would see a significant number of unfilled vacancies in their freshman classes. (See
Appendix A for a table and chart illustrating the projected decline in Taiwanese domestic
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college-age students from 2011 to 2025.) If no remedies are undertaken, Taiwanese colleges and
universities are bound to face serious financial problems before 2020 because of the shrinking
student population. Therefore, this study aims to address the problem EAU faces in the declining
number of potential college students.
Organization Context and Mission
Founded in the 20th century, EAU is located in Taiwan. Its mission is to promote
multicultural learning and to achieve excellence in instruction and research. It envisions an
integrated whole-person education, instilling in students a value system based in truth and
integrity. The university devotes itself to the pursuit of academic achievement while placing high
importance on community awareness and professional ethics. It aims to foster creative students,
adaptable workers, and fulfilled human beings who contribute to society. According to its mid-
to long-term plan, E AU’s goal is to rank itself among the top twenty universities in Taiwan and
among the top 1,000 universities in the world within the next decade.
EAU has 15 colleges and 70 departments. During the 2013-2014 academic year, EAU
employed over 600 full-time faculty members and 500 staff. The total student population was
over 20,000, of which 80% were full-time undergraduate students, 10% were full-time graduate
students, and 10% were part-time students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Undergraduate students constituted 85% of the univer sit y ’s student population. Of the total
students, 99% were domestic and 1% was international.
Organizational Problem
Given the anticipated decline in the number of eligible first-year college students in
Taiwan, it is expected that the number of EAU ’s total student enrollments will also be reduced
based on the current market share. EAU ’s goal is to admit at least 5,000 domestic and
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international students to its undergraduate and graduate degree programs each fall in order to
maintain its total enrollment number of 20,000 degree-seeking students. By doing so, EAU will
have a financial surplus each fiscal year, and it will be able to focus on long-term strategic goals
associated with achieving excellence in instruction and research.
EAU admitted 4,900 domestic students and 100 international students to its
undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Fall 2013. However, the sc hool’s own internal
projection, based on its market share, indicates that the number of domestic undergraduate and
graduate students admitted is expected to decrease by 300, or 6%, to 4,600 by Fall 2016 and by
800, or 16%, to 4,100 by Fall 2019. This decline in domestic students is a harsh reality that EAU
must address. One natural solution is to look to international student enrollments to offset the
decline. The historical and projected number of EAU student admissions from 2011 to 2023 can
be found in Appendix B.
While international undergraduate and graduate student admissions doubled from 50 in
Fall 2009 to 100 in Fall 2013, this was largely attributed to an increased demand by international
students and not by any special recruiting efforts on the part of EAU. If current patterns continue
and international enrollments double again in three years, the number of international students
admitted into EAU would reach 200 by Fall 2016 and 400 by Fall 2019. In this scenario, the total
number of domestic and international students admitted to EAU ’s undergraduate and graduate
degree programs is anticipated to decrease by 4% to 4,800 (4,600 domestic students and 200
international students) in Fall 2016. By Fall 2019, the number of total students would further
decrease by 10% to 4,500 (4,100 domestic students and 400 international students).
Passive dependence on the increasing demand by international students is not a sufficient
strategy. EAU therefore faces a pressing need to aggressively recruit more international students
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in order to reach a goal of admitting 400 international students to its undergraduate and graduate
degree programs in July 2016. Since EAU has realized that it will not meet this goal without
making changes, the Discrepancy Gap Analysis model (Clark & Estes, 2008), which is a six-step
problem-solving approach to identify goals, determine performance gaps, validate causes,
recommend research-based solutions and evaluate the results, is best suited to address this
problem.
Related Literature
Student enrollment is a useful educational performance indicator for institutions of higher
education, and enrollment numbers can be used as an aid in the strategic decision-making
process that creates a pragmatic plan to achieve desired enrollment outcomes (Rowe &
Lievesley, 2002). A decline in student enrollment is a critical issue for higher education
institutions mainly because it reduces their funding. In recent years, the decline in student
enrollment and enrollment-related funding has been a topic of much interest to school leaders
around the globe (Anderson & Mark, 1985). Pegram (2002) and Decker (1988) assert that
universities with lower enrollment require leaders who can to cope with this issue in order to
avoid negative consequences such as firing staff, cutting or eliminating academic programs,
decreasing curricular offerings, and possibly closing facilities (Decker, 1988; Pegram, 2002). As
a result, some higher education institutions have viewed the recruitment of international students
as a means of generating income (Ross, Grace, & Shao, 2013).
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD,
2014), international student recruitment at higher education institutions has been a global trend.
The total number of international students increased nearly fourfold from 1.1 million in 1985 to
4.5 million in 2012. The growth rate is expected to continue with the projected number of
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international students reaching 7 million by 2020 (OECD, 2014; Altbach, Reisberg, & Rumbley,
2009). While this growth of international students represents a huge market opportunity across
the world, analysts predict 70% of the demand for cross-border education will come from the
Asia-Pacific region. All in all, the market for international students has become a dynamic
growth industry, and the competition for international students will become increasingly fierce
among countries and higher education institutions (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2012; Sawir, 2013).
International students bring many benefits to higher education institutions. Magaya
(2004) summarized, “the three major benefits that international students bring to universities in
the U.S. are academic benefits, economic benefits, and diversity ” (p. 55). To attract international
students, higher education institutions must enhance their curricula and quality of teaching as
well as their reputation (de Wit, 2011; Ross et al., 2013). Increasing the percentage of
international students has become a means of raising an institution ’s academic standard for
regional and global university ranking. Times Higher Education World University Ranking and
QS World University Ranking both incorporated the percentage of international students into
their ranking methodologies. Therefore, universities can raise their academic profile by
increasing their number of international students (de Wit, 2011; Lo, 2009).
International students also contribute to the economies of the countries where they are
studying. International students may relieve the financial pressure of the universities facing
declining enrollments (Childress, 2009; Gürüz, 2011). Moreover, students ’ tuition and living
expenses can become one of the country ’s largest service sector exports. According to the
findings of the National Associate of Foreign Student Advisers, the 886,052 international
students and their families at universities and colleges across the U.S. supported 340,000 jobs
and contributed $26.8 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2013-2014 academic year. This
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represents an 8.5% increase in job support and creation and a nearly 12% increase in dollars
contributed to the U.S. economy from the previous academic year (NAFSA, 2015).
Even though international students ’ main objective is to acquire an education for
themselves, they also enrich the learning environment at their universities. International students
enhance the educational environment because domestic and international students have the
opportunity to share cross-cultural experiences and perspectives (Ennew & Greenaway, 2012;
Ross et al., 2013). The United States again serves as the best example. International students
build bridges between the U.S. and other countries (NAFSA, 2015)). International students also
help American students acquire the skills to interact with people with different cultural and
ethnic backgrounds (Ennew & Greenaway, 2012; Mamiseishvili, 2012).
Given the multitude of benefits brought by international students, universities around the
world compete intensely for them (Ross et al., 2013). Several Asian countries, notably the United
Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, have emerged as “education hubs ” in an
attempt to attract international students with an enhanced quality of education and international
reputation (Knight, 2014). In order to succeed in this fiercely competitive field, higher education
institutions must understand the factors affecting students ’ choices, including the economic and
educational level of a host country and benefits driving international students to move to other
countries . Most students study abroad in pursuit of a higher quality education, better career
prospects, and international exposure (Maringe, 2006; McMahon, 1992; Wei, 2013). Higher
education institutions must identify the major barriers that prevent their personnel from
recruiting more international students.
In summary, universities with declining domestic student enrollments have seen
international student recruitment as a means of generating income. As the demand for
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international student enrollments in higher education institutions is projected to grow fourfold
worldwide by 2020, an increasing number of countries and higher education institutions have
entered the global competition to attract international students who may become skilled workers
needed by the host countries (Findlay, 2011). Higher education institutions may be benefited by
international student enrollments in academic and cultural dimensions. Chandler (1999) and
Levinson (1998) saw the challenge of increasing international student enrollment as both a
governmental and an institutional responsibility. In conclusion, universities that approach
international student recruitments with a well-planned recruiting strategy, clear goals, and
administrators in different departments working within the same broader strategy have a better
chance of success than the institutions that approached recruitments arbitrarily without a campus-
wide consensus (Kongolo, 2012; Magaya, 2004).
Importance of the Problem
A university ’s funding is directly related to student enrollment. The decline of student
enrollment will therefore reduce a university ’s revenue and make the cost per student rise.
Winnail and Bartee (2002) found that school leaders view monetary concerns as among the most
pressing school issues —five of their top ten concerns are related either directly or indirectly to
school finance. These concerns include school funding, faculty salaries, attraction and retention
of quality faculty, and declining student enrollment, all of which are intertwined. When the
university ’s revenue is reduced as a result of declining student enrollment, attracting and
retaining quality professors becomes a primary issue because the university would then have to
either pay lower salaries or stop giving raises (Winnail & Bartee, 2002).
Approximately 60% of EAU ’s revenue comes from tuition paid by its degree-seeking
students. If the number of degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate students admitted in Fall
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2016 drops to below 5,000 and the total number of student enrollment at the university falls
below 20,000, EAU would suffer a financial deficit, thus undermining its mission of achieving
excellence in instruction and research. The reduced revenue would force EAU to cut down on
instructional programs, lay off personnel, and possibly replace full-time professors with part-
time ones. If EAU does not have enough financial resources to employ quality faculty, it will be
less capable of fulfilling its mission statement to provide its students with quality education to
give them the necessary knowledge and skills to contribute to society.
Organizational Goal
EAU has set a goal of increasing its international student recruitment. Its objective is to
admit at least 400 international students to its undergraduate and graduate degree programs in
July 2016. This goal represents a 100% increase over the 200 degree-seeking international
undergraduate and graduate students projected to enroll in July 2016. The increased international
enrollment will compensate for the shortfall of domestic students so that EAU will continue to
have a total of 20,000 student enrollments. When the total number of degree-seeking
undergraduate and graduate students would be maintained at 20,000 as in previous years, EAU
would see a financial surplus so that it can continue to provide the best education possible for its
students.
Although EAU ’s increase of international students from the projected 200 (4% of the
total 5,000 student enrollment) to 400 (8% of 5,000 total student enrollment) in July 2016 may
not seem to be an astonishing leap, it is a first step in addressing the problem of domestic student
shortage, which will only get worse after 2016. By Fall 2019, the number of domestic students
will drop by 16% to 4,100, putting EAU under great pressure to recruit 900 international
students, or 18% of total student enrollments (900 of 5,000 total students). This will pose a
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significant challenge to the university, making it imperative for EAU to be prepared for the
daunting task ahead.
In addition to the financial imperative, EAU has a long-term goal to increase its level of
internationalization in response to globalization. EAU has set objectives to expand international
academic programs and to diversify the student body. International student recruitment is an
essential component of EAU ’s broad goal of the internationalization to bring about academic,
cultural and social benefits. First, international students tend to exhibit greater academic
performance than their domestic peers. International students at EAU, for example, have tended
to rank disproportionately in the top 10% of classes in all disciplines, which serves as a stimulus
for domestic students to study more seriously. The need to recruit more international students
will also continue to drive EAU to modify its curricula to add international and inter-cultural
elements. The process of developing international curricula spurs creativity and innovation
among faculty members and administrators. Curricula that are tailored to the needs of
international students could help EAU stand out in the intensifying competition among the 164
Taiwanese universities. Additionally, increased international student enrollment would enhance
EAU ’s international reputation as graduates spread words about EAU in their home countries.
EAU intends to bring cultural diversity to its campus since it has realized that the world is
changing under the influence of globalization. According to a survey released in April 2014 by
Business Today magazine, 46% of people under the age of 35 had the desire to seek employment
opportunities overseas. In addition, Taiwan heavily depends on international trade, with export
accounting for nearly 75% of GDP; compelling Taiwanese citizens come in frequent contact
with their international counterparts. Hence, it is important for college students to learn about
different cultures and ethnic groups. Having greater student diversity at EAU would help its
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21
domestic students develop international perspectives and prepare them to deal with many
complicated international political, social, and economic issues they may face in the future.
Finally, international student enrollment would allow EAU to increase its cultural and even
political influence within the countries that are sending international students to it. For example,
EAU ’s School of Communication has trained the very first group of master students from
Southeast Asia. These students obtained their master degrees in Journalism in 2014 and found
jobs at private media companies in Southeast Asia. They were expected to bring the influence of
East Asian culture to their own countries. EAU also aspires to help its students become global
talents, who may contribute to the economic development of Taiwan after they graduate. EAU ’s
goal is aligned with MOE’s latest policy, announced in December 2013, to make Taiwan an
educational hub in Asia by aggressively exporting Taiwan ’s higher education. EAU is strongly
supported by the Taiwan government in order to reach out to international students. For all of the
reasons described above, EAU ’s president has established a goal of admitting 400 international
undergraduate and graduate students in July 2016.
Stakeholders and Stakeholders ’ Goals
The three main stakeholders at EAU for this study were the International Education
Office (IEO), the faculty, and the international students themselves, each making a unique
contribution to achieving the overall goal of enrolling international students in EAU ’s
undergraduate and graduate degree programs. EAU strives to provide its international students
with an exceptional learning experience and an enjoyable campus life. These objectives cannot
be realized without the efforts of all three of its stakeholders.
The first stakeholder is the International Education Office. This department is responsible
for recruiting and caring for international students, planning international student and faculty
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exchange programs, promoting English-taught programs, and building relationships with sister
schools. IEO staff members also assist international students in applying to EAU, and they also
help foreign students to adapt to the EAU environment. IEO staff members establish standard
procedures for international student recruitments. They arrange recruiting tours overseas and
contact potential students over the phone or the Internet. The IEO ’s responsibilities include
providing information to international students, answering their inquiries, and persuading them
to apply for a degree program. IEO also serves as a communication channel between
international students and EAU by conveying students ’ feedback to the Office of Academic
Affairs. Students ’ feedback is often used by the IEO to urge EAU to give more support and
shorten the application process so that more international students will be motivated to apply for
EAU.
There are fifteen staff members in the IEO, which is divided into two divisions: the
International Student Division and the Overseas Chinese Student Division. The International
Student Division is responsible for recruiting non-Chinese students, while the Overseas Chinese
Student Division is responsible for recruiting Chinese students. The IEO is headed by a director
in charge of both divisions. The International Student Division is comprised of one senior
manager, four project managers, and three project assistants. The Overseas Chinese Student
Division is comprised of one senior manager, two project managers, two project assistants, and
one editor. The IEO ’s organizational structure can be found in Appendix C.
The second stakeholder is EAU ’s faculty. There were more than 500 faculty members at
EAU, of whom 78% hold doctoral degrees and 22% hold master ’s degrees. Doctoral degrees are
required in 70% of academic departments, including liberal arts, foreign language, law, social
science, science and engineering. Master ’s degrees are required in 30% of them, including
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23
management, communication, and the arts. The faculty members work together to design degree
programs to meet the needs of both domestic and international students. They then assist the
university in getting approval from the MOE for these programs. The faculty members ’ major
responsibilities include teaching, designing curricula, setting learning objectives, conducting
student assessments, advising students on academic and vocational goals, and directing research.
The faculty members from the College of Management have taken on the extra work of
designing English-taught degree programs for undergraduate and graduate students. The
department director carefully selects competent professors to teach these all-English courses. The
faculty members work together with the IEO in recruiting international students by going with
IEO staff members to recruiting seminars and presenting degree-programs tailored to the needs
of international students. The presence and support from the faculty members make international
students feel more comfortable about choosing EAU as their university.
The third stakeholder was EAU ’s international student body. EAU admitted 100
international students to its undergraduate and graduate programs in the fall of 2013. According
to an internal survey, most of the international students came to Taiwan because they wanted the
experience of studying abroad. During the 2012-2013 academic year, 60% of the international
students were from China, 23% were from Southeast Asia, 7% were from Northeast Asia, and
the last 10% were from ten other non-Asian countries around the world (the U.S. and Australia
plus eight other countries in Europe and the Middle East). Most of the international students had
no prior experience living in Taiwan.
The stakeholders ’ goals in the context of organizational global goal are presented in
Table 1.

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Table 1
Organizational Mission, Organizational Global Goal and Stakeholders’ Goals
Organizational Mission
East Asian University ’s mission is to promote multicultural learning and to achieve excellence
in instruction and research. It envisions an integrated whole-person education, instilling in
students a value system on the basis of integrity and truth. The university devotes itself to the
pursuit of genuine knowledge and academic achievement while placing high importance on
community awareness and professional ethics. It aims to foster creative students, adaptable
workers, and fulfilled human beings to contribute to society.
Organizational Global Goal
An East Asian University will admit 400 international students to its undergraduate and
graduate programs in July 2016 so that the total student enrollment (domestic and
international) campus-wide will reach 20,000.
International Education
Office
In July 2016, the International
Education Office will create
an admission intake of 400
degree-seeking international
undergraduate and graduate
students.
Faculty
By December 2015 three
departments will design
curricula to meet the needs of
the international students,
who will then go on to obtain
their degrees.
International Student
Applicants
By May 2016, at least 500
international students will
apply for admission into
EAU ’s undergraduate and
graduate degree programs.

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Stakeholder for the Study and Stakeholder Performance Gap
While the joint efforts of all three stakeholders are needed to achieve the organizational
goal of admitting 400 international students to EAU ’s undergraduate and graduate programs in
July 2016, it is critical to study the barriers that the IEO has experienced in its recruiting process
resulted in the expected admission of only 200 international students, or 50% of the admissions
target. Therefore, this study focused on the IEO. Because it is involved in the entire recruiting
process, the IEO is ultimately accountable for international student recruitment and enrollment
outcomes at the end of each academic year. Moreover, IEO serves as a coordinator, arranging
interdepartmental meetings, monitoring recruitment outcomes, and implementing improvement
plans.
The IEO ’s enrollment goal, supported by the president, is determined based on an
internal projection of student enrollment prepared by the Office of Academic Affairs. The
admission of domestic students is expected to drop by 300, or 6%, by Fall 2016. Therefore, the
university must admit 300 more degree-seeking international undergraduate and graduate
students to compensate for this shortfall. EAU admitted 100 degree-seeking international
undergraduate and graduate students in the fall of 2013. Hence, IEO ’s goal is to admit 400
degree-seeking international undergraduate and graduate students in July 2016. If no
improvement plan is implemented, the number of international students admitted is projected to
naturally double to 200 by Fall 2016, due to a growing international awareness of Taiwanese
higher education. With an admissions goal of 400 international undergraduate and graduate
students and the expected achievement without intervention being only 200, IEO ’s performance
gap is 50%. The historical and projected number of domestic and international student
admissions with IEO ’s performance gap is depicted in Appendix D. The way to track its progress
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is via the monthly International Student Recruitment Report. It is important for IEO to achieve
this goal, or EAU will be left with a deficit that will impede its long-term development.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project is to conduct a gap analysis to investigate the root causes of
the problem described above. This analysis focuses on the causes of the problem: gaps in the
areas of knowledge and skill, motivational, and organizational issues. The analysis begins by
generating a list of possible or assumed causes and then examining these causes systematically to
focus on actual or validated causes. While a complete gap analysis would focus on all
stakeholders, for practical purposes, this analysis limits its attention to the IEO.
As such, the questions that guide this study are the following:
1. What are the knowledge and skill, motivational, and organizational barriers
preventing the International Education Office from increasing international student
recruitment?
2. What are the knowledge and skill, motivational, and organizational solutions to these
barriers?
Methodological Framework
In order to examine the causes of and potential solutions for the IEO ’s gap between the
200 international undergraduate and graduate student admissions projected in July 2016 and the
desired outcome of 400 admitted students, Clark and Estes ’ (2008) gap analysis, which is a
systematic and analytical method that helps to clarify organizational goals and to identify the gap
between the actual performance level and the preferred performance level within an
organization, is implemented. Assumed causes for the performance gap are generated based on
personal knowledge and related literature. These causes are validated using surveys, interviews,
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27
literature reviews, and content analyses. Research-based solutions and an evaluation plan are
then recommended in a comprehensive manner.
Definitions
MOE: The Ministry of Education (MOE) is a government agency governing the K-12 and
post-secondary education system in Taiwan. It also establishes Taiwanese educational policies.
EAU: East Asian University (EAU) is a university founded in the 20th century in Taiwan.
IEO: The International Education Office (IEO) is a department of EAU responsible for
recruiting and caring for international students.
ORD: The Office of Research and Development (ORD) is an administrative department
of EAU, responsible for conducting performance measurements within the university.
Organization of the Dissertation
This dissertation consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 describes the general problem of the
decline in the number of domestic college students in Taiwan. It then delineates an East Asian
University located in Taiwan, explaining its mission and organizational goal. The chapter notes
that the primary stakeholder for this study is EAU ’s International Education Office. The concept
of gap analysis is introduced to address the International Education Office ’s performance gap.
Chapter 2 provides a review of the literature concerning international student recruitment at the
global, regional, national, and post-secondary institutional level. Chapter 3 elaborates on the
assumed causes for the performance gap at EAU as well as the methodology applied to
determine the choice of instruments, participants, data collection methods, and data analysis.
Chapter 4 details the survey results, interview, and document analysis findings. Chapter 5
presents recommended solutions, based on data analysis and literature review, for closing IEO ’s
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performance gaps. An implementation plan for these solutions is proposed, followed by a four-
level evaluation and recommendations for future research,

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
In the 21st century, the world economy has transformed from an industrial to a
knowledge-based system. Higher education plays a crucial role in training skilled workers in the
global knowledge economy (Gürüz, 2011; McGarrah Sharp, 2013). Many young people can go
anywhere in the world for the best education that they can afford, resulting in an unprecedented
number of students studying in higher education institutions outside of their home countries. This
growing trend continuously drives higher education institutions to engage in internationalization.
This chapter seeks to understand the global trend of international student mobility, factors
affecting international students ’ choices of universities, and benefits brought about by
international student to higher education institutions. It then examines the fast growth of
international students in Asia generally, as well as Taiwan in particular. Most importantly, this
chapter elaborates on the knowledge, motivational, and organizational barriers which prevent
higher education institutions from being able to recruit international students.
Internationalization of Higher Education
The internationalization of higher education began in the early 20th century has spread
around the world in the decades since. It has brought profound changes to higher education
institutions, mainly through the mobility of people, programs, and institutions.
Internationalization has also reinforced the interconnections among higher education institutions
around the globe.
Historical Perspective
Internationalization of higher education is defined as “the process of integrating an
international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, functions (primarily
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teaching/learning, research, service) or delivery of higher education ” (Gürüz, 2011; Knight,
2014, p. 2). Knight (2004) explains, “This process consists largely of two main spheres of action,
commonly characterized as ‘internationalization at home ’ and ‘internationalization abroad.’ ”
“Internationalization at home ” typically consists of strategies and approaches designed to inject
an international dimension into the home campus experience. This can be done by including
global and comparative perspectives in the curriculum and by recruiting international students,
scholars, and faculty and then leveraging their presence on campus. “Internationalization
abroad ”, on the other hand, calls for an institution to project itself and its stakeholders out into
the world. Key examples include sending students to study abroad, setting up a branch campus
overseas, and engaging in an inter-institutional partnership (Altbach & Knight, 2007; Knight,
2014, pp. 2-3).
In the first quarter of the twentieth century, higher education institutions, particularly
universities, started to spread all over the world. According to the UNESCO Institute for
Statistics (2014a), the number of tertiary students increased by more than ten times in forty
years, rising from 20 million in 1970 to 200 million in 2012. Many countries found it difficult to
cope with the increasing demand for higher education. Students therefore decided to pursue
higher education in foreign countries. The enormous growth in the number of international
students studying outside their home countries has given rise to the internationalization of higher
education. This has influenced higher-education institutions in four broad dimensions: academic,
political, cultural, and economic (Delgado-Márquez, Escudero-Torres, & Hurtado-Torres, 2013;
de Wit, 2011; McGarrah Sharp, 2013; Ross et al., 2013).
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Forms of Internationalization of Higher Education
The internationalization of higher education in the last decade has taken many forms
across national borders, which are collectively referred to as “transnational ” or “cross-border ”
higher education (Gürüz, 2011; Neubauer & Kuroda, 2012; van der Wende, 2003). Forms of
cross-border education include international exchanges of students and scholars between
universities, English-taught courses in non-English speaking countries, joint or dual-degree
programs offered by institutions in different countries, international branch campuses,
international collaborative research, franchise agreements (programs approved by one institution
to be used in another in a foreign country), and international research partnerships (Findlay,
2011; Findlay, King, Smith, Geddes, & Skeldon, 2012; Marginson, 2006; Neubauer & Kuroda,
2012; Weber & Duderstadt, 2008).
The invention of Information and Computing Technology (ICT) in the 21st century has
facilitated a new form of international education with greater flexibility at lower cost. ICT offers
distance learning across physical borders, best illustrated by the growing pervasiveness of the
Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) model (Findlay, 2011; Hénard, Diamond, & Roseveare,
2012; Knight, 2014).
Global Competition for International Students
The global competition among higher education institutions has intensified as a
consequence of two rising phenomena: an increasing number of international students and the
rise of new host countries (Findlay et al., 2012; Shields, 2013). The number of international
students is expected to double in the next decade. Higher-education institutions throughout the
world are competing for those students in pursuit of revenue and enhanced reputation (Gürüz,
2011; McGarrah Sharp, 2013; Sawir, 2013). A number of countries have also entered the global
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32
education market as new contenders. A decade ago, only a few English-speaking countries in the
developed world, the United States and the United Kingdom, followed by Australia, Canada, and
New Zealand, were competing for international students. In 2010, several developing nations,
such as Qatar, Singapore, began to join the global competition for international students
(Mazzarol & Soutar, 2012; McCormack, 2007; McGarrah Sharp, 2013).
Benefits to Higher Education Institutions
International students bring three distinct benefits to higher education institutions:
academic, economic, and cultural.
Academic benefits. Institutions of higher education must enhance their academic
standards in order to attract international students. The number of international students has often
constituted one assessment in global and regional university ranking. For example, the ratio of
international to domestic students has been incorporated as an important indicator by the Times
Higher Education and by the Cybernetics Lab. Greater international student enrollment has
signified higher quality and greater status for a higher education institution (de Wit, 2011;
Joseph, Mullen, & Spake, 2012; Souto-Otero, Huisman, Beerkens, de Wit, & Vujic, 2013).
Moreover, higher education institutions must improve their quality of teaching and curricula in
order to attract international students (Bhandari & Blumenthal, 2011). There is also a greater
chance for higher education institutions to enhance their academic quality through strategic
alliances with international partners (de Wit, 2011; Ross et al., 2013).
Economic benefits. Among the three benefits brought about by international students,
economic benefits are probably seen as the most prominent. International students can serve as a
means of receiving diversified revenue streams for higher education institutions (Childress,
2009; Gürüz, 2011; Ross, Heaney, & Cooper, 2007). In 1995, the global market for international
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33
higher education was worth an estimated US$27 billion. In 2009, that figure doubled to US$54
billion (Ruby, 2009). As exemplified by the United States and the United Kingdom, international
students contribute significantly to both the countries and the higher education institutions where
they are studying (Childress, 2009; Magaya, 2004; McFadden, Maahs-Fladung, & Mallett,
2012). As the largest host country for international students, the U.S. generates a significant
amount of revenue from international students through tuition, fees, and living expenses.
According to NAFSA (2015), during the 2013-2014 academic year, the 886,052 international
students and their families at universities and colleges across the U.S. sustained 340,000 jobs and
contributed $26.8 billion to the U.S. economy. This represents an 8.5% increase in job support
and creation and a 12% increase in dollar amount to the economy from the previous academic
year (NAFSA, 2015). The U.S. Department of Commerce listed higher education among the
United States ’ top service sector exports (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2015). Similar figures
can be seen in other countries as well. In 2014, three hundred thousand international students
studied in Australia with the majority of them in post-secondary institutions. This $15 billion
industry was Australia ’s fourth largest export (The Group of Eight, 2014). In the case of the
U.K., international students contributed US$9 billion to the U.K. economy in 2011 (Hurley,
2014).
Cultural benefits. International students add cultural diversity to the academic
environment at post-secondary institutions (McFadden et al., 2012; Ross et al., 2013; Sawir,
2013). International students enrich domestic students ’ learning landscape by introducing
different cultural perspectives. Domestic students become aware of cultural diversity and have
the opportunity to understand people with different ethnic backgrounds. Through both on- and
off-campus interaction, domestic and international students can enhance intercultural learning
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34
and gain mutual understanding from each other. This understanding is helpful in developing their
insights into international political, social, and economic issues (de Wit, 2011; Ross et al., 2007;
Ross et al., 2013).
International Student Mobility Trends
UNESCO has predicted an exponential growth in the worldwide flow of students in the
coming decade. In some countries, international student mobility is a central issue in higher
education. Many providers of higher education have used this influx of international students to
expand and diversify their offerings. Educational policies are shaped at the institutional, national,
and international levels to meet international students ’ needs and expectations.
Increase in International Students
The international education industry began to expand in the years following World War
II, with the highest growth rate occurring in the last 25 years. According to the OECD (2014)
and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2014a), the number of students enrolled in tertiary
education outside their countries of citizenship increased more than three times from 1.3 million
in 1990 to 4.5 million in 2012, which is equivalent to a compound annual growth rate of almost
7%. The total number is predicted to be to 5.5 million by the end of 2015. This growth rate is
greater than the overall increase in the global student enrollments in tertiary education. Asian
students form the largest group of these foreign students, accounting for 53% of total
international student enrollments. China, India, and Korea are the top three countries that send
students to study abroad (OECD, 2014).
According to UNESCO (2013), the growth of international students will continue, with
the number of international students estimated to reach 7 million by 2020. By 2025, it is forecast
that 70% of international students will come from Asia. Within Asia, China and India will be the
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35
two countries sending the most students abroad (Roberts, Chou, & Ching, 2010; Verbik &
Lasanowski, 2007).
Shifting Demographics
In 2012, the six major destination countries, the United States (16%), the United
Kingdom (13%), Germany (6%), France (6%), and Australia (6%), and Canada (5%) accounted
for more than half of the international student enrollments, and it is expected that these
percentages will remain fairly stable into the next decade (Gürüz, 2011; OECD, 2014).
However, there have been two major shifts in these demographic trends. First, new
players have emerged in international education market in the last few years. Countries such as
Qatar, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, which were previously sending their students
overseas, have boldly promoted internationalization in national education policies to encourage
foreign students to come to their countries (Bhandari & Blumenthal, 2011; McGarrah Sharp,
2013). Second, a growing number of students have chosen to study in countries within their own
regions. For example, of all the cross-border students hosted by countries in Central Asia, 65%
of the students came from Central Asia itself. In the East Asia and Pacific region, the trend of
intra-regional student flow is even more striking. Nearly 74% of the cross-border students
studying in the Asia-Pacific region came from other countries within the region (OECD, 2014;
Varghese, 2008).
Factors Affecting Students ’ Choices
Economic and educational factors have the greatest impact on international students ’
choices of destination countries and educational institutions (McMahon, 1992; Wei, 2013). The
gap between the economic development of a source country and that of a destination country is a
crucial determinant in the students ’ decision-making process. Potential students tend to choose a
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36
country with higher economic development than their home country, measured by GDP per
capita. In addition, a host country with a strong economic connection to the source country is
more likely to attract more potential students (Bhandari & Blumenthal, 2011; McMahon, 1992).
The education level of a host country is the second most important determinant for
international students ’ choices. Students who come from countries with a weaker education
system tend to opt for colleges and universities in overseas countries that have strong reputations
and higher quality of education, indicated by a place in world university rankings (Gürüz, 2011;
McMahon, 1992; Wei, 2013). An inst it uti on’s improvement in quality of education will have a
positive effect on the number of international students who want to attend.
Mazzarol and Soutar (2012) provide a framework to illustrate international students ’
decisions to enroll in a foreign higher education institution. They imagine that these decisions are
influenced by a combination of “push ” and “pull ” factors. Push factors, which operate within a
source country, include the perception of overseas pr ogra ms’ superiority, the inability to gain
entry into home country institutions, desiring programs of study that are unavailable in their
home countries, the desire for a better understanding of the “West,” and possible intentions to
migrate after graduating. Pull factors, which operate within a host country, include the reputation
of the host country, the reputation and teaching quality of the host institution, the host
institution ’s alliances, the host institution ’s alumni networks, the student enrollment numbers,
and flexibility in recognizing students ’ existing qualifications (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2012; Ross et
al., 2013).
Benefits Driving International Student Mobility
The experience of international study is quite positive, enjoyable, meaningful, and often
life-changing for most people (Altbach et al., 2009). The three main benefits to students can be
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are higher education quality, better career prospects, and enhancement of international
experience.
Higher Education Quality
Students often want to study abroad because of the perceived higher quality of education
provided by overseas institutions compared to those in their countries of citizenship (Mazzarol &
Soutar, 2012; Sawir, 2013). Those students tend to originate from countries with weaker
education systems, or else they may fail to get a place in a higher education institution in their
home countries. But even some students who have already been accepted by their domestic
universities choose to study abroad to benefit from overseas institutions with better reputations
(Mazzarol & Soutar, 2012; McFadden et al., 2012; Neubauer & Kuroda, 2012). This decision is
often driven by a desire to receive international recognition of qualification and experience
curricula that they believe to be superior (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2012; OECD, 2014). In addition,
students regard proficiency in the English language as a critical factor for achieving success in
business and in life (OECD, 2014; Sawir, 2013).
Career Prospects
Many international students believe that degrees or credentials obtained from more-
developed countries will give them better employment opportunities (Maringe, 2006; Souto-
Otero et al., 2013). As international markets require the capability to work in an inter-cultural
environment, many students, particularly from less-developed countries, believe that studying
overseas will help them acquire the skills sought by larger multinational enterprises.
International education enables students to be better positioned to compete in the global job
market since it helps to foster a cosmopolitan identity rather than limiting students to the labor
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38
markets of their home countries (Childress, 2009; Findlay, 2011; Findlay et al., 2012; Gürüz,
2011).
International Experience
Findlay (2011) pointed out that students see themselves as achieving “distinction ”
through international experience. Students also develop capabilities to work in a cross-cultural
world. Moreover, overseas education often assists this segment of the population in achieving
social mobility and economic success in many countries (Altbach et al., 2009; Findlay, 2011;
Findlay et al., 2012).
Barriers to International Students
The barriers which prevent international students from studying abroad can be examined
through three dimensions: knowledge, motivational, and organizational.
Knowledge Issues
There are four types of knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive
(Anderson, Krathwohl, & Bloom, 2001). Lack of factual knowledge is commonly seen among
potential students. They may have little information about many of the overseas universities.
They may be unaware of the degree programs offered and the academic requirements of these
universities, and they may not know about differences in the structure of the academic year
between their home country and the host country (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2012; Souto-Otero et al.,
2013; Varghese, 2008). In terms of conceptual knowledge, students may not know about the
reputation of overseas universities, quality of instruction, usefulness of degrees, course materials,
acceptance of a student ’s prior education qualification, and recognition of the degrees in their
home countries (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2012; OECD, 2014; Varghese, 2008). There might also be a
lack of recommendations from parents, relatives, and friends, whose opinions are crucial during
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39
the students ’ evaluation process. In terms of procedural knowledge, some students might not
know how to access information for overseas universities or how to apply for admission.
Insufficient knowledge on how to start a new life in a foreign country may also be an obstacle for
potential students due to inexperience. Lack of knowledge on logistic matters, such as a host
country ’s living conditions, climate, accommodation, transportation, and student support, can
also discourage potential students from making attempts to study abroad (Findlay, 2011; Jiang &
Carpenter, 2013; Knight, 2014; Kondakci, 2011).
Motivational Issues
Clark and Estes (2008) stated three types of motivational processes: active choice,
persistence, and mental effort. Key motivational variables underlying lack of choice, persistence
and mental effort include self-efficacy, interest, value, goals, expectancy outcome, and
attribution (Pintrich, 2003). Students are more interested in studying overseas when host
countries are geographically closer to their home countries (Kondakci, 2011; Shields, 2013).
Potential students are more likely to go abroad when they perceive that a degree obtained in an
overseas country has a higher level of value and usefulness for their employment prospects
(Gachon, 2011; Maringe, 2006; Park, 2009). Furthermore, students have a greater desire to
choose an overseas university when they have more interest in the subjects offered abroad and
when they expect to perform well academically (Gachon, 2011; Kondakci, 2011; Maringe,
2006). Conversely, students tend to refrain from studying abroad for fear of failure when they
did not have satisfactory academic records in the past (Maringe, 2006; Ross et al., 2013).
Organizational, Cultural, and Resource Issues
Clark and Estes (2008) observe that a lack of organizational work processes, support, and
material resources can be barriers to goal achievement. Students may put off their study-abroad
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decisions due to lack of financial resources, family issues, and fear of cultural differences or
social obstacles in foreign countries (McFadden et al., 2012; Ross et al., 2013; Souto-Otero et al.,
2013). Most students are worried about acquiring financial aid or scholarships. In addition, they
may be afraid of leaving their families for a prolonged period. Culturally, they may be uncertain
about whether or not they have the capability to adapt to a new social environment quickly,
especially if they have no experiences living overseas.
International Students Studying in Asia
In the last decade, Asia has seen the largest growth in international student mobility, not
only in sending their students overseas but also in receiving students from other countries within
its region. Several Asian countries have amended their international education policies, including
visa application procedures, in order to attract international students. The growth in intra-
regional students shows the growing importance of regional mobility over global mobility
(OECD, 2014).
Regionalization of Higher Education
Under the influence of globalization of higher education, many Asian countries have
established themselves as “higher education hubs, ” attracting students from all over the world
through improved academic quality and international reputation (Gürüz, 2011; Kondakci, 2011;
Neubauer & Kuroda, 2012). Knight (2014) defines an “education hub” as a planned effort to
build a critical mass of local and international factors strategically engaged in cross-border
education, training, knowledge production, and innovation initiatives (p. 211). According to
Schrott (2012), a global education consultant in Phoenix, Arizona, “Asia is the region of the
future. It is a strategic growth area, and education hubs are a ‘good environment ’ in which
students from the United States and other countries can become integrated into the region ” (as
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cited in Dessoff, 2012, p. 18). From Singapore to South Korea and from Hong Kong to Malaysia,
higher education hubs are emerging across Asia. Singapore has established a plan to develop its
“Global Schoolhouse. ” The Malaysia Ministry of Education has initiated “a world-class ” quality
education which aims to attract at least 200,000 international students to its country by 2020.
Korea has established projected hub campuses in the country ’s free economic zones (Dessoff,
2012; Verbik & Lasanowski, 2007). According to the China Association for International
Education (China Association for International Education [CAFSA], 2014), China is also
positioning itself to be a leader in Asia with an average growth in international student
enrollment exceeding 8% annually, the highest in the world (Altbach & Knight, 2007; Deardorff,
de Wit, Heyl, & Adams, 2012; Dessoff, 2012). While each of these education hubs has declared
ambitious plans to attract thousands more international students in the upcoming years, the
majority of their international students originate from countries in the same region (Kondakci,
2011; OECD, 2014). China, Malaysia and Singapore each has approximately 68% of their
international students sourced from the Asia-Pacific region (UNESCO, 2013). Researchers have
attributed the intra-regional student mobility to socio-cultural and linguistic similarities between
the source and host countries, as well as the growing prestige of some Asian universities
(Neubauer & Kuroda, 2012; Verbik & Lasanowski, 2007).
Growing Numbers of International Students in Asia
Asia has seen the largest and fastest growth in the higher education industry. In 2011,
students from East Asia and the Pacific region accounted for 53% of the world ’s international
students (2.4 million out of 4.5 million), but 20% of these students chose to remain in the Asian
region (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2014b). Asia is the only continent that has experienced
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growth in the number of international students throughout the region (Marginson, Kaur, & Sawir,
2011; OECD, 2014; Pan, 2013).
In 2012, Japan, China, and Korea had a combined share of approximately 6% of the
global student market, and each had an increased number of international students compared to
2000 (OECD, 2014). With respect to the absolute number of incoming international students,
China experienced the largest expansion: about 5.7 times from 61,869 in 2001 to 377,052 in
2014 (CAFSA, 2014). The Chinese government aims to increase international student
enrollments in its higher education institutions by 40% to about 500,000 by 2020, which will
then exceed the number of students it sends abroad. Singapore seeks to grow its number of
international students by a whopping 66% in only one year from 90,000 in 2014 to 150,000 in
2015 (Becker & Kolster, 2011; Marginson et al., 2011). On the whole, Asia is expected to
continue its astonishing growth throughout the next decade.
Factors that Influence International Students ’ Choice of Asia
Many Asian countries have been able to attract a large number of international students
through fast economic growth and declared ambitions to build world-class universities (Kell &
Vogl, 2012; Verbik & Lasanowski, 2007). These countries have invested a massive amount of
financial and human resources in higher education improvement initiatives and international
student recruitment (Knight, 2014; Verbik & Lasanowski, 2007).
Many Asian students prefer studying in Asia mainly because of the geographical
proximity and lower cost of higher education (Kell & Vogl, 2012; Verbik & Lasanowski, 2007).
Students are also attracted by the lower cost of living, employment opportunities within the
region, and improved student services provided by Asian universities. Many Asian countries
have established favorable policies, plans, and programs to welcome international students by
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offering scholarships, helping them to stay on to work after graduation, removing visa
restrictions, etc. (Kell & Vogl, 2012; Knight, 2014; QS Top Universities, 2014; Verbik &
Lasanowski, 2007). The most striking effort in this vein is a significant number of joint-degree
programs between Asian countries, most notably China and Singapore, and foreign educational
institutions (Marginson et al., 2011; Obst, Kuder, & Banks, 2011).
International Students Studying in Taiwan
In the last decade, Taiwan has shifted its focus from sending students abroad to receiving
international students into its country. This change was initiated by the Taiwanese government as
an approach to enhance the reputation and competitiveness of its higher education in response to
the global trend of internationalization. The Ministry of Education has demanded a quality
improvement of Taiwanese universities in order to establish Taiwan as an education hub in the
long run.
Historical Trends
The history of Taiwanese international student recruitment can be divided into three
periods. During the first period (1950-1986), Taiwanese universities recruited Chinese students
from the Southeast Asian countries in order to develop diplomatic ties with Southeast Asian
countries. Most of these Chinese students ’ parents immigrated to the Southeast Asian countries
after World War II. Taiwanese universities were able to attract those Chinese students with a
higher quality of education. The second period (1987-2001) saw a great shift in the political and
social climate in Taiwan. During this period, the higher education system transformed from
elitism to massification. The number of Taiwanese higher education institutions rapidly
increased from 28 in 1986 to 164 in 2008 (MOE, 2015b). In order to expand the international
student base, the government gave an equal weight to overseas Chinese students and
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international students. By 2000, the number of overseas Chinese students and that of
international students became almost equal (MOE, 2004). During the third period (2001 to
present), there has been an explosive growth in the number of international students as the
Taiwanese universities are now targeting students from all over the world (Ching & Chin, 2012;
Ma, 2014).
Increasing Number of International Students in Taiwan
These international enrollment trends in Taiwan follow historical East Asian patterns.
Traditionally, Taiwanese students regarded studying abroad as a way of climbing up the social
ladder to success. Education was an investment in students ’ futures. The number of Taiwanese
students studying abroad increased by 14% from 27,100 in 1998 to 31,010 in 2013, with 70% of
the students going to Western countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and
Australia (MOE, 2015c). In 2002, Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), which
liberalized international trade. Consequently, Taiwan has opened its market —including the
higher education market —to embrace free trade with other countries. The Taiwan Ministry of
Education announced a target of “ten times in ten years,” or a tenfold increase in the number of
degree-seeking foreign students from 2002 to 2011. The MOE has planned to achieve this goal
by enhancing the quality of teaching and research in its universities. Teaching-improvement
projects and quality-assurance mechanisms were established by Taiwanese universities. Under
these joint efforts between the government and institutions, the number of degree-seeking
international students in the Taiwanese universities increased by 280% from 14,330 in 2006 to
40,078 in 2014. Along with this increase in the number of international students, there was also a
change in international student demographics. Degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate
international students as a percentage of the total international students, excluding China, soared
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from 20% in 2005 to 35% in 2014 (MOE, 2015d). The growth in the number of degree-seeking
international students can be found in Appendix E.
In 2014, more than half (61.2%) of the international students in Taiwan came from Asia,
while 22.7% was from the United States and 12% was from European countries. Students from
Japan compose the largest international group at 20%, followed by Vietnam, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Korea, and the United States (MOE, 2015e). The rising number of incoming
international students can be attributed to the global popularity of the Mandarin language, the
growing reputation of the Taiwanese universities, the proximity to Asian students ’ countries, and
the availability of scholarships offered by the Taiwan Ministry of Education (Bhandari &
Blumenthal, 2011; Kell & Vogl, 2012; Neubauer & Kuroda, 2012).
Government Policies
The Taiwanese government is strongly in favor of hosting even more international
students and believes that international students will enhance Taiwan ’s global competitiveness
(MOE, 2013). In 2013, MOE set a high priority on exporting higher education. It established a
goal of doubling the number of international students within three years through academic
collaborations with Southeast Asian countries. International students as a percentage of all
Taiwanese tertiary enrollments increased only slightly from 1.3% in 2008 to 2.6% in 2012. In
2013, the MOE declared an aggressive goal to increase the percentage of international students
in the total student population from 2.6% in 2012 to 10% in 2020. The international student
recruitment program is designed in part as a solution to Taiwan’s declining number of domestic
students. To achieve this goal, the MOE will formulate policies to help colleges and universities
attain higher levels of internationalization by granting more joint-degree programs, English-
taught courses and by establishing an international student recruitment center (Executive Yuan of
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Taiwan, 2011; Kell & Vogl, 2012; Lo, 2009). At the same time, the MOE will lift internship
restrictions during international students ’ studies in Taiwan and help them find employment after
graduation (Executive Yuan of Taiwan, 2011).
The rationale behind the government policy in support of international student
recruitment can be explained by academic, economic, social-cultural, and political benefits.
From the academic perspective, internationalization helps higher education institutions to
collaborate on research and teaching programs with international partners and thus move
universities up in world university rankings. The economic benefit is also substantial. According
to the Executive Yuan of Taiwan (2011), international students more than doubled their
economic contribution to Taiwan ’s economy from US$262 million in 2007 to US$572 million in
2010 through tuition and other fees alone. The economic gains were even greater when their
living expenses and their family members ’ spending were added. From the socio-cultural
perspective, international students expand domestic students ’ exposure to cultural diversity and
different points of view. From the political perspective, international academic cooperation
builds stronger bonds between Taiwan and other countries while promoting Taiwan ’s soft power
(Ma, 2014; Neubauer & Kuroda, 2012; Roberts et al., 2010).
Recruiting Challenges for Taiwanese Universities
Taiwanese universities face many recruiting challenges, the primary one being the lack of
a strong international reputation. Many Taiwanese universities are considering international
accreditation as a way of enhancing their reputations and of developing joint-degree programs
(Neubauer & Kuroda, 2012). However, less than 5% of Taiwanese universities have received
international accreditation. Taiwanese universities in general suffer from low international
visibility. For example, only five of the 164 universities (about 3%) are ranked among the top
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500 universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. All five of these
universities are large, public, well-funded research universities.
Additionally, Taiwanese universities have substantial difficulty internationalizing their
curricula. They are not able to respond quickly to the changing needs of international students.
There are also deficiencies in the availability of international degree-programs, English-speaking
faculty members, and staff capable of developing high-quality international curricula (Chin, Wu,
& Ching, 2012; Ching & Chin, 2012). The Executive Yuan of Taiwan (2011) further pointed out
that there was a lack of an international student community and insufficient staff to support
international students. To make the problem worse, Taiwan faces an intense competition in its
own Asian region. In Singapore, Hong Kong, and China, governments and institutions have
joined forces to develop world-class universities (Delgado-Márquez et al., 2013; Verbik &
Lasanowski, 2007). Strong brand names and academic achievements have made the international
student recruitment outcomes impressive in these countries (Delgado-Márquez et al., 2013;
Marginson et al., 2011; Mazzarol & Soutar, 2012). Taiwan seems to be less competitive
compared to neighboring countries. It is especially difficult for private universities to recruit
international students because most government funding is allocated to large public universities
that rank higher than the private ones. Private universities have less infrastructure and fewer
resources than public universities do for attracting international students (Chen & Lo, 2013;
Dian-Fu & Yeh, 2012).
Impediments to International Student Recruitment in Taiwan
Given the strong growth of international student enrollment on both the global and
regional levels, there is a significant opportunity for Taiwanese universities to recruit
international students with full support from the government. EAU has set an organizational goal
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to increase its international students fourfold from 100 in 2013 to 400 in 2016, as a remedy for
the shortage in domestic students and to benefit from the larger trend of internationalization in
higher education. It is important to understand the possible causes that impede the International
Education Office of EAU, the stakeholder that this study focuses on, from achieving its desired
outcome. Each of the causes must also be validated before starting to suggest solutions for
improvement. The assumed causes stem from knowledge, motivational, and organizational
dimensions, and they have been identified through learning and motivational theory as well as a
review of the literature.
Assumed Causes from Learning, Motivation, and Organization Theory
Anderson et al. (2001) identified four types of knowledge: factual, conceptual,
procedural, and metacognitive and six categories of cognitive processes comprised of:
remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating (Anderson et al.,
2001). Clark and Estes (2008) stated that the three motivational “indexes ” or types of
motivational processes are active choice, persistence, and mental effort. Gallimore and
Goldenberg (2001) addressed the concept of culture and context through two key ideas: cultural
models and cultural settings. These theories were used as the framework to discuss the
knowledge, motivational, and organizational problems that may exist in the IEO.
Knowledge issues. In terms of factual knowledge, the IEO staff members might simply
not know where to find their target students in the first place. They probably do not know which
countries had resources to help them start recruiting international students. Furthermore, they
may not know what type of people, groups, or organizations to contact for assistance in
recruitment. In terms of procedural knowledge, the IEO staff members may not know how to
start recruiting international students in non-Chinese speaking countries due to inexperience and
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language/cultural barriers. Metacognitively, the IEO staff members may not classify information
properly or use the right tactics to present the value of EAU and its degrees to potential students
based on the cultural and social contexts of different countries.
Motivational issues. There were three possible motivational causes of the IEO staff
members ’ failure to make an active choice to recruit more international students. First, they did
not think they possessed the necessary skills to promote EAU in foreign countries due to low
self-efficacy. Second, the IEO staff members had low outcome expectancies because they did not
believe that international students would choose Taiwan, a small island nation with limited job
opportunities, as their destination country. Third, the IEO staff members saw international
student recruitment as having a high cost. They may equate having more international students
with greater burdens, because international students require much more attention and support to
adapt to their new environment. International students were also seen as having a greater chance
of causing social “problems ” and “risk” (Wang, 2009).
Organizational, cultural, and resource issues. Clark and Estes (2008) describe a view
of culture as part of a given organization or environment. The organizational culture might shape
a difference in the performance style of the employees (Clark & Estes, 2008). Negative belief,
competition, and lack of autonomy may be three cultural factors which act as organizational
barriers. There may be a negative belief among the IEO staff members because they see
themselves as an unimportant unit at the university, given the small percentage of international
students (1%) compared to domestic students (99%). The IEO staff members may consider their
department inferior to bigger ones, such as the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of
Academic Affairs, which serve a much larger local student body. Second, there may be
competition among IEO staff members because their recruiting outcomes could be a vital
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performance indicator in employee appraisal, leading to promotion and raise. Therefore, IEO
staff members were reluctant to share their recruiting experiences with one another for fear that
others would outperform them. Third, there may be a lack of autonomy and choice. It is not
unusual to see IEO staff members simply follow orders from university leaders without having a
chance to voice their own opinions.
Assumed Causes from Literature Review
A number of possible causes from the literature review may contribute to the IEO ’s
incompetence in recruiting more international students. The causes from the literature review
were categorized into knowledge, motivational and organizational issues.
Knowledge issues. Lack of knowledge hinders an organization from achieving its goal
(Clark & Estes, 2008). To engage in internationalization more effectively, higher education
institutions must seek knowledge pertaining to student demographics as well as factors by which
international students make their choices of universities.
The number of international students has been growing rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region
due to several factors: a rising demand for higher education, economic growth, lower living
costs, and geographic proximity. Countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and China have
invested a significant amount of resources to build education systems that have attracted more
international students (Dessoff, 2012; Kell & Vogl, 2012; Marginson et al., 2011). These
countries could serve as models for other countries in shaping international student recruitment
strategies, particularly in ways of building connections with international students in spite of
cultural differences. There are also quite a few Taiwanese universities that have recruited a large
number of international students to their campuses since 2012. The IEO staff members may not
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know that they could model themselves after other Taiwanese universities with more successful
international student recruitment rates.
IEO staff members must learn in which countries and age demographics represent the
best opportunities for recruiting international students. According to the MOE (2015d), Japan,
Vietnam, and Malaysia were the top three countries that sent students to Taiwan during the 2013-
2014 academic year. Also, a growing number of undergraduate students express interest in
studying abroad. However, young students are often uncertain of where and what they want to
study, which can make recruitment efforts much more arduous (McFadden et al., 2012; OECD,
2014). But overall, this increase in the desire for a cross-border education presents a tremendous
opportunity for Asian higher education institutions.
An important part of factual knowledge necessary for international recruitment involves
the factors by which international students make their choices of higher education institutions
outside their home countries. Their behaviors are primarily influenced by “push ” and “pull ”
factors. “Push ” factors focus on students ’ dissatisfaction with domestic higher education that
drive them to seek their education in overseas countries. They see an overseas qualification as
superior to a local one, with difficulties in gaining access to domestic education institutions
anyway. They also have a desire to learn about other countries. “Pull ” factors describe the
aspects through which host countries attract students. These elements include the image and
awareness of a destination country, social and cultural connections between the source and host
countries, cost of living, and the distance between the two countries (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2012;
OECD, 2014; Park, 2009).
According to the OECD (2014), there are four underlying factors in students ’ choices for
a country of study: language of instruction, quality of academic programs, tuition fees, and
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immigration policy. The language used and spoken in instruction is regarded as a “critical
factor. ” Countries with language of instructions widely spoken, such as English, become leading
destination countries for international students. International students also increasingly select
their universities based on the quality of education offered, especially as determined by the
ranking of a university. Countries that charge the same tuition fees for both domestic and
international students have an easier time recruiting international students. Some countries have
eased their immigration policy to encourage international students to study in those countries
(OECD, 2014).
In terms of metacognitive knowledge, IEO staff members must be aware of various
marketing variables and tools in order to create appropriate marketing strategies based on the
factors that motivate potential students to choose one university over another. With that
information, IEO staff members may emphasize the strengths that EAU possesses that appeal to
potential students. Marketing variables include institutional reputation (quality academic
programs and quality of faculty); degree recognition by a stud e nt’s home country; the destination
c ountr y ’ s overall reputation; cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, health insurance,
accommodation, etc.; financial aid; and international student service programs (Joseph et al.,
2012; Magaya, 2004; Verbik & Lasanowski, 2007). Marketing tools consist of institutional
websites, promotional materials, Internet information, brochures, magazines, advertising, public
relations activities, recruitment tours, and word-of-mouth marketing. It is vital that IEO staff
members disseminate information to potential students through selected marketing tools. The use
of alumni networks and referrals could also be helpful (Magaya, 2004; Sawir, 2013; Verbik &
Lasanowski, 2007).
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Motivational issues. Motivation combined with knowledge, skills, and work processes
can result in goal achievement. Motivation consists of three indexes: active choice, persistence,
and mental efforts (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Mazzarol (1998) listed six success factors for internationalization of higher education:
image and resources, coalition and forward integration, possession of offshore teaching
programs, the ability to offer a broad range of internationalized courses/academic programs,
quality and expertise of instructors with international and intercultural backgrounds, and strict
administration over students (Chen, 2012; Liu & Dai, 2012). According to survey results
released by QS World Grad School in 2012, international recognition of the university remains
the single most important criterion that students consider when choosing a study destination (QS
Top Universities, 2014). EAU faces fundamental challenges in this area. There was a relatively
low degree of international recognition and internationalization of curricula, which probably
cause the IEO staff members to have low outcome expectancy for their recruiting efforts, since
they realize that EAU was not well-positioned to attract international students.
International students who intend to study abroad make comparisons among their choices
at three levels. First is the global trend. The higher the degree of internationalization of post-
secondary education on the global scale, the more students will be inclined to study abroad. The
second consideration is at the national level. Students are concerned about which particular host
country to go to. The third consideration is at the institutional level (Marginson et al., 2011;
Maringe, 2006). From the perspective of the IEO staff members, international student
recruitment was influenced by both external factors including global competitive environment
and government policies and internal factors involving policies and processes (Ross et al., 2013;
Verbik & Lasanowski, 2007). Since there are a variety of factors contributing to the success of
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international student recruitment, it could be very easy for the IEO staff members to attribute
their failure to external uncontrollable causes instead of their own efforts.
Organizational, cultural, and resource issues. Childress (2009) stated that
internationalization is a process of institutional transformation. It requires a paradigm shift to
alter institutional stakeholders ’ assumptions from an inward focus to a broad international
perspective (Childress, 2009). Higher education institutions must gather information, commit,
and then make a centralized internationalization plan to identify recruitment goals. That way,
they can ensure that the institutional and departmental policies are aligned with the centralized
plan, while providing material support for these activities (Childress, 2009; Hanover Research
Council, 2010; Hénard et al., 2012).
A number of organizational factors may hinder the IEO from being able to recruit
additional international students. The first obstacle is limited financial and human resources.
Although an institution ’s recruiting experience, size of the recruiting department, and recruiters ’
capabilities all had effects on the international student recruitment outcome, the financial
resources are deemed to be the most important criterion in carrying out an international student
recruitment plan (Childress, 2009; Jiang & Carpenter, 2013; Ross et al., 2007). The ability to
provide appropriate teaching staff and facilities combined with proper academic programs was
critical (Mazzarol & Soutar, 2001). IEO staff members may not have adequate financial
resources, and they may not see that EAU has high-quality academic programs. Second, a lack of
a campus-wide understanding of international education prevented the coordination of a
recruitment plan. International student recruitment is an integrated effort among key departments
(marketing, faculty, and administration) within an organization (Jiang & Carpenter, 2013;
McFadden et al., 2012). The IEO staff members could have suffered from insufficient
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information and consensus among key departments. Third, a lack of top management support
impeded the international student recruitment plan. Ineffective organizational practices,
resistance to change within key personnel, and lack of student supports (such as the slow speed
of the admissions office, complicated rules for international student settlement, and transport and
accommodation needs) all served as organizational barriers for the IEO staff members
(Childress, 2009; Joseph et al., 2012; McFadden et al., 2012).
Taiwan is not one of the fastest growing countries in Asia, and therefore it makes less
investment in the internationalization of higher education when compared to China, Japan, and
Singapore. Hénard et al. (2012) suggested, “Institutions in low-income countries and less open to
internationalization should be provided with road maps, sets of best practices, and a step-by-step
approach to start the internationalization process. Network may be helpful to support in this
respect ” (p. 26). Although EAU may believe that recruiting international students opens many
possibilities, there may not be a well-designed organizational process to help the IEO staff
members understand the environment, develop a strategic recruiting plan, optimize
implementation, and evaluate results (Childress, 2009; Hénard et al., 2012; Mazzarol & Soutar,
2001).
Summary and Conclusion
Internationalization of higher education is a global trend in the 21st century. The number
of international students has grown from 1.1 million in 1985 to 4.5 million in 2012 and is
forecast to reach at least 7 million by 2020. This significant growth of international students
represents a huge market opportunity for higher education institutions worldwide. At the same
time, global competition for international students will intensify and new destination countries
will emerge.
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Although the six major host countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany,
France, Australia, and Canada) continue to enroll about 50% of international students up to 2012,
Asia has gained momentum in the internationalization of higher education. Many Asian
countries, such as Singapore, China and Qatar, are quickly transforming themselves into
education hubs with improved quality of their own education system. Growth in intra-regional
mobility has become a major trend.
Many higher education institutions have found themselves competing in a “global higher
education market ” (Altmann & Ebersberger, 2013; Mazzarol & Soutar, 2001; McGarrah Sharp,
2013). International students bring economic benefits to higher educational institutions and also
bolster institutions ’ academic standing and student diversity. A higher level of
internationalization strengthens an educational institution ’s reputation as well. In order to recruit
international students in the face of fierce global competition, a higher education institution must
adopt a more proactive approach and gain a deeper understanding of international student
mobility. It was also important to understand the barriers that prevent a higher education
institution from recruiting international students.
The primary stakeholder of this study is the International Education Office of EAU.
Barriers to the IEO ’s international student recruitment are drawn from motivational/learning
theories, and a review of the literature was analyzed from the knowledge, motivational and
organizational dimensions. The knowledge issues included the countries from which to recruit
international students, student demographics, the factors in which students make their choices of
universities, and marketing strategies. The motivational issues involved IEO ’s low self-efficacy,
low outcome expectancy, low task value, and attributions to external factors. The organizational
issues consisted of negative beliefs, competition, a low degree of autonomy, insufficient
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resources, and a lack of a campus-wide consensus and top management support. A gap analysis
model was used to identify knowledge, motivational, and organizational issues that impeded
international student recruitment. Chapter 3 describes the methodology for the identification of
the assumed causes for IEO ’s inability to recruit more international students and details the
process by which the assumed causes were validated.

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CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
Purpose of the Project and Guiding Questions
The purpose of this study was to examine the root causes preventing the International
Education Office of an East Asian University from being able to recruit more international
undergraduate and graduate students. EAU must admit at least 5,000 domestic and international
students to its undergraduate and graduate degree programs each fall in order to have a financial
surplus. To attain this, given declines in domestic student enrollments, it was projected that EAU
would need to increase its enrollment of international students from 100 in 2014 to 400
international students in July 2016.
The primary stakeholder for this study was the IEO, which was responsible for recruiting
international students. According to EAU ’s internal projection, the number of international
students admitted was expected to naturally double to 200 by Fall 2016 even if no improvement
plan was implemented. However, in order to compensate for the shortfall of domestic students,
the IEO must admit a total 400 international undergraduate and graduate students in July 2016.
With the required admission intake of 400 international undergraduate and graduate students and
the expected achievement being only 200, IEO ’s performance gap was 50%. Hence, it was
important to understand the underlying causes for this gap and then propose and examine
solutions that would help the IEO recruit more international undergraduate and graduate
students, or EAU would face a deficit on its financial statement. As such, the following questions
guided this study:
1. What are the knowledge and skill, motivational, and organizational causes preventing
the International Education Office from increasing international student recruitment?
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2. What are the knowledge and skill, motivational, and organizational solutions to these
causes?
Framework for the Study
This study sought to determine the root causes of IEO ’s performance gap between the
projected 200 international undergraduate and graduate student admissions and the desired
outcome of 400 admitted students in July 2016. Once the causes were validated, this study
developed research-based solutions to close IEO ’s performance gap. Clark and Estes ’ (2008) gap
analysis, which is a systematic and analytical method that helps to clarify organizational goals
and to identify the gap between the actual performance level and the preferred performance level
within the organization, were applied to guide this study.
The gap analysis was divided into six stages: In the first stage, an organization ’s
performance goal was identified and then followed by the stakeholder ’s performance goal. In the
second stage, the stakeholder ’s performance gap was determined. In the third stage, some
assumed causes for the performance gap were generated based on personal knowledge,
learning/motivational/cultural theories, and related literature. In the fourth stage, these causes
were validated by qualitative methods: surveys, interviews, literature reviews, and content
analysis. In the fifth stage, research-based solutions were recommended and implemented in a
comprehensive way. In the sixth and final stage, these solutions were evaluated at four levels to
measure the degree to which the performance gap was closed, to revise performance goals, and
to suggest performance improvements.
Gap analysis uses several different approaches for gathering and analyzing data.
Specifically, it uses qualitative methods such as interviews, document analyses, and observation
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along with quantitative methods such as surveys, and mixed methods, which combine interviews,
surveys, document analyses, or observations. The gap analysis process is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Gap analysis process

Assumed Causes of the Performance Gap
When a problem exists in an organization, there are often many variables occurring at the
same time and involving many people. Individuals in an organization have the tendency to
respond to problems based on assumed and unexamined causes drawn from their past
experiences, due to overconfidence as well as time or social pressure (Clark & Estes, 2008). As a
result of their presumptions, organizational improvement solutions are speedily implemented
without first validating the causes of performance gaps. When performance improvement
programs fail, it can make the organization perform worse and damage its ability to survive
(Clark & Estes, 2008). The gap analysis provides a framework to assess causes in an evidence-
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based manner. A thorough investigation into the possible causes of performance gaps should
included three components: (a) scanning (informal) interviews with stakeholders; (b) learning,
motivation, and organization/cultural theories to help gain a deeper understanding of possible
causes; and (c) review of the literature of the specific topic in question to shed light on the
assumed causes. The causes for the IEO ’s inability to recruit more international students were
identified in the dimensions of knowledge, motivation, and organization.
Scanning Interviews
Based on observations of the IEO and informal conversations with IEO staff members,
the following knowledge and skills, motivational, and organizational assumed causes leading to
the IEO ’s inability to recruit more international students were discovered:
Knowledge and skills. As EAU had only started to recruit non-Chinese speaking
international students in 2009, the IEO was first assumed to have a factual knowledge problem.
IEO staff members did not know from which countries they could recruit international students.
They also did not know in which countries they might find people, groups or organizations to
contact for assistance in order to start recruiting international students. The second assumed
cause, based on procedural knowledge, was that the IEO staff members did not know how to use
all of the available recruiting methods, even if they were aware of them. The third assumed cause
was based on metacognitive knowledge. The IEO staff members did not know which recruiting
methods could be applied to which countries in order to achieve maximum outcome.
Motivation. The IEO staff members were not aggressively recruiting international
students; they did not make an active choice to do so for four possible reasons. First, they saw no
chance of succeeding despite their effort due to lack of experience (low outcome expectancy).
Secondly, they were unaware of the importance of recruiting more international students in order
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62
to compensate for the shortfall of domestic students (low attainment value). Additionally, the
IEO staff members were not given a clear numerical goal of international students to recruit by a
certain date (lack of goal content).
The fact that IEO staff members were not consistently recruiting more international
students indicates an issue on the motivational index of “persistence. ” There were two possible
causes in this regard: first, IEO staff members were preoccupied with short-term international
student and scholar programs so that they did not have enough time to recruit long-term degree-
seeking international students (high cost value). Second, there may have been a high employee
turnover rate making the recruiting work only intermittent. Since the employees did not plan to
stay with their jobs for a long time, they may not have thought that learning how to recruit more
international students was useful for their future careers (low extrinsic value).
Moreover, the IEO staff members did not make adequate mental efforts in recruiting
more international students, due to three possible causes: first, they did not want to learn new
recruiting techniques because it took too much time and effort (high cost value). Second, they
were not confident about recruiting international students in countries with which they were
unfamiliar (low self-efficacy). Third, they saw the recruitment outcome as the result of external
uncontrollable causes, such as government policy or unsupportive leadership, rather than the
result of their own recruiting efforts (attributions).
Organization. There were three possible organizational barriers preventing the IEO staff
members from actively recruiting more international students. The first assumed cause was
resistance to change, as the IEO staff members tended to adhere to the current practice of short-
term international programs rather than implement the newer task of recruiting long-term
international students. The second possible cause was an organizational attitude of helplessness
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63
because the IEO staff members saw themselves as being unimportant and unsupported by the
university due to the small size of the department. The last likely cause was that the IEO staff
members lacked resources such as manpower and funding.
Summary
Table 2 is a summary of the sources of assumed causes discovered from scanning
interviews, learning and motivational theory, and a review of the literature described in Chapter
2, categorized as Knowledge, Motivation, and Organization.

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Table 2
Summary of Sources about Assumed Causes of Knowledge, Motivational, and Organizational
Issues
Causes

Sources
Knowledge
(indicate for each if it is
(F)actual, (C)onceptual,
(P)rocedural, or
(M)etacognitive Motivation Organizational Processes
Scanning interviews,
personal knowledge
 IEO staff members do not
know from which
countries to recruit
international students. (F)
 IEO staff members do not
know in which countries
they may find people to
help them start recruiting
international students. (F)
 IEO staff members do not
know how to use all the
recruiting methods. (P)
 IEO staff members do not
know which recruiting
methods should be applied
to which countries. (M)
 IEO staff members see no chance
of succeeding. (low outcome
expectancy)
 IEO staff members do not see the
importance of recruiting more
international students. (low
attainment value)
 IEO staff members are not given a
clear goal of international student
recruitment. (lack of goal content)
 IEO staff members are
preoccupied with short-term
international student programs so
that they do not have enough time
to recruit long-term degree
seeking international students.
(high cost value)
 IEO staff members do not think
that learning how to recruit
international students is useful for
their future careers. (low extrinsic
value)
 IEO staff members do not want to
learn new recruiting techniques,
because it takes too much time
and effort. (low cost value)
 IEO staff members are
unconfident about being able to
recruit international students in
countries with which they are
unfamiliar. (low self-efficacy)
 IEO staff members see
recruitment outcome as the result
of external, uncontrollable causes,
not the result of their own
recruiting efforts. (attributions)
Cultural Model:
 IEO staff members
have strong
resistance to change,
as they tend to
adhere to the current
practice of short-
term international
programs.
(resistance to
change)
 IEO staff members
have an attitude of
helplessness,
because they see
themselves as being
unimportant and
rarely receiving
support from
university. (attitude
of helplessness)

Cultural Setting:
 IEO members lack
resources such as
manpower and
funding. (lack of
resources)

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Table 2, continued
Causes

Sources
Knowledge
(indicate for each if it is
(F)actual, (C)onceptual,
(P)rocedural, or
(M)etacognitive Motivation Organizational Processes
Learning and
motivation theory
 IEO staff members do not
know what type of people,
group, or organization they
may get assistance from in
the countries where they
intend to recruit
international students. (F)
 IEO staff members do not
know how to start
recruiting potential degree-
seeking students in non-
Chinese speaking
countries. (P)
 IEO staff members do not
know how to present the
value of EAU and its
degrees based on
cultural/social context of
different countries. (P)
 IEO staff member do not
think that they possess the
necessary skills to promote
EAU in foreign countries.
(low self-efficacy)
 IEO staff members do not
think that international
students would choose
Taiwan as their destination
country. (low outcome
expectancy)
 IEO staff members think that
international students require
too much attention and
support due to language and
cultural barriers. (low cost
value)
Cultural Model:
 IEO staff members see
themselves as an
unimportant department
given the small
percentage of
international students
(2%). (negative belief)
 IEO staff members are
reluctant to share
recruiting tips with one
another, because
recruiting outcome
impacts an employee ’s
promotion and raise.
(competition)
Cultural Setting:
 IEO staff members
simply follow orders from
university leaders without
participating in the
decision-making process.
(lack of autonomy and
choice)
Background and
review of the
literature
 IEO staff members do not
know that they can model
themselves after some
Taiwanese universities
which have successfully
recruited international
students. (F)
 IEO staff members do not
know which factors are
important in affecting
students ’ choices of
universities. (F)
 IEO staff members do not
know which recruiting
strategies can be applied,
based on the factors in
which potential students
make their choices of
universities. (M)
 IEO staff members do not
expect to succeed in
recruiting more international
students, because EAU is not
strong in the two most
important criteria:
“Internationalization of
curriculum ” and
“international recognition ”.
(low outcome expectancy)
Cultural Setting:
 EAU lacks an overall
strategic plan to align
internationalization of
curricula with other
initiatives designed to
internationalize the
institution. (lack of
strategic plan)

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Validation of the Causes of the Performance Gap
The remaining sections of Chapter 3 will describe the processes and instruments through
which assumed causes were assessed and validated. Qualitative methods, including interviews,
surveys, and document analysis, were utilized to triangulate data. The study results were used to
determine which assumed causes were validated and required solutions and which ones turned
out to not be problems and therefore did not require any solutions.
Validation of the Causes of the Performance Gap: Knowledge
Validation of factual knowledge causes. To validate the assumed causes stemming
from deficiencies in factual knowledge, surveys were used as instruments to ask IEO staff
members to indicate the countries from which they thought they could recruit degree-seeking
international students. The IEO staff members were then asked to list the countries in which they
might find people to help them start recruiting degree-seeking international students. Third, the
IEO staff members were asked to write down the types of people, groups, or organizations they
might go to for assistance in the countries where they intended to recruit international students.
In addition, the surveys were to find out if the IEO staff members knew which Taiwanese
universities had useful models for learning international student recruitment best practices.
Lastly, the IEO staff members were asked to assess the importance of various factors affecting
potential students ’ choices of universities. The text of the survey can be found in Appendix H.
Instrument 1: Survey. Sample items included
1. The IEO staff members were asked an open-ended question, “From which countries
do you think you can recruit international students? ” (KF)
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2. The IEO staff members were asked an open-ended question, “What type of people,
group, or organization can you contact for assistance in the countries where you
intend to recruit international students? ” (KF)
3. The IEO staff members were asked an open-ended question, “Which Taiwanese
universities can you learn international student recruitment from? ” (KF)
4. The IEO staff members were asked a question using a Likert scale of four, “How
important do you think the following factors are in affecting potential students ’
choices of universities? ” The choices included EAU ’s reputation, quality of degree
program, desire to learn Chinese, strong relationship between EAU and a foreign
university, etc. (KF)
Validation of procedural knowledge. There were two assumed causes in relation to
procedural knowledge: first, it was assumed that IEO staff members did not know how to use all
the recruiting methods even if they were aware of them. Moreover, they did not have ideas how
to start recruiting potential degree-seeking students in non-Chinese speaking countries.
Additionally, it was assumed that the IEO staff members did not know how to present the value
of EAU and its degrees based on differing cultural/social context of different countries. To
validate these assumed causes, interviews, surveys, and document analyses were used as
instruments. During the interviews, the participants were asked how they would start recruiting
potential degree-seeking students in non-Chinese speaking countries and how they would present
the value of EAU based on the social/cultural contexts of different countries. During the surveys,
the IEO staff members were given a question using a Likert scale of four to indicate how
confident they felt about using the specified recruiting methods. For document analysis purposes,
the IEO director was asked to provide marketing tools they used, such as designs of websites,
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brochures, poster, etc in order to understand the types of recruiting methods the IEO staff
members had used.
Instrument 1: Interview. Sample questions include
1. “How would you start recruiting potential degree-seeking students in non-Chinese
speaking countries? Please give some examples. ” (KP)
2. “How would you present the value of EAU and its degrees to recruit degree-seeking
international students based on the social/cultural contexts of different countries? ”
(KP)
Instrument 2: Survey. The IEO staff members were asked a question using a Likert
scale of four, “How confident do you feel about using the following recruiting methods? ” The
choices included EAU website, social media, overseas recruiting tour, EAU alumni networks,
etc. (KP)
Instrument 3: Document Analysis. The IEO director was asked to provide marketing
tools, such as designs of websites, brochures, poster, etc. (KP)
Validation of metacognitive knowledge causes. There were two assumed causes in
relation to metacognitive knowledge: First, it was assumed that the IEO staff members did not
know which recruiting methods could be applied to which countries. Second, the IEO staff
members were assumed not to know which recruiting strategies should be applied based on the
factors by which potential students choose their universities.
To validate these causes, two instruments were used: interviews and document analysis.
The IEO staff members were assessed on their ability to analyze, evaluate, and apply
information. During the interviews, they were asked how they would change their international
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students recruiting strategies for different countries, and how they would formulate recruiting
strategies based on the factors in which international students make their choices of universities.
Instrument 1: Interview. Sample questions included
1. “How would you change the international student recruiting strategies for different
countries? Please give me some examples. ” (KM)
2. “How would you formulate your recruiting strategies based on the factors in which
international students make their choices of universities? ” (KM)
The assumed knowledge causes and validation methods are summarized in Table 3.

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Table 3
Summary of Assumed Knowledge Causes and Validation
Assumed Knowledge Cause How Will It Be Validated?
Factual:
1. IEO staff members do not know from
which countries to recruit international
students.
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked an open-ended question,
“From which countries do you think you can recruit
degree-seeking international students? ” (KF)
Factual:
2. IEO staff members do not know in
which countries they could find people
to help them start recruiting
international students.
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked an open-ended question,
“In which countries can you find people to help you start
recruiting degree-seeking international students? ” (KF)
Factual:
3. IEO staff members do not know what
type of people, group, or organization
to contact for assistance in other
countries.
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked an open-ended question,
“What type of people, group, or organization can you
contact for assistance from in the countries where you
intend to recruit degree-seeking international students? ”
(KF)
Factual:
4. IEO staff members do not know that
they could model themselves after
some Taiwanese universities which
had successfully recruited many
international students.
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked an open-ended question,
“Which Taiwanese universities can you learn
international student recruitment from? ” (KF)
Factual:
5. IEO staff members do not know which
factors were most important when
students make their choices of
universities.
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked a question using a Likert
scale of four, “How important do you think the following
factors are in affecting potential students ’ choices of
universities? ” (KF)
Procedural:
6. IEO staff members do not know how
to use all the recruiting methods
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked a question using a Likert
scale of four, “How confident do you feel about using the
following recruiting methods? ” (KP)
Document Analysis:
The IEO director was asked to provide marketing tools,
such as designs of websites, brochures, poster, etc. (KP)

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Table 3, continued
Assumed Knowledge Cause* How Will It Be Validated?
Procedural:
7. IEO staff members do not know how
to start recruiting international
students in non-Chinese speaking
countries.
Interview:
IEO staff members were asked, “How would you start
recruiting potential degree-seeking students in non-
Chinese speaking countries? Please give me some
example. ” (KP)
Procedural:
8. IEO staff members do not know how
to present the value of EAU and its
degrees based on cultural/social
contexts of different countries.
Interview:
IEO staff members were asked, “How would you present
the value of EAU and its degrees to recruit degree-
seeking international students based on social/cultural
contexts of different countries? Please give me some
examples. ” (KP)
Metacognitive:
9. IEO staff members do not know which
recruiting methods could be applied to
which countries.
Interview:
IEO staff members were asked, “How would you change
your international student recruiting strategies for
different countries? Please give me some examples. ”
(KM)
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked a question on a Likert
scale of six, ” I know which recruiting strategies for
degree-seeking international students to use in which
countries. ” (KM)
Metacognitive
10. IEO staff members do not know which
recruiting strategies should be applied,
based on the factors in which potential
students make their choices of
universities.
Interview:
IEO staff members were asked, “How would you
formulate recruiting strategies based on the factors in
which international students make their choices of
universities? ” (KM)
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked a question using a Likert
scale of six, ”I know how to formulate a recruiting plan
based on the most important factors affecting
international students ’ choices of universities. ” (KM)

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Validation of the Causes of the Performance Gap: Motivation
The first indicator of motivation is active choice, which means that someone has made a
choice to actively pursue a work goal (Clark & Estes, 2008). The IEO staff members ’ behavior
of not actively recruiting more international students could be explained by three possible
causes: first, the IEO staff members had low outcome expectancy. They saw no chance of
succeeding in this goal even if they tried hard due to limited experience. In addition, they did not
believe that Taiwan offers favorable job prospects for international students after they graduate.
EAU also lacked adequate internationalized curricula and an international reputation to attract
foreign students (low outcome expectancy). Second, the IEO staff members did not see the
importance of recruiting more international students to compensate for the shortfall of domestic
students (low attainment value). Third, the IEO staff members were not given a clear numerical
goal of recruiting a specific number of international students (lack of goal content).
The second motivational indicator is persistence, which becomes a problem when people
get distracted too often or for too long by less important work goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). There
could be three possible causes for the IEO staff members not consistently recruiting more
international students. First, the IEO staff members were preoccupied with short-term
international student programs, leaving little time to recruit long-term degree-seeking
international students (high cost value). Second, the IEO staff members did not plan to stay with
their jobs for a long time, so they did not believe that learning new recruiting techniques would
be useful for their future careers (low extrinsic value). Third, the IEO staff members thought that
international students required much more attention and support compared to domestic students
due to language and cultural barriers, so they were reluctant to recruit more of them (high cost
value).
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73
The third motivational indicator is mental effort. Choosing and persisting must be
accompanied by adequate mental effort invested in key work goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). It
seems that the IEO staff members did not try hard to recruit more international students due to
three possible causes. First, the IEO staff members did not want to learn new recruiting
techniques because it took too much time and effort (high cost value). Second, they were not
confident about being able to recruit international students in countries with which they were
unfamiliar. They did not believe that they possessed the necessary abilities and skills to promote
EAU in foreign countries (low self-efficacy). Third, they interpreted the low achievement
outcomes as the result of external uncontrollable causes, such as government policy, unnecessary
rules or unsupported leadership, and not the result of their own efforts (attributions).
To validate the assumed motivational causes, interviews, surveys, and document analyses
were used as instruments. Through surveys, the IEO staff members were asked a list of questions
to assess and validate their underlying psychological constructs, namely, low outcome
expectancy, low task value, a lack of goal content, and attributions to external factors. During the
interviews, the IEO staff members were asked whether or not they had a clear goal, and how
successfully they thought they could recruit international students.
Instrument 1: Interviews. Sample questions included:
1. Do you have a clear goal of recruiting a certain number of degree-seeking
international students by a certain date? What is your goal content? (MGC)
2. How successfully do you think you can recruit international students? Why? (MSE)
Instrument 2: Surveys. Sample questions included (Likert scale of six will be used):
1. Even if I try hard, I do not expect to see a successful outcome of recruiting more
degree-seeking international students. (MOE)
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74
2. It is important to recruit more degree-seeking international students. (MAV)
3. We have a goal to recruit a specific number of degree-seeking international students
each year. (MGC)
4. I often choose short-term international student program over degree-seeking
international student recruitment. (MCV)
5. I believe it is useful to learn new techniques to recruit degree-seeking international
students. (MEV)
6. I believe long-term international students are more troublesome, so I prefer not to
increase the number of those students. (MCV)
7. Learning new techniques to recruit degree-seeking international students is important
to me. (MCV)
8. I am confident that I can recruit degree-seeking international students in unfamiliar
countries. (MSE)
9. The outcome of recruiting degree-seeking international students is the result of
external uncontrollable causes, such as government policy, not my own efforts. (MA)
The assumed motivational causes and methods to validate are summarized in Table 4.

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Table 4
Summary of Assumed Motivation Causes and Validation
Motivational Problem Type of Indicator Possible Cause(s)* How Will It Be Validated?
IEO staff members
are not actively
recruiting more
international students.
Active Choice 1. IEO staff members
see no chance of
succeeding due to
inexperience,
unfavorable Taiwan
job market, lack of
internationalized
curricula and low
international
reputation. (low
outcome
expectancy) (P,T,
L)
Survey:
IEO staff members were
asked:
Written Likert-scale of 6
survey items ( “strongly
agree ” to “strongly
disagree ”) were applied to all
survey items below:
1. Even if I try hard, I do
not expect to see a
successful outcome of
recruiting more degree-
seeking international
students. (MOE)
2. I do not think the results
of recruiting degree-
seeking international
students will be
satisfactory, even if I try
hard. (MOE)
IEO staff members
are not actively
recruiting more
international students.
Active Choice 2. IEO staff members
do not see the
importance of
recruiting more
international
students in order to
compensate for the
shortfall of
domestic students.
(low attainment
value) (P)
Survey:
IEO staff members were
asked:
1. It is important to recruit
more degree-seeking
international students.
(MAV)
2. Recruiting more degree-
seeking international
students is important to
me. (MAV)

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76
Table 4, continued
Motivational Problem Type of Indicator Possible Cause(s)* How Will It Be Validated?
IEO staff members
are not actively
recruiting more
international students.
Active Choice 3. IEO staff members
are not given a
clear goal of
recruiting a specific
number of
international
students. (lack of
goal content) (P,T)
Interview:
IEO staff members were
asked, “Do you have a clear
goal of recruiting a certain
number of degree-seeking
international students by
certain date? If yes, what is
the goal content? ” (MGC)
Survey:
IEO staff members were
asked:
1. We have a goal to
recruit a specific
number of degree-
seeking international
students each year.
(MGC)
2. I know my goal of
exactly how many
degree-seeking
international students to
recruit each year.
(MGC)
IEO staff members
are not consistently
recruiting more
international students
Active Choice,
Persistence
4. IEO staff members
are preoccupied
with short-term
international
student programs so
that they do not
have enough time
to recruit long-term
degree-seeking
international
students (high cost
value) (P, T)
Survey:
IEO staff members were
asked:
1. I often choose short-
term international
programs over degree-
seeking international
student recruitment.
(MCV)
2. I am preoccupied with
short-term international
student program so that
I do not have enough
time to recruit degree-
seeking international
students. (MCV)

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77
Table 4, continued
Motivational Problem Type of Indicator Possible Cause(s)* How Will It Be Validated?
IEO staff members
are not consistently
recruiting more
international students
Persistence 5. IEO staff members
do not plan to stay
with their jobs for a
long time.
Therefore they do
not believe that
learning new
recruiting
techniques is useful
for their future
careers. (low
extrinsic value) (P,
T)
Survey:
IEO staff members were
asked:
1. There is a high turnover
rate in my department.
(MEV)
2. I believe it is useful to
learn new techniques to
recruit degree-seeking
international students.
(MEV)
3. Learning new
techniques to recruit
more degree-seeking
international students is
useful to me. (MEV)
IEO staff members
are not consistently
recruiting more
international students
Persistence 6. IEO staff members
think that
international
students require
much more
attention and
support, due to
language/cultural
barriers. (high cost
value) (P,T)
Survey:
IEO staff members were
asked:
1. I believe long-term
international students
are more troublesome,
so I prefer not to
increase the number of
those students. (MCV)
2. Long-term degree-
seeking international
students are harder to
care for, so I do not like
to recruit more of them.
(MCV)

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Table 4, continued
Motivational Problem Type of Indicator Possible Cause(s)* How Will It Be Validated?
IEO staff members do
not try hard to recruit
more international
students.
Mental Efforts 7. IEO staff members
do not want to learn
new recruiting
techniques, because
it takes too much
time and
efforts.(high cost
value) (P)
Survey:
IEO staff members were
asked:
1. Learning new
techniques to recruit
degree-seeking
international students is
important to me. (MCV)
2. It is important for me to
learn new techniques for
recruiting degree-
seeking international
students. (MCV)
IEO staff members do
not try hard in
recruiting more
international students.
Active Choice,
Mental Efforts
8. IEO staff members
are unconfident
about being able to
recruit international
students in
countries with
which they were
unfamiliar. (low
self-efficacy) (P, T)
Interview:
IEO staff members were
asked, “How successfully do
you think you can recruit
more degree-seeking
international students in
other countries? Why? ”
(MSE)
Survey:
IEO staff members were
asked:
1. I am confident that I can
recruit degree-seeking
international students in
unfamiliar countries.
(MSE)
2. I know I will be able to
recruit degree-seeking
international students in
unfamiliar countries.
(MSE)

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Table 4, continued
Motivational Problem Type of Indicator Possible Cause(s)* How Will It Be Validated?
IEO staff members do
not try hard to recruit
more international
students.
Mental Efforts 9. IEO staff members
see the recruiting
results as external
uncontrollable
causes, not their
own recruiting
efforts.
(attributions) (P,T)
Survey:
IEO staff members were
asked:
1. The outcome of
recruiting degree-
seeking international
students is the result of
external uncontrollable
causes such as
government policy, not
my own efforts. (MA)
2. The outcome of
recruiting degree-
seeking international
students involved many
external factors, thus it
is beyond my control.
(MA)

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Validation of the Causes of the Performance Gap: Organization/Culture/Context
Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) addressed the concept of culture and context through
the key ideas of cultural models and cultural settings. Cultural models are shared mental schema
or normative understandings of either how the world works or how it ought to work. Cultural
settings are defined as occurring “whenever two or more people come together, over time, to
accomplish something ” (p. 47). The two cultural concepts were used to analyze organizational
problems.
With respect to cultural models, there were four possible causes of the IEO ’s inability to
recruit more international students. First, there appeared to be strong resistance within the IEO
itself. The IEO staff members tended to adhere to the current focus of short-term international
student/scholar programs, and they felt reluctant to change to the harder task of recruiting
degree-seeking international students. Second, an attitude of helplessness seemed to prevail in
the IEO. The staff members saw themselves as unimportant because their requests were often
rejected and their suggestions went unsupported by university leaders. Third, there was a
negative general atmosphere within the IEO because the staff members saw themselves as
insignificant given the small percentage of international students (2%). Lastly, there was a great
deal of competition among the IEO staff members that made them unwilling to share their
recruiting experiences with one another.
In relation to cultural settings, there were three possible causes for the IEO staff’s
performance gap: a lack of resources, a lack of autonomy or choice, and a lack of strategic
planning across departments. The current performance problems suggested that the IEO staff
members did not have adequate resources, such as manpower and funding, to carry out the task
of being able to recruit additional degree-seeking international students. Moreover, a lack of
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autonomy and choice seemed to exist, as many IEO staff members simply followed the orders
from university leaders without being given the ability to make their own decisions. Also, the
IEO staff members ’ opinions were not valued by university leaders. Furthermore, the university
did not have a long-term strategic plan across departments that aimed to recruit, educate, and
support international students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. Therefore, the
IEO staff members probably thought it was too challenging for EAU to attract international
students.
To validate these assumed organizational causes, interviews, surveys, and document
analyses were conducted. On the survey forms, the IEO staff members were asked a list of pre-
determined questions using a Likert scale of six to find out whether or not resistance to change,
an attitude of helplessness, negative beliefs, competition, a lack of resources, a lack of autonomy,
and a lack of a strategic plan existed within the organization. During the interviews, IEO staff
members were asked how much autonomy they had over recruiting degree-seeking international
students and to what degree their views on international student recruitment were taken by the
university leaders. Then, the IEO staff members were asked if there was a recruitment plan for
degree-seeking international students in their department as well as a strategic plan across
departments. Additionally, the IEO director was asked during the interview, to provide an
organizational structure chart showing the percentage of work hours spent on short-term and
long-term programs in order to identify the IEO ’s current work focus. Then, the IEO director
was requested to provide a departmental budget report showing the IEO ’s allocation of funds and
a comparison of budget vs. actual spending to see if there was extra money for recruiting more
international students.

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Instrument 1: Interview. Sample items included
1. How much autonomy do you have over your job of recruiting degree-seeking
international students? To what degree are your views on international student
recruitment taken by the university leaders? (OA)
2. Is there a recruiting plan for degree-seeking international students in your
department? Is there a strategic plan for recruiting degree-seeking international
students across departments? Please tell me about the plan details such as timeline,
resources, and people in charge. (OSP)
Instrument 2: Survey. Sample items included
1. I am competing against my department colleagues for better results of recruiting
degree-seeking international students. (OC)
2. I experience autonomy and choice over my job of recruiting degree-seeking
international students. (OA)
3. I am able to get the resources I need to recruit degree-seeking international students.
(OR)
4. I do not like to change my job from providing short-term international student
programs to recruiting degree-seeking international students. (ORC)
5. I feel helpless when trying to get support from the university for recruiting degree-
seeking international students. (OH)
6. I feel negative about my department because the percentage of international student is
small. (ONB)
7. There is a strategic plan across departments to achieve a common goal of recruiting
degree-seeking international students. (OSP)
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Instrument 3: Document Analysis
1. The IEO director was asked to provide an organizational structure chart showing
employees ’ respective job responsibilities and work hours spent on recruiting degree-
seeking international students.
2. The IEO director was asked to provide a budget report showing the percentages of
IEO ’s funds allocated to various short-term programs and long-term international
student recruitments. The report should indicate whether or not IEO has excess funds
to do additional recruiting work.
The assumed organizational causes and methods to validate them are summarized in
Table 5.

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Table 5
Summary of Assumed Organizational/Culture/Context Causes and Validation
Organizational Problem Possible Organizational Cause(s)* How Will it be Validated?
IEO staff members are
not actively recruiting
more international
students.
1. IEO staff members tend to
adhere to their current focus
of short-term international
student/scholar programs and
feel reluctant to change to the
harder task of recruiting
degree-seeking international
students. (resistance to
change) (P,T)
Survey:
Written Likert-scale of 6 were used
to all survey items below ( “strongly
agree ” to “strongly disagree ”):
IEO staff members were asked:
1. I do not like to change my job
from providing short-term
international student programs
to recruiting degree-seeking
international students. (ORC)
2. My department does not like to
change from arranging short-
term international student
program to recruiting long-term
international students. (ORC)
IEO staff members are
not actively recruiting
more international
students.
2. IEO staff members see
themselves as unimportant,
because their requests are
often rejected, suggestions
ignored, and ideas
unsupported by university
leaders. (attitude of
helplessness) (P, T)
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked:
1. I feel helpless when trying to get
support from the university for
recruiting degree-seeking
international students. (OH)
2. I seldom get adequate support
from the university for
recruiting degree-seeking
international students. (OH)
IEO staff members are
not actively recruiting
more international
students.
3. IEO staff members see
themselves as insignificant
given the small percentage of
international students (2%).
(negative belief) (P,T)
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked:
1. I feel negative about my
department because the
percentage of international
students is small. (ONB)

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Table 5, continued
Organizational
Problem
Possible Organizational
Cause(s)* How Will it be Validated?
IEO staff members are
not actively recruiting
more international
students.
4. IEO staff members
compete among
themselves and are
unwilling to share
recruiting experiences
with one another.
(competition)
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked:
1. I am competing against my department
colleagues for better results of
recruiting degree-seeking international
students. (OC)
2. There is a competition within my
department so that people are unwilling
to share their experiences of recruiting
degree-seeking international students
with one another. (OC)
IEO staff members are
not trying to recruit
more international
students.
5. IEO does not have enough
resources, such as
manpower and funding, to
recruit more degree-
seeking international
students. (lack of
resources) (P,T)
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked the following
on a continuous scale:
1. How many hours per week do you
spend on recruiting degree-seeking
international students? (OR)
IEO staff members were asked the following
questions using a Likert scale of six:
2. I am able to get the resources I need to
recruit degree-seeking international
students. (OR)
3. I have enough resources to recruit more
degree-seeking international students.
(OR)
Document Analysis:
1. The IEO director was asked to provide
an organization chart showing
employees ’ job responsibilities and the
percentage of work hours spent on
recruiting degree-seeking international
students. (OR)
2. The IEO director was asked to provide
a budget report showing IEO ’s
funding/expense allocation and whether
or not IEO has excess fund to do
additional recruiting. (OR)

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Table 5, continued
Organizational
Problem
Possible Organizational
Cause(s)* How Will it be Validated?
IEO staff members do
not make efforts to
enroll more
international students
6. IEO staff members
simply follow orders
from university leaders
without being given
freedom and the choice to
voice their own opinions.
(lack of autonomy and
choice) (P,T)
Interview:
IEO staff members were asked, “How much
autonomy do you have over your job? ”
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked:
1. I experience autonomy and choice over
my job of recruiting degree-seeking
international students. (OA)
2. I am often asked to share my views on
recruiting degree-seeking international
students and international student
recruiting plan. (OA)
7. The university does not
have a long-term strategic
plan across departments
to recruit, educate, and
support international
students. (lack of
strategic plan) (P.L)
Interview:
IEO staff members were asked, “Is there a
recruiting plan for degree-seeking
international students in your department? Is
there a strategic plan for recruiting degree-
seeking international students across
departments? Please tell me about the plan
details such as timelines, resources, and
people in charge.” (OSP)
Survey:
IEO staff members were asked:
1. There is a strategic plan across
departments to achieve a common goal
of recruiting degree-seeking
international students. (OSP)

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The knowledge, motivational, and organizational issues regarding the IEO ’s inability to
recruit more international students and their corresponding assumed causes were identified using
personal knowledge, learning/motivational/cultural theories, and related literature as summarized
above. Each of the critical causes was validated using interviews, surveys, or document analyses.
Then the findings from these interviews, surveys, and document analyses were triangulated to
gain a deeper understanding of the IEO ’s inability to recruit more international students.
Participants
The stakeholder population for the gap analysis was selected based on the criterion that
participants must be EAU employees actively involved in the process of recruiting degree-
seeking international students. Their tasks included, but were not limited to, planning student
recruitment, arranging meetings with prospective students, contacting schools and parents,
presenting information to prospective students, and answering inquiries. The primary
stakeholders who met these criteria included all fifteen IEO staff members: a director, seven
managers, and seven assistants. There were five male employees (33%) and ten female
employees (67%). All were native Taiwanese. Two other people play important roles in the
recruiting process although they are not the key stakeholders for this study. These two people
were the university president who directly oversees the IEO and the academic director of the
English-taught degree programs who recruits international students along with the IEO. The
president and the academic director were invited to participate in this study since their views
may also be helpful in developing recommendations for the IEO. All fifteen IEO staff members
were selected for the survey because their job responsibilities included either international
student recruitment or services. The IEO director and seven IEO mangers were selected for the
interview because they communicate with potential international students during the recruiting
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process. They are also responsible for recruitment outcome. The staff members were not selected
for the interview because they merely assisted the managers in the process of recruiting
international students.
All fifteen IEO staff members were sent the survey for completion. They were given one
week ’s advance notice prior to receiving the survey forms. The IEO director, seven IEO
managers, the university president, and the academic director were contacted for their
agreements to participate in a private face-to-face interview. The IEO director was the one to ask
his managers if they were willing to participate in the interviews on a voluntary basis. Hence, the
participants from the IEO for the interview component of this study were selected based on their
consent expressed to the IEO director. At the same time, I personally contacted the university
president and the academic director via telephone to find out if he was willing to participate in
the interview. The participants ’ consent was required before the interviews could be arranged.
The final group of participants for the interview consisted of the IEO director and seven IEO
managers, the university president, and the academic director for the English-taught degree
programs.
Procedures
To validate the knowledge, motivational, and organizational assumed causes of the I EO’ s
problems, surveys and face-to-face interviews were conducted along with document analyses. A
survey in paper form was developed based on an existing, validated, and reliable instrument
selected for the context of the study. The survey consisted of forty items with five open-ended
questions, two questions using a Likert scale of four, and thirty-three questions using a Likert
scale of six.
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All fifteen IEO staff members agreed to participate in the survey because they understood
that it was a project aimed to improve EAU ’s performance. The IEO director and the seven IEO
managers also consented to participate in the interviews. All interview appointments were made
in either October or November 2014. Both the survey and interview response rates were 100%.
The participants received the survey questions in Chinese, which is the official language
of Taiwan. To ensure the validity of the translation, forward translation and back translation were
used. All survey items were originally developed in the source language of English. A qualified
bilingual individual translated the English version of the survey items into. This person had a
good command of Chinese and English and had lived in both Taiwan and the U.S. In the process
of translation, the survey questions were worded slightly differently to reflect the appropriate
content and meaning in Chinese. A Chinese native speaker was then asked to pilot test the
translated version. Feedback was used to revise the survey. A different bilingual individual was
then engaged to translate the Chinese version of survey items back into English. The two English
versions were compared for discrepancies. The Chinese version of the survey items was
modified until the translated English version became similar in meaning to the original English
version. All fifteen IEO staff members received the Chinese version of the survey instrument.
The IEO staff members were required to answer the open-ended questions in Chinese only. After
the surveys were received from the IEO staff members, the responses to the open-ended
questions were translated into English.
Three highly structured interview protocols were developed. The order in which the
questions were asked was determined ahead of time to obtain specific information. The first
interview protocol was designed with ten questions for the IEO director and seven IEO
managers. The second interview protocol with eight slightly modified questions was prepared for
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the university president. The third interview with eight questions was further tailored for the
academic director of the English-taught degree programs.
The interviews were conducted by both an Office of Resource and Development (ORD)
chief manager and me. The ORD chief manager received training from me before he began the
interview. He clearly understood the purpose of the interview, the intention of each question, and
what specific information to dig up from each participant. All the interview questions were
translated into the source language of Chinese using a forward translation and back translation
approach to ensure the validity of the translation. Although the wording of the interview
questions was slightly modified to reflect the appropriate linguistic and cultural meaning in the
Chinese language, any major differences between the original English version of the interview
questions and the translated English versions were reconciled.
The ORD manager invited all seven IEO managers to participate in the interview. I
personally asked the IEO director about his willingness to participate in the interview. While
making each interview appointment, the participants were read the University of Southern
California (USC) Institutional Review Board (IRB) information sheet. The participants were
informed that they had the right to skip any questions and to terminate the interview at any time.
In addition, the IEO director and seven managers were assured that no personal information
would be asked during the interview and that the interview data would be kept strictly
confidential. However, participants were encouraged to fully express their views in order to
make the research successful. They were told that the recordings of their interviews would be
destroyed once the transcription was completed. Then the ORD manager arranged the interview
time and place with each of the seven IEO manager with approximately five days between each
interview.
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The pre-trained ORD chief manager used the Chinese version of the interview protocol to
conduct interviews with seven IEO middle managers. The ORD manager was at an equal level
with the IEO managers and knew the IEO managers fairly well, because they often met each
other at EAU ’s administrative meetings. The seven IEO managers were likely to perceive the
ORD manager as a non-threatening counterpart who was performing his routine job of assessing
processes, procedures, and performance. The ORD manager would certainly follow the standard
interview protocol precisely during the interviews. The advantage of the ORD manager using a
highly-structured interview was that he would rigidly adhere to the predetermined questions, so
that specific information could be elicited from the participants.
After the ORD manager conducted the first interview with an IEO manager, the
transcription was completed within three days. A summary of the main themes were prepared
and verified with the IEO manager for accuracy. Then the ORD manager proceeded to the next
interview. After the first two interviews, the ORD manager was confident about collecting
interview data. Each interview was transcribed on a password-protected laptop on a computer.
Each recording was played two times to ensure the accuracy of the content transcription.
I personally conducted the interviews with the upper-level managers, including the IEO
director, the university president, and the academic director, using the Chinese version of the
interview protocol as well. The three upper-level managers were likely to feel much more
comfortable about engaging in a conversation in attempt to understand the current situation and
to discern specific problems, because they often did the same with other university senior
managers. Although I used the same standard interview protocol to guide the dialogue, the
questions could be worded flexibly in response to the situation at hand and to the emerging views
of the participants. The interview lasted for one hour. If time permitted, the participants were
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encouraged to share more of their views and ideas on the topic. The interview data were
translated into English for further analysis.
The IEO director was asked to provide the five pre-determined documents over the phone
prior to the interviews to be collected either during the interview or at a later time. Any other
valuable documents uncovered during the interviews, informal conversations with the
participants, or during any site visits would also be acquired. Finally, any available qualitative
audio and visual materials related to the study, such as photographs, videotapes, web pages, and
social media text, were obtained to aid data analysis.
Data Collection
In this section, the three instruments used to collect data for this study will be introduced.
Please see Appendix F for a list of codes representing the assumed knowledge, motivational and
organizational causes in these instruments.
Interview
Face-to-face interviews were conducted starting in the Fall of 2014 with the IEO director,
seven IEO managers, the university president, and the academic director. Three highly-structured
interview protocols for the IEO staff members, the university president, and the academic
director, respectively (outlined in Appendix G) were employed to guide each interview. The
interviews would go directly to the questions regarding the assumed knowledge, motivational,
and organizational causes. Each interview would last for a minimum of one hour, with each
conversation recorded on a high-quality digital voice recorder along with handwritten notes. The
standard open-ended questions would first discover the participant ’s general knowledge on
recruiting strategies, and then they would probe into the impediments that they might be facing.
Finally, the participants would be asked to discuss any obstacles which may not be covered by
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the pre-determined questions as well as improvements that they believed could be done to
increase international student enrollment. The interview recording would be transcribed in
Chinese and the contents typed into a Microsoft Word file. Then the interview data would be
translated into English for further analysis.
Survey
Surveys in paper form were disseminated in Fall 2014, once the approval from the
University of Southern California ’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) was received. The IEO
director was informed of the survey for his entire department in September 2014 to avoid any
surprise. He was also queried if any of staff members would not be available to take a survey to
due to personal vacation, sick leave, or long business trip during October. A three-week schedule
was planned. A one-week notice was given, and then the surveys was distributed to all fifteen
IEO staff members through the IEO director and filled out anonymously. The IEO director was
given two weeks to collect the completed surveys and submit them to me. The survey results
were tabulated first by hand, then using statistical software to cross-check the findings. All
survey forms were kept at my home and the results were saved on a password-protected laptop.
The survey items could be found in Appendix H.
Document Analysis
Qualitative documents were collected during or after the interview to gain a deeper
understanding of the IEO staff members ’ work situations. A list of pre-conceived documents
included marketing tools, the IEO ’s organization structure charts, and the IEO ’s departmental
budget report. In addition, the IEO director and managers were asked if they had other
documents pertaining to international student recruitment, such as internal records, analysis
reports, meeting minutes, marketing materials, brochures, policies, web pages, videos, etc. Other
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documents that might emerge during the interviews would also be collected. These documents
would be reviewed and triangulated with survey results and interview findings in order to reach a
more comprehensive understanding of the assumed causes. Document analysis protocol can be
found in Appendix I.
Role of the Investigator
I serve as a member of an independent consulting team for EAU. One of the our key
responsibilities is to review EAU ’s managerial reports and to ensure that EAU has a financial
surplus each year by admitting at least 5,000 domestic and international students to its
undergraduate and graduate programs each fall. While the number of domestic students is
expected to drop by 300, or 6%, by Fall 2016, and by 16% by Fall 2019, it was imperative for
EAU to take pro-active measures to aggressively recruit more degree-seeking international
students. My role in this study was to conduct a problem-solving investigation in order to help
EAU maintain at least 5,000 domestic and international student admissions each fall, so that
EAU ’s finances would not be adversely affected.
Since I have a close relationship with EAU ’s senior managers, a potential problem
emerged: my participation in the study may have made the targeted participants refrain from
revealing the entire truth for fear of punitive action if they perceived that I was focusing on their
under-achievements. Participants may have also withheld their opinions, particularly concerning
negative beliefs or pessimistic views about organizational problems or poor leadership. The
following steps were taken to minimize these problems and encourage the participants to freely
express their views.
Since the participants in my investigation were in subordinate roles, it would be difficult
to obtain full and honest information from some of the participants, especially the lower-level
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managers. To reduce the problem, I enlisted a chief project manager from the Office of Research
and Development to assist in my study. The ORD Office is responsible for formulating EAU ’s
mid- and long-term plans, establishing performance indicators, implementing quality assurance,
and meeting the MOE ’s standards on instruction and research. For example, the ORD staff
members passed out surveys to EAU ’s employees and faculty at the end of each spring and fall
semester, to measure their satisfaction level on administrative support, faculty ’s professional
development and degree of internationalization, etc. Within one week, the ORD staff members
sent out on-line surveys to all students to assess their satisfaction levels on curricula, quality of
instruction, student career development, etc. Based on the survey results, the ORD staff
members carried out various projects each semester to improve the quality and performance of
EAU. Therefore, the Office of Research and Development was the best department to support me
in my study. I worked with the ORD to incorporate my study into their performance
improvement projects so that the participants would perceive my study as part of ORD ’s regular
program. The scope of my study involving surveys and interviews was smaller than the other
projects that the Office of Research and Development undertakes; hence my study could very
easily become a part of an ORD project.
I asked the ORD office manager to pass out the surveys for this study to the IEO staff
members. The ORD manager told the IEO staff members that the survey was part of the ORD ’s
regular project to improve EAU ’s performance. The purpose of the survey was to understand the
current situation of international student recruitment so that an improvement scheme could be
developed, based on their inputs. The surveys would be done completely anonymously, which is
the normal practice of the ORD office.
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Secondly, I split the interviews between the ORD manager and me. The ORD manager
interviewed the seven lower-level managers to relieve their face-to-face pressure with me, while
I interviewed the rest of the three upper-level managers. The ORD manager was trained prior to
the interview so that he would clearly understand the purpose of the interview and the
information required from the participants. The ORD manager explained to the seven IEO
managers that these interviews were part of the regular ORD program to improve EAU ’s
performance with an emphasis on increasing international student admissions as one solution to
solve the problem of the shrinking domestic college student population. As the IEO staff
members ’ views were extremely important and valuable to this project, they were urged to be
totally frank and open during the conversation. The ORD manager explicitly told the IEO project
managers that they would not be asked for any personal information so that no identification of
the participants was possible. The IEO managers were also assured that the study did not involve
scrutiny of their individual performance in any fashion. They would not be subject to reprisals
for giving negative comments. The interview data would be fully protected. No person except the
principal investigator would have access to the interview records and subsequent documents of
analysis. All of these confidentiality procedures were in accordance with the university ’s normal
practice. There was nothing unusual to this particular project.
I personally interviewed the university president, the IEO director, and the academic
director for English-taught degree programs. As all three of them are senior managers, they
would feel much more comfortable about discussing management and organizational issues,
which was a regular part of their jobs. Similarly, these three senior managers were told that no
personal information would be asked, that no individual performance would be scrutinized, and
that all of their answers would be kept strictly confidential.
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Data Analysis
This section explains the methods used to analyze the survey, interview and document
data. For survey results, the frequency of responses for each question was computed. Through
visualizing the distribution of the responses, the most critical assumed causes in knowledge,
motivational and organizational issues were identified. Interview results were first transcribed.
Then the “Eight Step Coding Process ” developed by Tesch (1990) was used to analyze the data.
Codes identifying different types of knowledge, motivational, and organizational causes were
used to identify categories. The data were divided into appropriate categories with corresponding
codes for analysis. The documents gathered were scrutinized and further compared with survey
and interview results in various categories to triangulate the findings.
The strategy of “member checking ” was used to ensure the validity of the interview
results (Creswell, 2003). This strategy requires that the researcher takes the interview findings
back to participants and let them determine whether or not the interpretation of the findings is
accurate. After the ORD manager conducted the first interview with an IEO manager, he gave
the transcript to me within three days. I made a brief summary of the main themes that I
interpreted from the transcript within two days. Then I asked the ORD manager to verify those
themes with the IEO manager for accuracy. The member checking process took approximately
one week from the date of interview to the completion of verification. The ORD manager did not
conduct the second interview until the interpretation of the first interview was verified. The
member checking approach was used for the first two interviews until the ORD manager became
confident about collecting interview data.
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Delimitations
The focus of this study was on improving the performance of the International Education
Office of EAU. The primary delimitation of this study was that it specifically addressed EAU ’s
mission and organizational goal; therefore the conclusions cannot be generalized. However,
other institutions may benefit from this study ’s application of Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap
analysis process by applying similar principles to their own performance areas in need of
improvement.
This study was also limited to mainly examining one key stakeholder group ’s knowledge
and practices (although two individuals from other stakeholder groups are interviewed). The
findings from one key stakeholder group may or may not represent that of the other stakeholders.
There may be other causes which hinder international students from being enrolled at EAU that
are not examined in this study. While one stakeholder ’s experiences and contributions are
important to the organization, an in-depth investigation of others critically involved in the
process of international student recruitment lies outside the scope of this current study.
In addition, this study was delimited by the social desirability bias, resulting in
participants providing answers they believe would be viewed favorably and might not be a true
presentation of their experiences. The participants may also give answers which closely reflect
the general social perception and not their own understanding. This is the case for both the
interview and survey contexts. The interviews were self-reported data, which were hard to verify
independently. What the participants say on a particular day about the issue was taken as
research data. Their memory, mood, and possible distractions may affect the quality of the
responses. In addition, the study was limited by the assumption that all the participants had
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understood and interpreted the interview questions and survey items in the manner intended.
Lastly, any statistical analysis was based on a correlational, not a causational, relationship.

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CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND FINDINGS
The focus of this study was to determine the root causes preventing the International
Education Office of an East Asian University from increasing international student enrollment.
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis was used as the framework for this study. Based on
personal knowledge, learning, motivation and cultural/organization theories, and a literature
review, the assumed knowledge, motivational, and organizational causes for IEO ’s inability to
recruit more international students were delineated in Chapter 3. The question that guided this
study was: what were the knowledge and skill, motivational, and organizational barriers that
were preventing IEO from increasing international student recruitment to 400 international
undergraduate and graduate students in July 2016? To answer this question, each of the assumed
causes under the dimensions of knowledge, motivation and organization was assessed.
Qualitative methods were used to collect data to validate the assumed causes.
Specifically, data from surveys, interviews, and document analyses were collected to investigate
the knowledge, motivational, and organizational barriers that IEO staff members have
encountered while recruiting international students. The surveys, interviews, and document
analysis took place in October and November 2014. The first step was to conduct surveys and
this process was completed in three weeks. The interview process began right after the survey
forms were distributed, so that the participants would have the idea that the purpose of the
interview was to supplement the survey questions. The interview process was completed in six
weeks. Lastly, specific documents were collected at the end of the interview process, in order to
gain a deeper understanding of the assumed knowledge and organizational causes.
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The findings from the surveys, interviews, and document analysis are presented and
synthesized here under the categories of knowledge, motivation, and organization. The goal in
this chapter is to determine which of the assumed causes in each category have been validated.
The next chapter will discuss any significant findings further and address solution development.
Results and Findings for Knowledge Causes
There are four types of knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive
(Anderson et al., 2001). This four-type knowledge framework provided the basis for identifying
the assumed causes in this gap analysis. The conceptual framework depicts a structure to assess
the assumed knowledge causes that contribute to the IEO ’s performance gap in international
student recruitment.
Survey Results
The entire survey instrument contained forty items, eight of which pertained to
knowledge causes. Among those eight items, five questions concerned factual knowledge, one
concerned procedural knowledge, and two concerned metacognitive knowledge. All of the
survey items were completed by all fifteen participants (n=15). To analyze the survey results,
frequencies, means, and standard deviations of the fifteen responses for each survey item were
computed. Through visualizing the frequency distribution of the responses, the most critical
assumed causes in knowledge issues were identified and examined.
Factual knowledge. Factual knowledge is the knowledge of discrete isolated content
elements, such as terms and facts (Anderson et al., 2001). To assess factual knowledge, five
survey questions were designed to scrutinize the IEO staff members ’ understanding of which
countries to recruit international students from, the people, groups, or organizations that may
help them start recruiting international students, high-performing Taiwanese universities in
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international student recruitment, and factors affecting potential international students ’ choices
of universities. Four questions were open-ended and one used a Likert scale of four.
Insufficient knowledge about main countries of origin. As EAU has only started to
recruit non-Chinese speaking international students in 2009, it was first assumed that the IEO
staff members did not know from which countries they could successfully recruit international
students. Hence, the IEO staff members were asked to identify the main countries from which
international students studying in Taiwan came from.
According to the MOE, more than ninety countries have sent international students to
Taiwan during the last decade. The top twelve countries —U.S., China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia,
Vietnam, Malaysia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, and Thailand —have each sent at least
300 international students to Taiwan annually from 2008 to 2013. These countries constituted
approximately 80% of the incoming international students to Taiwan (MOE, 2014). The IEO
staff members should had been aware of all twelve of these countries because they were the main
sources of international students.
According to the survey results, only 7% of the participants identified more than half of
the top twelve countries. Thirty-three percent of the participants identified half of these
countries. Sixty percent of the participants identified less than half of the twelve countries. Other
than the twelve main countries of origin, the Philippines, Myanmar, Nigeria, Panama, Singapore
were each listed by the participants once and Canada three times. Therefore, this assumed cause
was validated. The number of the twelve main countries of origin correctly identified by the
number of respondents appears in Figure 2. The full list of responses to this survey question is
provided in Appendix J.

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Figure 2. Responses to survey question 1: From which countries do you think you can recruit
degree-seeking international students? The number of respondents correctly identifying the
number of the twelve countries of origin is represented by each vertical bar.

Limited knowledge about countries to find contacts. Another assumed cause was that the
IEO staff members did not know in which countries to find people to help them start recruiting
international students. The IEO staff members were asked to identify the countries in which they
may find people to help them. According to the interview with EAU ’s president, the university
had connections with all twelve of these countries through sister schools, exchange students,
exchange scholars, Chinese communities overseas, or government agencies. Thus, IEO staff
members may find people to help them start recruiting international students in all twelve
countries.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Number of Respondents
Number of Countries Correctly Identified
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According to the survey results, only 7% of the participants identified more than half of
the twelve countries. Seven percent of the participants identified half of these countries. Eighty-
six percent of the participants identified less than half of the twelve countries. Therefore, this
assumed cause was validated. The number of the twelve countries correctly identified by the
number of respondents is in Figure 3. The full list of responses to this survey question from each
participant can be found in Appendix K.

Figure 3. Responses to survey question 2: In which countries can you find people to help you
start recruiting degree-seeking international students? The number of respondents correctly
identifying the number of the twelve countries is represented by each vertical bar.

Inadequate knowledge about types of assistance. It was assumed that the IEO staff
members did not know what types of people, groups, or organizations could be contacted for
assistance in order to start recruiting degree-seeking international students in other countries. The
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Number of Respondents
Number of Countries Correctly Identified
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IEO staff members were asked to identify the types of assistance that were available. According
to the interview with EAU ’s president, there were at least six overseas groups or organizations
that may provide assistance to EAU in recruiting international students. These were the
Ministries of Education, EAU ’s sister schools, EAU ’s alumni club, Education Exhibition
organizers in overseas countries, international student clubs in overseas countries, and
international student offices at overseas universities.
According to the survey results, only 13% of the participants identified more than half of
the at-least six groups and organizations that may offer assistance in overseas countries. Eighty-
seven percent of the participants identified less than half. Therefore, this assumed cause was
validated. The number of the six types of groups and organizations available for assistance
correctly identified by the number of respondents is in Figure 4. The response to this survey
question from each participant can be found in Appendix L.

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Figure 4. Responses to survey question 3: What types of people, groups, or organizations can
you contact for assistance, in the countries where you intend to recruit degree-seeking
international students? The number of respondents correctly identifying the number of the six
overseas groups or organizations available for assistance is represented by each vertical bar.

Lack of awareness of high performing universities. It was assumed that the IEO staff
members did not know that there were other Taiwanese universities that had successfully
recruited large numbers of international students, which could be used as models to learn from.
The IEO staff members were asked to identify other Taiwanese universities who had performed
better than EAU in international student recruitment. According to the MOE (2014), there were
nine Taiwanese universities that recruited more degree-seeking international students than EAU.
The nine universities were National Taiwan University, National Normal University, National
Cheng Chi University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Chung
Kung University, National Chiao Tung University, Private I-Shou University, Private Feng Chia
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1 2 3 4 5 6
Number of Respondents
Number of Organizations Correctly Identified
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University, and Private Ming Chuan University. In 2013, these nine universities enrolled
approximately 40% of the incoming international students and EAU could model its approach
after these nine universities.
According to the survey results, none of the fifteen participants identified more than half
of the nine universities that had recruited more international students than EAU. Twenty-seven
percent of the participants identified three of the nine universities, and the rest identified merely
one or two. Therefore, this assumed cause was validated. The number of the nine Taiwanese
universities for EAU to model its approach correctly identified by the number of respondents is
in Figure 5. The full list of responses to this survey question from each participant can be found
in Appendix M.

Figure 5. Responses to survey question 4: Which Taiwanese universities can you learn
international student recruitment from? The number of respondents correctly identifying the
number of the nine potential model Taiwanese universities is represented by each vertical bar.

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Number of Respondents
Number of Universities Correctly Identifed
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Sufficient knowledge about students ’ decision-making factors. It was assumed that the
IEO staff members did not know which factors were most important when prospective
international students chose their universities outside their country of citizenship. To measure the
IEO staff members ’ knowledge of these important factors, they were asked a survey question
using a Likert scale of four, “How important do you think the following factors are in affecting
potential students ’ choices of universities? ”
Based on the survey results, the participants identified these eight most important factors:
tuition, EAU ’s reputation, international students ’ recommendations, quality of EAU ’s degree
programs, job opportunities in Taiwan, international student support, the sister school
relationship between EAU and an overseas university, and the desire to learn Chinese. These
factors selected by the participants, with mean of 3.0 or higher, were consistent with the
literature review in Chapter 2 indicating that reputation, quality of education, and tuition were
critical in affecting international students ’ choices of universities. These results suggested that
the participants had sufficient knowledge about the most important factors. Therefore, this
assumed cause was not validated. These eight important factors will be used again below to
assess the IEO staff members ’ metacognitive knowledge in formulating recruiting strategies
based on these factors. The factors affecting prospective international students ’ choices of
universities listed in the order of importance are in Figure 6.

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Figure 6. Responses to survey question 6: How important do you think of the following factors
are in affecting potential students choices of universities? Factors affecting potential students ’
choices of universities in order of importance are represented by the horizontal bars.

In summary, four of the five assumed factual knowledge causes were validated. First,
only 40% of the participants were able to identify at least half of the twelve countries in which
they may recruit degree-seeking international students. Second, merely 14% of the participants
were able to identify more than half of the twelve countries in which they may find people to
help them start recruiting degree-seeking international students. Third, only 13% of the
participants were able to identify more than half of the types of people, groups, or organizations
they can contact for assistance in the countries where they intend to recruit degree-seeking
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
Denied university in own country
No similar program in own country
Geographical proximity
Taiwan's degree better
Cost of living
Learn other culture
Learn Chinese
Sister School
Student support
Job opportunity
Quality of education
Referral
EAU's reputation
Tuition
Mean
Factor
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international students. Fourth, none of the participants knew more than half of the nine
Taiwanese universities that have recruited more international students than EAU.
Only one of the five assumed factual knowledge causes was not validated. The IEO staff
members did know which factors were most important when students make their choices of
universities. These factors will be used again to assess the IEO staff members ’ metacognitive
knowledge below. In short, this high level of unawareness from the survey results suggests a
significant factual knowledge gap contributing to IEO ’s inability to recruit more international
students.
Procedural knowledge. Anderson et al. (2001) defined procedural knowledge as the
knowledge of how to do something. Procedural knowledge often takes the form of a series or
sequence of steps to be followed. One survey question using a Likert scale of four was designed
to measure the number of recruiting methods which the IEO staff members know how to use.
The IEO staff members were asked, “How confident do you feel about using the following
recruiting methods? ” Below this question, there were fifteen recruiting methods for them to
indicate their level of procedural knowledge.
High confidence about recruiting methods. From the survey results, the participants felt
very confident (mean > 3.0) about using two of the fifteen recruiting methods (13%). These
methods were EAU ’s website and overseas recruiting tours. The participants felt confident
(mean >2.5 and <3.0) about using six of the fifteen methods (40%). These methods were EAU ’s
alumni network, domestic recruiting seminars, social media, international students ’ testimonies,
promotional printing materials, and Internet searches. The participants felt slightly confident
(mean > 2.0 but < 2.5) about five of the fifteen methods (34%). These methods were advertising,
the MOE ’s offices in overseas countries ’ culture events, local high schools, and Taiwanese
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communities in overseas countries. And lastly, the participants did not feel confident (mean <
2.0) about using two of the fifteen methods (13%), which were PR events and external recruiting
agents. Based on these responses alone, it could be inferred that the participants were confident
about using eight of the fifteen recruiting methods. Therefore, this assumed cause seemed not to
be validated. The survey results were compared with document analysis, which confirmed the
finding as described below. The recruiting methods listed in the order of participants ’ confidence
level about using them are in Figure 7.
In summary, the participants felt confident about using eight of the fifteen recruiting
methods (53%), and less confident about using seven of these methods (47%).

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Figure 7. Responses to survey question 7: How confident do you feel about using the following
recruiting methods? The recruiting methods in order of participants ’ confidence level about using
them are represented by the horizontal bars.

Metacognitive knowledge. Metacognitive knowledge includes the knowledge of general
strategies that may be used for different tasks, the conditions under which these strategies may be
used, the extent to which the strategies are effective, and self-knowledge (Bransford, Brown, &
Cocking, 1999; Flavell, 1979; Pintrich, Wolters, & Baxter, 2000; Schneider & Pressley, 1997).
There were two survey questions pertaining to the assumed metacognitive knowledge causes in
this study. It was presumed that the participants did not have the knowledge about which
recruiting methods to apply based on the place and situation.
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Agents and consultants
PR activities
Overseas TW community
Local high schools
Cultural Events
MOE office in overseas country
Adversiting
Internet Search
Promotional materials
Testimony
Social media
Domestic recruiting seminar
EAU alumni networks
Overseas recruiting tour
EAU Website
Mean
Recruiting Method
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First, it was assumed that the IEO staff members did not know which recruiting methods
should be applied to which countries. The IEO staff members were asked a question about
recruiting strategies using a Likert scale of six. According to the survey results, 88% of the
participants indicated either “somewhat agree ” or “agree.” This result suggested that this
assumed cause was not validated. However, these survey results required a comparison with the
interview data, which showed contradictory results and will be described below. The responses
of this survey question are in Figure 8.

Figure 8. Responses to survey question 9: I know which recruiting strategies for degree-seeking
international students to use in which countries.

Second, it was assumed that the IEO staff members did not know which recruiting
strategies should be applied based on the factors by which potential students choose universities.
The IEO staff members were asked if they knew how to formulate a recruiting plan based on the
most important factors, using a Likert scale of six. According to the survey results, 93% of the
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat
Agree
Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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participants indicated either “somewhat agree ” or “agree.” Similar to survey question 9 above,
these survey results were also compared with the interview data which showed contradictory
result as described below. The responses of this survey question are in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Responses to survey question 10: I know how to formulate a recruiting plan based on
the most important factors affecting international students ’ choices of universities.

In summary, 87% of the participants indicated “somewhat agree ” or “agree ” that they
knew which recruiting methods should be applied to which countries. Ninety-three percent of the
participants indicated that they knew which recruiting strategies should be applied based on the
factors in which potential international students make their choices of universities. However, the
survey results required a comparison with the interview data before confirming the finding. As
presented below, the interview data for both of the assumed metacognitive causes revealed
contradictory results.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat
Agree
Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Summary of Survey Results
The survey results indicated that the IEO staff members lacked necessary knowledge.
Factually, they did not know enough countries from which they might recruit international
students. The IEO staff members had insufficient information about the countries in which they
could find people to help them start recruiting international students. They had limited
knowledge on the types of people, groups, or organizations to contact for assistance in overseas
countries. The IEO staff members were also unaware of the nine universities that had recruited
more degree-seeking international students than EAU. Procedurally, the survey results showed
that the IEO staff members were confident about using eight of the fifteen recruiting methods
(53%), but the results needed to be compared with the selected artifacts, which will prove that
the assumed cause is not true. Metacognitively, although the survey results indicated that
approximately 90% of the IEO staff members knew which recruiting methods should be applied
to which countries and based on the factors in which potential students make their choices of
universities; the survey results were contradictory with the interview findings, which will be
described below.
Findings from Interviews
Eight interviews were conducted with the IEO director and seven IEO managers who
were directly involved in the process of recruiting degree-seeking international students. Each
interview data was recorded and transcribed. The main themes from the interviews were then
identified and organized into different categories.
Insufficient procedural knowledge about recruiting methods. It was assumed that the
IEO staff members did not know how to start recruiting international students in non-Chinese
speaking countries. The participants were asked, “How would you start recruiting potential
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degree-seeking students in non-Chinese speaking countries? Please give examples. ” Based on the
collective interview data, the eight most widely used recruiting methods were identified:
overseas Education Expositions, sister schools, and alumni clubs being the top three, followed by
printed materials, EAU ’s website, MOE ’s overseas offices, scholarships, and international
students ’ referrals.
According to the interview data, only 25% of the participants identified at least half of the
eight recruiting methods. Seventy-five percent of the participants identified less than half of the
eight recruiting methods. Therefore, this assumed procedural knowledge cause was partially
validated. The number of the eight recruiting methods correctly identified by the number of
respondents is in Figure 10.

Figure 10. Responses to interview question 1: How would you start recruiting potential degree-
seeking students in non-Chinese speaking countries? The number of respondents correctly
identifying the number of recruiting methods is represented by each bar.

0
1
2
3
4
5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Number of Respondents
Number of Recruiting Methods Correctly Identified
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Lack of procedural knowledge about EAU ’s strenghs. It was assumed that the IEO
staff members did not know how to present the value of EAU and its degrees based on the
social/cultural contexts of different countries. The participants were asked, “How would you
present the value of EAU and its degrees to recruit degree-seeking international students based
on the social/cultural contexts of different countries? Please give examples. ” Based on the
interview data, the participants collectively mentioned eight aspects EAU ’s degree programs that
would be valuable to students: quality education, experienced faculty, convenient location,
scholarship, modern facilities, friendly environment, strong international student support,
public/private partnership, and a strong alumni network. However, only 25% of the participants
were able to describe at least six of the eight EAU ’s educational strengths. Twenty-five percent
of participants described three or four of the eight EAU ’s educational strengths. Fifty percent of
the participants mentioned only two of the eight EAU ’s educational strengths. One participant
briefly said, “EAU is conveniently located in Taipei, which is easy for international students to
get around. Also, we provide not-so-bad education. ” Another participant mentioned, “We
provide international students with high-quality education which they cannot find in their own
countries. Our curricula combine theory and practice because EAU has many public/private
partnerships. ” Although every participant was able to confidently describe some of EAU ’s
strengths, no one fully explained every aspect of EAU ’s educational value. In addition, none of
the participants fully talked about the ways in which they would introduce the value of EAU and
its degrees based on the social/cultural contexts of different countries. Therefore, this assumed
cause was validated. The number of EAU ’s educational strengths correctly described by the
number of respondents is in Figure 11.

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Figure 11. Responses to interview question 4: How would you present the value of EAU and its
degrees to recruit degree-seeking international students based on the social/cultural contexts of
different countries? The number of respondents describing the number of EAU ’s educational
strengths is represented by each bar.

Lack of metacognitive knowledge about international recruitment strategy. In order
to examine the IEO staff membe rs’ metacognitive knowledge about recruiting international
students, two interview questions were asked to assess their use and understanding of recruiting
strategies.
The first assumed metacognitive knowledge cause was that the IEO staff members did
not know which recruiting methods should be applied in which countries. The participants were
asked, “How would you change your international student recruiting strategies for different
countries? Please give examples. ” In general, the participants simply stated the current recruiting
methods but did not talk about which recruiting methods were applied to which countries.
0
1
2
3
4
5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Number of Respondents
Number of EAU's Strengths Correctly Described
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According to the interview data, 38% of the participants described the three most widely used
recruiting channels, which were sister schools, EAU ’s alumni networks, and MOE, and talked
about them extensively. One participant said, “We reached international students through sister
schools. They helped introduce EAU ’s strengths to their students. ” Another participant said,
“MOE has many offices in foreign countries. They help Taiwanese universities contact schools
in those countries. ” However, the participants did not talk about which recruiting methods were
applied to which countries. Sixty-two percent of the participants were somewhat puzzled when
they were asked this question. They simply repeated the recruiting methods without elaborating
much. The Education Expo, international student services, and scholarships were each mentioned
once. One participant said, “We simply go through MOE. ” Another participant recalled, “The
biggest thing we did was to join the Education Expo in Indonesia to recruit students there. ”
Another participant said, “My job is to follow the orders from my supervisor and conduct routine
tasks. I seldom make a recruiting plan. ”
Based on the interview data, most of the participants were unaware of the importance of
applying different recruiting methods to different countries in order to maximize recruiting
results. The interview findings were compared with the survey results. Although the survey
results indicated that 87% of the IEO staff members knew which recruiting strategies to use in
which countries, the interview data showed contradictory findings. The IEO staff members put
little thought into applying different recruiting methods in different countries. They simply relied
on EAU ’s sister schools and EAU ’s alumni networks without going through any development of
recruiting plans. Thus, this assumed cause was validated.
Insufficient metacognitive knowledge about student decision-making factors. The
second assumed metacognitive cause was that IEO staff members did not know which recruiting
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methods should be applied based on the factors by which potential international choose
universities. This question was built upon the survey question about the most important factors
affecting students ’ choices of universities. According to the survey results (Q6), the participants
identified eight important factors affecting international students ’ choices of universities. In the
interview, the IEO staff members were asked, “How would you formulate recruiting strategies
based on the factors in which international students make their choices of universities? ”
Based on the interview data, 25% of the participants identified four of the eight important
factors: tuitions and scholarships, sister schools, quality of EAU ’s degree program, and the
opportunity to learn the Chinese language. One participant stated:
We emphasize to the students from the Southeast Asian countries that we offer curricula
that is unavailable in their countries. Besides, they have plenty of opportunities to get
scholarships. To the U.S. and Canadian students, we told them there is an opportunity to
learn Chinese. To students in China, we recruit them through our sister schools.

Twenty-five percent of the participants identified two or three factors. Fifty-percent of the
participants only mentioned one factor, which was the sister schools. One participant said, “We
simply rely on our sister schools to get students. We do not need to make a lot of effort
ourselves. ” The interview data showed that less than half the participants were aware that
different recruiting strategies should be applied based on the factors by which potential
international students choose universities. Although the survey results indicated that 93% of the
IEO staff members knew how to formulate recruiting plans based on the most important factors
affecting international students ’ choice of universities, the interview data revealed contradictory
results. Only 25% of the participants were able to describe the recruiting strategies formulated
and based on four of the eight most important factors. Most of the participants simply relied on
the sister schools to recruit international students without going through the process of strategy
formulation. Therefore, this assumed metacognitive cause was validated. The number of
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important factors used to formulate recruiting strategies correctly identified by the number of
respondents is in Figure 12.

Figure 12. Responses to interview question 3: How would you formulate recruiting strategies
based on the factors in which information students make their choices of universities? The
number of respondents identifying the number of important factors used to formulate recruiting
strategies is represented by each bar.

In summary, the findings from the interviews indicated that the IEO staff members lacked
both procedural and metacognitive knowledge. Procedurally, only 25% of the interviewees knew
half or more of the existing recruiting methods for recruiting international students from non-
Chinese speaking countries. Moreover, only 25% of the participants possessed sufficient
knowledge of presenting the value of EAU and its degrees based on the social/cultural contexts
in different countries. Metacognitively, only 38% of the participants were aware of applying
0
1
2
3
4
5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Number of Respondents
Number of Factors Correctly Identified
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different recruiting methods to different countries. Only four of the eight most important factors
identified in the survey question were used in formulating recruiting strategies. In connection
with this result, only 25% of the interviewees had sufficient knowledge about formulating
recruiting strategies based on the important factors by which potential students choose
universities. Although the survey results showed that the participants knew which recruiting
strategies to use in which countries and how to formulate different recruiting plans based on the
most important factors affecting international students ’ choices of universities, the interview data
revealed contradictory findings.
Findings from Document Analysis
In order to assess the assumed cause that the IEO staff members did not know how to use
all the recruiting methods, the IEO director was asked to provide marketing tools which were
used to attract potential international students. The artifacts collected from the IEO director
included EAU ’s website, social media (Facebook & Weibo), brochures, and other promotional
printed materials. It was confirmed that EAU ’s website was the most important marketing tool
because it included all of the information which international students needed to know about
studying at EAU. Social media was also frequently used to promote EAU. Another important
marketing tool was the brochure which contained information about EAU ’s curricula, campus
environment, and application process. The findings from the document analysis were consistent
with the survey results.
The findings from the document analysis indicated that the IEO staff members were
confident about using EAU ’s website, social media, and printed materials to promote EAU to
potential international students. Consequently, the assumed cause that the IEO staff members did
not know how to use all the recruiting methods was not validated.
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Synthesis of Results and Findings for Knowledge Causes
Through the triangulation of surveys, interviews, and document analysis, the results
indicated that the IEO staff members lacked factual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge.
Factually, most of the IEO staff members did not know the many countries from which
they may recruit international students. Nor did they know who to find within many countries to
help them start recruiting international students. They had insufficient knowledge about the types
of people, groups, or organizations to contact for assistance in other countries. Moreover, the
IEO staff members were unaware of the other Taiwanese universities which had successfully
recruited more international students than EAU. On the other hand, the IEO staff members did
know which factors were most important when international students choose universities.
Procedurally, 75% of the participants knew less than half of the most widely-used
recruiting methods. They had inadequate knowledge about how to start recruiting international
students from non-Chinese speaking countries. This assumed cause that IEO staff members did
not know how to start recruiting international students in non-Chinese speaking countries was
partially validated. In contrast, the IEO staff members were confident about using more than half
of the fifteen available recruiting methods. Through the triangulation of surveys and document
analysis, the marketing tools which the participants felt most confident about using were EAU ’s
website, social media, printed materials, overseas recruiting tours, alumni networks. The
assumed cause that the IEO staff members did not know how to use all the recruiting methods
was therefore not validated. Lastly, most of the participants did not know how to present the
value of EAU and its degrees based on the social/cultural contexts of the different countries.
Therefore, this assumed cause was validated.
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Metacognitively, the participants lacked knowledge on recruiting strategies. The
interview findings revealed that most of the IEO staff members did not think strategically. First,
although the survey results indicated that 87% of the participants believed that they knew which
recruiting methods should be applied to which countries, the interview data showed
contradictory results. Only 38% of the interviewees were able to describe the most widely used
recruiting methods, which were sister schools, EAU ’s alumni networks, and MOE. And none of
them talked about which different recruiting methods were applied to different countries.
Therefore, the assumed cause that the IEO staff members did not know which recruiting methods
should be applied to which countries was validated. Second, although the survey results showed
that 93% of the participants knew which recruiting strategies should be applied based on the
factors by which potential international students choose universities, the interview data revealed
conflicting findings. Only four of the eight most important factors identified in the survey
question were used to formulate recruiting strategies. Then, 75% of the interviewees were unable
to explain the use of different strategies based on more than half of the most important factors
affecting international students ’ choice of universities. Therefore, the assumed cause that IEO
staff members did not know which recruiting strategies should be applied based on the factors by
which potential students choose was validated. In addition, the interview findings suggested that
most of the participants focused on routine work and relied on only a few existing recruiting
methods, particularly sister schools. There was a general lack of strategic thinking and planning
among the IEO staff members.
The assumed knowledge causes as well as the triangulated findings from surveys,
interviews and document analysis are summarized in Table 6.

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Table 6
Summary of the Assumed Knowledge Causes and Validation Findings
Category Assumed Cause Result Explanation
Factual 1. The IEO staff members do not
know from which countries to
recruit international students.
Validated Only 40% of the
participants knew half or
more of the top twelve
countries.
Factual 2. The IEO staff members do not
know in which countries they
could find people to help them
start recruiting international
students.
Validated Only 14% of the
participants identified half
or more of the countries.
Factual 3. The IEO staff members do not
know what types of people,
groups, or organizations to
contact for assistance in other
countries.
Validated Only 13% of the
participants identified
more than half of the
groups and organizations.
Factual 4. The IEO staff members do not
know that they could model
themselves after other
Taiwanese universities which
have successfully recruited
many international students.
Validated None of the participants
identified more than half
of the nine Taiwanese
universities.
Factual 5. The IEO staff members do not
know which factors are most
important when students make
their choices of universities.
Not
Validated
The participants identified
eight of the fifteen most
important factors.

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Table 6, continued
Category Assumed Cause Result Explanation
Procedural 6. The IEO staff members do not
know how to use all the
recruiting methods.
Not
Validated
The participants were
confident about using
eight o the fifteen
recruiting methods.
Procedural 7. The IEO staff members do not
know how to start recruiting
international students in non-
Chinese speaking countries.
Partially
Validated
Only 25% of the
participants explained
more than half of the
recruiting methods.
Procedural 8. The IEO staff members do not
know how to present the value
of EAU and its degrees based on
the social/cultural contexts of
the different countries.
Validated Only 25% of the
participants described at
least six of the eight
EAU ’s strengths.
Metacognitive 9. The IEO staff members do not
know which recruiting methods
should be applied to which
countries.
Validated Although 87% of the
survey respondents gave
positive answers, only
38% of interviewees
described three of the
eight recruiting methods.
None described recruiting
strategy.
Metacognitive 10. The IEO staff members do not
know which recruiting strategies
should be applied based on the
factors in which potential
international students make their
choices of universities.
Validated Although 93% of the
survey respondents gave
positive answers, only
25% of the interviewees
described recruiting
strategies.

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Results and Findings for Motivation Causes
Motivation is examined in a gap analysis, as it is one of the factors that affect goal
achievement. Clark and Estes (2008) described motivation as an ingredient that energizes a car ’s
system, such as fuel and batteries. The motivational principles of self-efficacy, attributions,
interests, values, and goals are used to postulate barriers to goal attainment (Rueda, 2011).
Assumed causes for motivational problems in this study were identified and assessed through
surveys and interviews.
Survey Results
The entire survey contained forty items, nineteen of which were designed to investigate
motivational causes using a Likert scale of six. I will discuss the survey results by the categories
of motivation that were evaluated, which included outcome expectancy, attainment value, goal
content, extrinsic value, cost value, self-efficacy, and attributions.
Outcome expectancy. It was assumed that the IEO staff members saw a low chance of
succeeding due to inexperience, an unfavorable Taiwanese job market, lack of internationalized
curricula, and a low international reputation. The IEO staff members were surveyed with two
statements. Collectively, 70% of the participants disagreed that there would be no chance of
succeeding in international student recruitment. Although the results of the two survey questions
seemed to show that the participants expected a successful recruitment of international students,
they needed to be compared with the interview data, which showed contradictory results and will
be described below. The responses to the first question are in Figure 13 and the responses to the
second question are in Figure 14.

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Figure 13. Responses to the first survey item about outcome expectancy (Q8): Even if I try hard,
I do not expect to see a successful outcome of recruiting more degree-seeking students.

Figure 14. Responses to the second survey item about outcome expectancy (Q9): I do not think
the results of recruiting degree-seeking international students will be satisfactory, even if I try
hard.

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Attainment value. It was assumed that the IEO staff members did not see the importance
of recruiting more international students in order to compensate for the shortfall of domestic
students. In this regard, the IEO staff members were surveyed with these two statements, “It is
important to recruit more degree-seeking international students,” and “Recruiting more degree-
seeking international students is important to me. ” The results of the first statement showed that
60% of the participants agreed and 20% strongly agreed. However, the responses to the second
statement showed conflicting attitudes. Fifty-four percent of the participants either disagreed or
somewhat disagreed, while 40% somewhat agreed. According to the IEO director, it was likely
that the participants had different interpretations for the two survey questions. The participants
may have interpreted the first statement as a question for the university. They agreed that it was
important to recruit more degree-seeking international students for the university as a whole. On
the other hand, the participants may have interpreted the second statement as a question about
their own attitudes. The last two words of the second survey item, “to me ,” were interpreted as
“in my job.” More than half of the participants disagreed that recruiting more degree-seeking
international students was important for themselves. The IEO director explained, “Most of the
IEO staff members are pre-occupied with many other tasks. Hence, they did not see that
recruiting more degree-seeking international students was important in their daily jobs. ”
Therefore, this assumed cause was partially validated. The responses to the first questions about
the importance of recruiting more international students are in Figure 15 and the responses to the
second question are in Figure 16.

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Figure 15. Responses to the first survey item about attainment value (Q11): It is important to
recruit more degree-seeking international students.

Figure 16. Responses to the second survey item about attainment value (Q17): Recruiting more
degree-seeking international students is important to me.

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Goal content. It was assumed that the IEO staff members were not given a clear goal of
recruiting a specific number of international students. The IEO staff members were surveyed
these two statements, “We have a goal to recruit a specific number of degree-seeking
international students each year, ” and “I know my goal of exactly how many degree-seeking
international students to recruit each year. ” The results to the first survey statement showed that
although 60% of the participants either agreed or strongly agreed, 20% of the participants only
somewhat agreed, and the remaining 20% either disagreed or strongly disagreed. The results to
the second survey statement showed less variation. Seventy-three percent of the participants
either agreed or strongly agreed. Although the survey results seemed to invalidate this assumed
cause, they required a comparison with the interview data, which showed contradictory results
and will be described below. The responses to the first question about a clear recruiting goal are
in Figure 17 and the responses to the second question are in Figure 18.

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Figure 17. Responses to the first survey item about goal content (Q13): We have a goal to recruit
a specific number of degree-seeking international students each year.

Figure 18. Responses to the second survey item about goal content (Q19): I know my goal of
exactly how many degree-seeking international students to recruit each year.

0
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2
3
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7
8
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Number of Responses
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Extrinsic value. It was assumed that there was a high turnover rate within the IEO. It
was further assumed that since the IEO staff members did not plan on staying with their jobs for
a long time anyway, they did not believe that learning new recruiting techniques would be useful
in their future careers. To validate this assumed cause, the participants were surveyed on three
statements. The first statement was “There is a high turnover rate in my department. ” The second
was, “I believe it is useful to learn new techniques to recruit degree-seeking international
students, ” and the third was, “Learning new techniques to recruit more degree-seeking
international students is useful to me. ” These three statements aimed to discover whether or not
the IEO staff members believed that learning new recruiting techniques was useful for their
future careers.
As to the employee turnover rate question, the results showed discrepancy among the
participants. Forty-six percent of the participants disagreed that there was a high employee
turnover rate, while the rest (54%) agreed. The IEO director later explained, “The turnover rate
among the non-managerial staff is high, while the turnover rate among the managers is low.” The
responses to the question about employee turnover rate are in Figure 19.

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Figure 19. Responses to the survey item about employee turnover rate (Q15): There is a high
turnover rate in my department.

Based on the combined results of the two statements regarding the usefulness of learning
new techniques, 75% of the participants agreed. Thus, it could be deduced that most of the
employees believed that learning new recruiting techniques would be useful in their future
careers, in spite of the high turnover rate among the staff members. The responses to the first
question about the usefulness of learning new recruiting techniques are in Figure 20 and the
responses to the second question are in Figure 21.

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2
3
4
5
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Disagree
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Figure 20. Responses to the first survey item about extrinsic value (Q21): I believe it is useful to
learn new techniques to recruit degree-seeking international students.

Figure 21. Responses to the second survey item about extrinsic value (Q22): Learning new
techniques to recruit more degree-seeking international students is useful to me.

0
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Cost value. There were three assumed causes associated with cost value, which is
defined as the perceived cost of the activity in terms of time, efforts, or other dimensions (Rueda,
2011). Each of the assumed causes was validated through two survey items.
First, it was presumed that the IEO staff members were preoccupied with short-term
international student programs, so that they did not have enough time to reach out to more
potential long-term degree-seeking international students. To validate this assumption, the IEO
staff members were surveyed with, “I often choose short-term international programs over
degree-seeking international student recruitment, ” and “I am preoccupied with short-term
international student programs, so that I do not have enough time to recruit degree-seeking
international students. ” According to the combined results of the two survey statements, 70% of
the participants either agreed or strongly agreed. Therefore, this assumed cause was validated.
The responses to the first question about the preoccupation of the IEO staff members are in
Figure 22 and the responses to the second question are in Figure 23.

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Figure 22. Responses to the first survey item about cost value (Q16): I often choose short-term
international student programs over long-term degree-seeking international student recruitment.

Figure 23. Responses to the second survey item about cost value (Q27): I am preoccupied with
short-term international student programs, so I do not have enough time to recruit long-term
degree-seeking international students.

0
1
2
3
4
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8
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Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
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Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Second, it was assumed that the IEO staff members did not like to increase the number of
degree-seeking international students because international students required more attention and
support than short-term international students. To validate this assumed cause, the participants
were surveyed on these two statements, “I believe long-term international students are more
troublesome, so I prefer not to increase the number of those students, ” and “Long-term degree-
seeking international students are harder to care for, so I do not like to recruit more of them. ”
The combined results of the two statements signified that more than 90% of the participants
disagreed. Evidently, this assumed cause was not validated. The responses to the first question
about the preference of short-term international students over long-term international students
are in Figure 24 and the responses to the second question are in Figure 25.

Figure 24. Responses to the third survey item about cost value (Q24): I believe long-term
degree-seeking international students are more troublesome, so I prefer not to increase the
number of those students.

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3
4
5
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7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
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Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Figure 25. Responses to the fourth survey item about cost value (Q31): Long-term degree-
seeking international students are harder to care for, so I do not like to recruit more of them.

Third, it was assumed that the IEO staff members did not want to learn new recruiting
techniques, because it took too much time and effort. To validate this assumed cause, the
participants were surveyed with these two survey statements, “Learning new techniques to
recruit degree-seeking international students is important to me, ” and “It is important for me to
learn new techniques for recruiting degree-seeking international students. ” The combined results
of the two statements proved that the participants had positive attitudes toward learning new
recruiting techniques. More than 80% of the participants agreed that learning new techniques
was important. Apparently, this assumed cause was not validated. The responses to the first
question about the importance of learning new recruiting techniques are in Figure 26 and the
responses to the second question are in Figure 27.
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2
3
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5
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7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Figure 26. Responses to the fifth survey item about cost value (Q22): Learning new techniques
to recruit long-term degree-seeking international students is important to me.

Figure 27. Responses to the sixth survey item about cost value (Q33): It is important for me to
learn new techniques for recruiting long-term degree-seeking international students.

0
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Self-efficacy. Since EAU only started recruiting degree-seeking international students
three years ago, most of the IEO staff members had little experience in this area. It was assumed
that the IEO staff members were not confident about being able to recruit international students
in countries with which they were unfamiliar. To validate this assumed cause, the IEO staff
members were surveyed two statements, “I am confident that I can recruit degree-seeking
international students in unfamiliar countries, ” and “I know I will be able to recruit degree-
seeking international students in unfamiliar countries. ” According to the combined results of the
two survey statements, 70% of the participants agreed, and the rest disagreed (30%). This
assumed cause was therefore not validated. The responses to the first question about the
participants ’ self-efficacy on recruiting international students are in Figure 28 and the responses
to the second question are in Figure 29.

Figure 28. Responses to the first survey item about self-efficacy (Q23): I am confident that I can
recruit long-term degree-seeking international students in unfamiliar countries.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Figure 29. Responses to the second survey item about self-efficacy (Q36): I know I will be able
to recruit long-term degree-seeking international students in unfamiliar countries.

Attributions. It was assumed that the IEO staff members saw the recruiting results as
stemming from external uncontrollable causes and not their own recruiting efforts. To validate
this assumed cause, the participants were surveyed these two similar statements, “The outcome
of recruiting degree-seeking international students is the result of external uncontrollable causes,
such as government policy, and not my own efforts, ” and “The outcome of recruiting degree-
seeking international students involves many external factors, and thus, it is beyond my control. ”
According to the combined results of the two survey statements, 80% of the participants agreed.
Evidently, the IEO staff members believed that the external uncontrollable causes affected the
recruiting outcome significantly. Consequently, this assumed cause was validated. The responses
to the first question are in Figure 30 about attributions and the responses to the second question
are in Figure 31.
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5
6
7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
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Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Figure 30. Responses to the first survey item about attributions (Q25): The outcome of recruiting
long-term degree-seeking international students is the result of external uncontrollable causes,
such as government policy, and not my own efforts.

Figure 31. Responses to the second survey item about attributions (Q38): The outcome of
recruiting long-term degree-seeking international students involves many external factors, and
thus, it is beyond my control.
0
1
2
3
4
5
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8
Strongly
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Disagree Somewhat
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Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
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In summary, four of the assumed motivational causes were validated and two required a
comparison with the interview data.
 The assumed cause that the IEO staff members did not see the importance of
recruiting more degree-seeking international students in their daily jobs was partially
validated.
 The turnover rate among the non-managerial staff was high.
 The assumed cause that the IEO staff members were preoccupied with short-term
international student programs was validated.
 The assumed cause that the IEO staff members saw the recruiting results as external
uncontrollable causes and not their own recruiting efforts was validated.
Two survey results required a comparison with interview data, which will be discussed
below.
 According to the survey results, the IEO staff members did indeed have a clear goal
of recruiting a specific number of international students. The survey results were
compared with the interview data, which show contradictory results.
 According to the survey results, the IEO staff members had high outcome expectancy
in recruiting international students. The survey results required a comparison with the
interview data, which showed contradictory results.
In general, the survey results signified that the IEO staff members did not have a high
level of motivational barriers. They seemed to have a strong desire to achieve the best work
performance possible.
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Findings from Interviews
The motivational assumed causes were explored through interviews in conjunction with
the surveys. In the structured interviews, the eight participants were asked two questions to
understand whether or not a lack of goal content and low outcome expectancy were impediments
to international student enrollment at EAU.
Inadequate goal content. First, it was assumed that the IEO staff members were not
given a clear goal of recruiting a specific number of international students. The interview
participants were asked, “Do you have a clear goal of recruiting a certain number of degree-
seeking international students by a certain date? If yes, what is the goal content? ” Five
participants replied that they did have a specific goal for the current year, which was to recruit
100 international students. Three participants stressed, “We ’ve had the same goal each year for
the last two years. We expect the goal to remain the same next year. ” The interview data
revealed that participants did have a goal for the current year but not for the future years. In
addition, the participants did not expect to have a higher goal in the upcoming years.
Negative outcome expectancy. The second assumed cause was that the IEO staff
members saw no chance of succeeding in international student recruitment. To verify this
assumed cause, the participants were queried, “How successfully do you think you can recruit
more degree-seeking international students in other countries? Why? ”
The responses varied among the participants. Fifty percent of the participants responded
positively. They believed that the recruitment outcome would be successful even if they were
given a higher goal. One participant stated, “I would be able to recruit more degree-seeking
international students successfully if we are required to do so. ” The other 50% of the participants
expressed opposing views. Two of them thought it would be difficult for EAU to attract good-
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quality international students given its low academic reputation, while the other two complained
that EAU allocated inadequate resources to international students. One participant expressed, “I
am not sure how to persuade high-achieving students to come to EAU, because we are not one of
the best universities in Taiwan. ” One participant said, “I do not think it is easy to recruit more
international students. How can I convince them when we don ’t have enough English-taught
degree programs for them? ” One participant mentioned, “I will not able to recruit more
international students unless the university builds a bilingual environment for them. ” The
interview data revealed that half of the participants did not expect the recruitment outcome to be
successful, and they attributed part of the reason to EAU ’s learning environment.
In summary, the participants were aware of their goal for the current year, which has been
the same for the last two years. However, they did not have a goal for future years. Second, the
eight participants had differing opinions on whether they would be able to successfully recruit
more international students. Half of the participants believed that they would be able to recruit
more international students if they were given a higher goal. In contrast, the other half of the
participants expressed that it would be a challenge for EAU to attract more international
students. They did not believe that they would be able to convince more international students to
study at EAU given its low number of degree programs and inadequate learning environment for
international students.
Synthesis of Results and Findings for Motivation Causes
Based on the synthesis of the survey results and interview findings, three of the nine
assumed motivational causes were partially validated. First, some of the IEO staff members did
not see the importance of recruiting more degree-seeking international students. Second, the
assumed cause that the IEO staff members were not given a clear goal was partially validated.
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There was a discrepancy between the survey results and the interview data. Based on the survey
results, 80% of the participants indicated that they had a goal for recruiting a specific number of
international students. However, it was uncovered during the interviews that the participants had
a goal for the current year, but not for future years. In addition, the IEO staff members expected
the goal for next year to be identical to that of the current year. Third, some of the participants
had low outcome expectancy. There was a discrepancy between the survey results and interview
data. Although the survey results showed that the participants had high outcome expectancy, the
interview results revealed that half of the participants did not believe that they would be able to
successfully recruit more international students.
Two of the nine assumed motivational causes were fully validated. First, it was confirmed
that the IEO staff members were preoccupied with short-term international student programs, so
they did not have enough time to recruit long-term degree-seeking international students. The
second and the most significant finding was that the IEO staff members saw the recruiting results
as resulting from external uncontrollable causes rather than their own recruiting efforts.
Four of the nine assumed motivational causes were not validated. First, the assumed
cause that the IEO staff members did not believe that learning new recruiting techniques would
be useful in their future careers was not true. Second, the assumed cause that the IEO staff
members thought international students require much more attention and support, due to
language/cultural barriers, was not unfounded. Third, the assumed cause that the IEO staff
members did not want to learn new recruiting techniques was false. Fourth, the assumed cause
that the IEO staff members were not confident about being able to recruit international students
in countries with which they are unfamiliar was not validated.
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The assumed motivational causes as well as the triangulated findings from surveys and
interviews are summarized in the table below. The full list of motivational survey items, means,
and standard deviations can be found in Appendix N. A summary of the assumed motivation
causes and validation findings is in Table 7.

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Table 7
Summary of the Assumed Motivation Causes and Validation Findings
Category Assumed Cause Result Explanation
Outcome
Expectancy
1. The IEO staff members see no chance of
succeeding, due to inexperience, an
unfavorable Taiwan job market, lack of
internationalized curricula, and a low
international reputation.
Partially
Validated
50% of the interviewees did
not believe that they would be
able to successfully recruit
more international students.
Attainment
Value
2. The IEO staff members do not see the
importance of recruiting more international
students in order to compensate for the
shortfall of domestic students.
Partially
Validated
54% of the participants saw
the importance, but the rest
did not.
Goal Content 3. The IEO staff members are not given a clear
goal of recruiting a specific number of
international students.
Partially
Validated
The participants had a goal for
the current year, but not for
the future years.
Extrinsic
Value
4. The IEO staff members do not plan on
staying with their jobs for a long time
anyway. Therefore, they do not believe that
learning new recruiting techniques would be
useful in their future careers.
Not
Validated
75% of the participants
believed that learning new
recruiting techniques was
useful.
However, the turnover rate
among the non-managerial
staff was high.
Cost Value 5. The IEO staff members are preoccupied with
short-term international student program, so
they do not have enough time to recruit long-
term degree-seeking international students.
Validated 60% of the participants
agreed.
6. The IEO staff members think international
students require much more attention and
support, due to language/cultural barriers.
Not
Validated
90% of the participants
disagreed.
7. The IEO staff members do not want to learn
new recruiting techniques, because it takes
too much time and efforts.
Not
Validated
80% of the participants
disagreed.
Self-
Efficacy
8. The IEO staff members are not confident
about being able to recruit international
students in countries with which they are
unfamiliar.
Not
Validated
70% of the participants are
confident.
Attributions 9. The IEO staff members see the recruiting
results as external uncontrollable causes and
not their own recruiting efforts.
Validated 80% of the participants
agreed.

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Results and Findings for Organization Causes
An organization itself can impede goal achievement, even though everyone in a work
setting is highly motivated to do so. Organizational barriers include the structure of the
workplace, policies, practices, and the interactions of people with each other within the work
setting (Rueda, 2011). Surveys and interviews were used to assess a number of organizational
factors, in order to determine which ones were preventing EAU from increasing international
student enrollment.
Survey Results
The entire survey contained forty items, thirteen of which were related to assumed
organizational causes, including resistance to change, an attitude of helplessness, a negative
belief, competition, lack of resources, autonomy, and a lack of a strategic plan.
Resistance to change. The first assumed organizational cause was that the IEO staff
members tended to adhere to their current focus of short-term international student programs and
resisted change to the harder task of recruiting long-term degree-seeking international students.
The IEO staff members were surveyed two statements. The combined results of the two survey
items showed that more than 80% of the participants disagreed. This assumed cause was
therefore not validated. The responses to the first statement about resistance to change are in
Figure 32, and the responses to the second statement are in Figure 33.

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Figure 32. Responses to the first survey item about resistance to change (Q26): I do not like to
change my job from providing short-term international student programs to recruiting long-term
degree-seeking international students.

Figure 33. Responses to the second survey item about resistance to change (Q28): My
department does not like to change from arranging a short-term international student program to
recruiting long-term degree-seeking international students.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Attitude of helplessness. The second assumed organizational cause was that the IEO
staff members did not see themselves as important because their requests were often rejected,
suggestions ignored, and ideas unsupported by the university leaders. The participants were
survey two statements, “I feel helpless when trying to get support from the university for
recruiting degree-seeking international students, ” and “I seldom get adequate support from the
university for recruiting degree-seeking international students. ” The results of the two statements
showed that 57% of the participants disagreed while 43% agreed. This assumed cause was
partially validated. The responses to the first statement about their attitude of helplessness are in
Figure 34, and the responses to the second statement are in Figure 35.

Figure 34. Responses to the first survey item about an attitude of helplessness (Q29): I feel
helpless when trying to get support from the university for recruiting degree-seeking
international students.

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Figure 35. Responses to the second survey item about an attitude of helplessness (Q32): I seldom
get adequate support from the university for recruiting degree-seeking international students.

Negative belief. The third assumed organizational cause was that IEO staff members saw
themselves as insignificant given the small percentage of international students. The IEO staff
members were surveyed a statement, “I feel negative about my department because the
percentage of international students is small. ” The results showed that 80% of the participants
disagreed. This assumed cause was therefore not validated. The responses to the survey
statement about negative belief are in Figure 36.

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Figure 36. Responses to the survey item about negative belief (Q34): I feel negative about my
department, because the percentage of international students is small.

Competition. The fourth assumed organizational cause was that the IEO staff members
were competing among themselves and were unwilling to share recruiting experiences with one
another. The IEO staff members were surveyed two statements, “I am competing against my
department colleagues for better results of recruiting degree-seeking international students, ” and
“There is competition within my department, so that people are unwilling to share their
experiences of recruiting degree-seeking international students with one another. ” The combined
results of the two questions showed that 90% of the participants disagreed. Therefore, this
assumed cause was not validated. The responses to the first statement about competition are in
Figure 37, and the responses to the second statement are in Figure 38.
0
2
4
6
8
10
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat
Agree
Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Figure 37. Responses to the first survey item about competition (Q12): I am competing against
my department colleagues for better results of recruiting degree-seeking international students.

Figure 38. Responses to the second survey item about competition (Q37): There is competition
within my department, so that people are unwilling to share their experiences of recruiting
degree-seeking international students with one another.

0
2
4
6
8
10
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat
Agree
Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Lack of resources. The fifth assumed organizational cause was that the IEO staff
members did not have enough resources, such as manpower and funding, to be able to recruit
more degree-seeking international students. The IEO staff members were asked three survey
questions. The first question was, “How many hours per week do you spend on recruiting
degree-seeking international students? ” on a continuous scale. As it turned out, thirteen
participants did not answer this question. Only two participants indicated that they spent
approximately five hours per week recruiting international students, which was 12.5% of their
regular forty work hours per week. The second survey question was, “I am able to get the
resources I need to recruit degree-seeking international students. ” The results showed that 80%
of the participants agreed. The third survey question was, “I have enough resources to recruit
more degree-seeking international students. ” These results showed a disparity. Sixty percent of
the participants disagreed while 40% agreed. Based on the survey results, this assumed cause
was partially validated. However, the survey results were compared with the interview data and
relevant documents, which confirmed that there was a lack of resources. The responses to the
question about the number of hours per week each participant had spent on recruiting
international students are in Figure 39. The responses to the first question about lack of resources
are in Figure 40, and the responses to the second question are in Figure 41.

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Figure 39. Responses to the survey question (Q5): How many hours per week do you spend on
recruiting degree-seeking international students?

Figure 40. Responses to the first survey item about lack of resources (Q20): I am able to get the
resources I need to recruit degree-seeking international students.

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Number of hours per week
Respondent
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Figure 41. Responses to the second survey item about the lack of resources (Q35): I have enough
resources to recruit more degree-seeking international students.

Lack of autonomy. The sixth assumed organizational cause was that the IEO staff
members simply followed orders from university leaders without being given the freedom to
voice their own opinions. The IEO staff members were surveyed two statements, “I experience
autonomy and choice, in my job of recruiting degree-seeking international students. ” and “I am
often asked to share my views on recruiting degree-seeking international students and an
international student recruiting plan. ” The combined results of the two statements showed that
more than 80% of the participants agreed that they had autonomy over their work. The survey
results were compared with the interview data, which confirmed the finding that the participants
did have autonomy, as described below. This assumed cause was therefore not validated. The
responses to the first statement about autonomy are in Figure 42, and the responses to the second
statement are listed in Figure 43.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Figure 42. Responses to the first survey item about autonomy (Q18): I experience autonomy and
choice, in my job of recruiting degree-seeking international students.

Figure 43. Responses to the second survey item about autonomy (Q39): I am often asked to
share my views on recruiting degree-seeking international students and an international student
recruiting plan.

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat
Agree
Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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Lack of a strategic plan. The seventh assumed organizational cause was that the
university lacked a long-term strategic plan across departments to recruit, educate, and support
international students. To validate this assumed cause, the IEO staff members were surveyed
with this statement, “There is a strategic plan across departments to achieve a common goal of
recruiting degree-seeking international students. ” Although the survey results showed that 80%
of the participants agreed, when they were compared to the interview data, a contradictory result
was shown and will be described below. Therefore, the assumed cause was validated. The
responses to the survey statement about the lack of a strategic plan are in Figure 44.

Figure 44. Responses to the survey item about the lack of a strategic plan (Q40): There is a
strategic plan across departments to achieve a common goal of recruiting degree-seeking
international students.

0
2
4
6
8
10
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Somewhat
Disagree
Somewhat
Agree
Agree Strongly Agree
Number of Responses
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In summary, one of the assumed organizational causes was partially validated, and three
required comparisons with interview data.
 The assumed cause that the IEO staff members felt helpless when trying to get
support from the university for recruiting degree-seeking international students was
partially validated.
Three survey results required comparisons with interview data.
 The survey results showed that some of the participants disagreed that they had
enough resources to recruit more degree-seeking international students. The partially
validated survey results were compared with the interview data, which confirmed that
there was a lack of resources.
 The survey results indicated that most of the participants did not think that there was
a lack of autonomy. Then the survey results were compared with the interview data,
which invalidated the assumed cause that there was a lack of autonomy.
 The survey results denoted that there was a strategic plan across departments, but they
needed to be compared with the interview data, which led to contradictory findings.
Findings from Interviews
To understand more details about the assumed organizational causes, two interview
questions were asked. Although the interviewees were not asked a specific question about lack of
resources, many of them did mention it during the interviews. Moreover, it was presumed that
there were other factors preventing the IEO staff members from increasing international student
recruitment that were not included in the original list of assumed organizational causes.
Therefore, two additional questions were designed to tap into the organizational barriers in the
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process of recruiting international students. In total, four questions regarding assumed
organizational causes were asked.
Inadequate resources. Although the IEO staff members were not asked a specific
question about lack of resources, many of them did refer to this problem throughout the
interview process. Seventy-five percent of the interviewees mentioned that they would suffer
from funding deficiencies and manpower shortages if the number of international students
increased. One participant mentioned, “We cannot handle more international students with our
department size. ” Another said, “Our budget is so little. We will need more money if we are to
recruit more international students. ”
To understand the discrepancy between the survey results and the interview data, the IEO
director was questioned. He confirmed that the IEO currently did have enough resources, but it
would not be enough if there was a higher recruiting goal. He stated, “We can handle
international student recruitment now. But, we will not have enough resources if we are to recruit
more international students. ” The interview findings indicated that there would be a lack of
resources if the IEO staff members were required to recruit an increased number of international
students.
Sufficient level of autonomy. To validate the assumed cause that the IEO staff members
simply followed orders from university leaders without autonomy, the interview participants
were asked, “How much autonomy do you have over your job? ” Seventy-five percent of the
participants replied that they had never thought about this problem but did not believe that it was
an issue. One participant said, “I am doing what I was told to do. I always finish my job
assignment. I do not think that autonomy is an issue. ” Twenty-five percent of the participants
responded, “Yes, I have a lot of autonomy. My comments are valued by the university leaders.”
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The term “autonomy ” was generally perceived as a vague term to most of the participants, since
they simply performed routine tasks. They did not think that a lack of autonomy was a critical
factor hampering their job performance.
Lack of a strategic plan. It was assumed that the university did not have a long-term
strategic plan across departments to recruit and support international students. To validate this
assumed cause, the participants were asked, “Is there a strategic plan for recruiting degree-
seeking international students across departments? ” Seventy-five percent of the participants gave
a negative response. One participant said, “No, there is no strategic plan across departments. It is
mainly my department ’s responsibility to recruit international students. ” Another participant
mentioned, “There is a lack of consensus among departments on international student
enrollment. Some departments are active. Some are passive. ” One participant complained about
the leadership, “The university leaders are not active. They do not seem to be worried about the
imminent problem of the declining number of domestic students. ” Another participant said, ” I
expected the leaders to make a top-down plan to increase the number of international students,
but I have not seen anything. ” Based on the interview data, most of the participants did not see a
long-term strategic plan across departments.
Some interviewees revealed the reason for the inconsistency between the survey results
and interview data. Although the IEO, the Office of Academic Affairs, and faculty were involved
in the process of international student enrollment, there was a lack of coordination. In addition,
many international students simply applied for EAU online. One participant said, “Each
department just did the job on their own. ” Another participant mentioned, “There was very little
communication among the departments. No one is aware of a centralized recruiting plan. ” The
discrepancy between the responses of the surveys and interviews existed because there was some
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confusion between the two terms: “international student admission ” and “international student
recruitment ”. When it came to international student admission, many departments were engaged
in the process of students ’ applications, admissions and registrations, as indicated by the survey
results. But during the interviews, the participants pointed out that when it came to recruiting
international students, it was mainly the responsibility of IEO. The participants thought about the
admissions process when taking the surveys but realized during the interviews that the question
was actually about international student recruitment. Although the admissions process did
engage the efforts of many departments, the participants confirmed during the interviews that
there was no centralized plan across departments for international student recruitment.
Employees with poor command of English. The first additional question asked during
the interview was, “What obstacles do you think are preventing you from being able to recruit
more degree-seeking international students? ” Fifty percent of the participants pointed out that
there is an insufficient number of English-speaking recruiters, administrative staff members, and
faculty members. One participant explained, “Our staff members do not speak good English, and
thus, are unable to actively contact people in overseas countries. They also have a hard time
providing good services to international students. ” Another participant said, “Our staff members
are incapable of promoting our university in English. ” Another participant elaborated, “Most of
our managers take care of students from Chinese-speaking countries. When they were employed
many years ago, English proficiency was not one of the job requirements. ”
Low degree of internationalization. A final interview question was asked, “Overall,
what improvements do you think can be done to increase the number of international students at
EAU? ” The most common cause, mentioned by seven of the eight participants, was fixing the
low degree of internationalization on the EAU campus. One participant said, “We need to build a
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bilingual environment. There must be an English version for all the signs, regulations, rules, and
policies on campus.” One participant said, “We must have more English-taught curricula and let
students speak up in English. ” One participant said, “It is important to build an international
student community. ” One participant said, “The EAU ’s website must contain information in
English. It must be more user-friendly to the international students. ”
In summary, four organizational causes were confirmed through the interviews. First,
there would be a lack of resources if the IEO staff members were to recruit more international
students. Second, there was no centralized, long-term strategic plan across departments to recruit,
educate, and support international students. Third, there were an insufficient number of English-
speaking recruiters, administrative staff, and faculty members to provide education and services
to international students. Fourth, there was a low degree of internationalization on the EAU
campus, manifested by the lack of an English-friendly environment, English-taught curricula,
and an international student community.
Findings from Document Analysis
One document was asked for and received from the IEO director to help validate the
assumed organizational causes. It was a pair of papers consisting of an organizational chart
showing the employees ’ job responsibilities and a budget report showing IEO ’s funding.
It was assumed that the IEO members did not have enough resources, such as manpower
and funding, to recruit more degree-seeking international students. The IEO ’s organizational
chart was selected first to understand the percentage of the IEO staff members ’ work hours spent
on recruiting degree-seeking international students. It was found that approximately 15% of the
staff members were involved in recruiting degree-seeking international students. The remaining
85% were mainly responsible for short-term student and scholar programs.
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Second, the IEO ’s budget report was selected to examine the IEO ’s total funding and also
allocation of the funding to different tasks. Based on the 2012-2013 budget report, approximately
20% of the funding was spent on short-term student and scholar programs, 70% on scholarships,
5% on subsidy of English curricula, and 5% on international student recruitment. International
student recruitment appeared to be an insignificant part of the budget allocation.
Synthesis of Results and Findings for Organization Causes
With the triangulation of surveys, interviews, and document analysis, one of the seven
assumed organizational causes was partially validated, two were fully validated, and four were
not validated. The partially validated assumed cause was an attitude of helplessness. Some of the
IEO staff members felt helpless when trying to get support from the university.
The two fully validated organizational causes were lack of resources and the lack of a
strategic plan. As to lack of resources, the survey results were contradictory with the interview
findings. It was discovered that the IEO staff members did indeed have enough resources,
particularly manpower and funding, to meet the current goal of international student recruitment,
but they would encounter a shortage of resources if they planned on eventually recruiting more
international students. As to the lack of a strategic plan, the survey results were also inconsistent
with the interview data. It was revealed during the interviews that although international student
recruitment required joint efforts of many departments, it was mainly the IEO ’s responsibility.
There was a lack of communication among the departments, mainly the IEO, the Office of
Academic Affairs, and the faculty. In addition, different departments held divergent attitudes
toward international student recruitment. Some were active while others were not. Moreover, the
university leaders were not aggressive enough in recruiting more degree-seeking international
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students. Overall, there was a lack of centralized, long-term strategic planning across
departments to recruit, educate, and support international students.
Four assumed causes were not validated. First, the assumed cause that IEO staff members
tended to adhere to their current focus of short-term international student/scholar programs and
felt reluctant to change to the harder task of recruiting long-term degree-seeking international
students was not validated. Second, the assumed cause that the IEO staff members saw
themselves as insignificant given the small percentage of international students was not true.
Third, the assumed cause that the IEO staff members competed among themselves and were not
willing to share recruiting experiences with one another was groundless. Fourth, the assumed
cause that the IEO staff members simply followed orders from university leaders without being
given the freedom to voice their own opinions was not validated.
Two additional causes were uncovered during the interviews. The participants
commented that there were a low number of recruiters, administrative staff members, and faculty
members with high English proficiency to support international students. Furthermore, there was
a low degree of internationalization on the EAU campus. Very few signs on campus were written
in English. There were an inadequate number of English-taught curricula to meet the demands of
international students. An international student community had not been well established to
support the campus life and activities for international students.
The assumed organizational causes as well as the triangulated findings from surveys,
interviews and data analysis are summarized in the table below. The full list of organizational
survey items, means, and standard deviations can be found in Appendix O. A summary of the
assumed organization causes and validation findings can be found in Table 8.
Table 8
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Summary of the Assumed Organization Causes and Validation Findings
Category Assumed Cause Result Explanation
Resistance to
Change
1. The IEO staff members tend to adhere to
their current focus of short-term
international student/scholar programs
and feel reluctant to change to the harder
task of recruiting long-term degree-
seeking international students.
Not
Validated
80% of the participants disagreed.
Attitude of
Helplessness
2. The IEO staff members see themselves as
unimportant, because their requests are
often rejected, suggestions ignored, and
ideas unsupported by the university
leaders.
Partially
validated
43% of the participants agreed.
Negative
Belief
3. The IEO staff members see themselves as
insignificant, given the small percentage
of international students.
Not
Validated
80% of the participants disagreed.
Competition 4. The IEO staff members compete among
themselves and are unwilling to share
recruiting experiences with one another.
Not
Validated
90% of the participants disagreed.
Lack of
Resources
5. The IEO staff members do not have
enough resources, such as manpower and
funding, to recruit more degree-seeking
international students.
Validated There were enough resources at the
moment but would not have
enough resources if they were to
recruit more international students.
Lack of
Autonomy
6. The IEO staff members simply follow
orders from university leaders without
being given the freedom and the choice to
voice their own opinions.
Not
Validated
More than 70% of the participants
did not think that autonomy was an
issue.
Lack of a
Strategic Plan
7. The university does not have a long-term
strategic plan across departments to
recruit, educate, and support international
students.
Validated 75% of the interviewees indicated
that there was no strategic plan.
Other
Dimensions
8. There is a low number of English-
speaking recruiters, administrative staff
members, and faculty members.
Validated 50% of the interviewees mentioned
that most recruiters, administrative
staff members, and faculty
members had poor English.
9. There is a low level of
internationalization at EAU.
Validated 88% of the participants mentioned
that there was a low degree of
internationalization on the EAU
campus.

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Summary
The survey results, interview findings, and document analysis from the IEO staff
members validated some of the assumed causes in the dimensions of knowledge and skills,
motivation and organization based on the Gap Analysis framework. Among the twenty-six
assumed causes, eleven were validated, six were partially validated, and nine were not validated.
Two additional causes were uncovered during the interviews.
On the dimension of knowledge and skills, seven of the ten assumed causes were
validated, two were partially validated, and one was not validated. Factually, it was validated that
most of the IEO staff members did not know most of the countries in which they could recruit
international students. They had little knowledge of the countries in which they could find people
to help them start the recruiting process. They were unaware of the types of people, groups, or
organizations to contact for assistance in overseas countries. They had insufficient information
about the universities that had successfully recruited many international students in the past.
Procedurally, it was partially validated that IEO staff members lacked knowledge of how to start
recruiting international students in non-Chinese speaking countries. Moreover, it was validated
that the IEO staff members did not know how to present the strengths of EAU and its degrees
based on social/cultural contexts in different countries. Metacognitively, most of the IEO staff
members did not know which recruiting methods should be applied to which countries. A
majority of them also had scarce knowledge on which recruiting strategies should be applied
based on the factors by which potential students choose universities. One significant finding was
that most of the IEO staff members were not involved in the process of formulating recruiting
strategies. They simply followed instructions from their senior managers.
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On the dimension of motivation, two of the nine assumed causes were validated, three
were partially validated, and four were not validated. The two validated causes were cost value
and attributions. The IEO staff members were so preoccupied with short-term international
student and scholar programs that they had inadequate time to recruit long-term degree-seeking
international students. More significantly, the IEO staff members saw the recruiting results as the
effect of external uncontrollable causes and not their own recruiting efforts. The three partially
validated causes were outcome expectancy, attainment value, and goal content. Some of the IEO
staff members did not expect the recruiting outcome to be successful. Also, some of them did not
see the importance of recruiting more international students, which would compensate for the
shortfall of domestic students. Additionally, the IEO staff members only had a goal for the
current year but not for future years. It was also discovered from the interviews that the turnover
rate for non-managerial staff was high.
On the dimension of organization, two of the seven assumed causes were validated, one
was partially validated, and four were not validated. The two validated causes were a lack of
resources and the lack of a strategic plan. The IEO staff members would experience a lack of
resources, particularly manpower and funding, if they planned to recruit more degree-seeking
international students. More significantly, a centralized, long-term, strategic plan across
departments to recruit, educate, and support international students, was found non-existent.
Additionally, there was weak leadership in addressing the issue of the declining number of
domestic students and then formulating strategies in recruiting international students to make up
for that. The partially validated cause was an attitude of helplessness. Some IEO staff members
felt helpless when trying to get support from the university.
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Two additional organizational causes emerged through the interviews. First, there were
not enough recruiters, administrators, and faculty members with a high English proficiency to
recruit and assist international students. Second, there was a low degree of internationalization
throughout the EAU campus, manifested by the lack of an English-friendly environment,
English-taught curricula, and an international student community. Having identified the
knowledge and skills, motivational, and organizational causes to the IEO ’s performance gap in
international student recruitment, evidence-based solutions will be provided in the next chapter.

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CHAPTER 5
SOLUTIONS, IMPLEMENTATION, AND EVALUATION
The purpose of this study was to use the Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Model as a
guide to help EAU achieve its goal of increasing international student enrollments. In Chapter 4,
seventeen assumed causes were validated as contributing to EAU ’s inability to recruit an
increased number of international students. These causes were categorized as knowledge,
motivation, and organization. In this chapter, evidence-based solutions to address fourteen of
these validated causes will be presented in the order of knowledge, motivation, and organization.
Although solutions for all the validated causes could be developed, recommendations were
addressed to the causes that were determined to be the most critical. The rationale for the
selection of which causes to address is discussed in the next section. Subsequent to that,
recommended solutions are discussed, followed by a presentation of an implementation plan as
well as an evaluation plan, all designed to close the performance gap at EAU.
Validated Causes Selection and Rationale
In Chapter 4, seventeen of the twenty-six assumed causes were either validated or
partially validated, and two additional causes were uncovered during the interviews. Among the
validated or partially validated causes, the most important ones were identified in order to
develop appropriate solutions. The two criteria for selecting the validated causes were the
magnitude of the gap and the significance of the problem.
In the dimension of knowledge, all eight validated or partially validated causes will be
addressed because a substantial gap was discovered between the IEO staff members ’ actual level
of knowledge and the desired level of knowledge. These eight validated knowledge causes
include four factual ones, two procedural, and two metacognitive ones. The triangulation of the
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survey results and interview findings indicated that the IEO staff members lacked mainly factual
and metacognitive knowledge.
The eight validated knowledge causes will all be addressed simply because more than
60% of the respondents were not able to demonstrate sufficient knowledge. Factually, the IEO
staff members did not know from which countries to recruit international students. They were
also unaware of which countries they could find people to help them start recruiting international
students. Furthermore, the IEO staff members did not know what types of people, groups, or
organizations to contact for assistance in other countries. In addition, the IEO staff members did
not know that they could model themselves after other Taiwanese universities that have
successfully recruited many international students. Procedurally, the IEO staff members did not
know how to start recruiting international students in non-Chinese speaking countries. Moreover,
the IEO staff members did not know how to present the strengths of EAU and its degrees based
on the social/cultural contexts of the different countries. Metacognitively, the IEO staff members
did not know which recruiting methods should be applied to which countries. Additionally, they
did not know which recruiting strategies should be applied based on the factors by which
potential international students choose universities.
In the dimension of motivation, although there were five validated or partially validated
causes, only two will be addressed, which are goal content and cost values. First, more than 80%
of the IEO staff members mentioned that they did not have a recruiting goal for the future years.
Therefore they did not attempt to increase international student enrollment. Second, more than
60% of the survey participants and most of the interviewees indicated that they were so
preoccupied with short-term international student programs that they were unable to focus on
recruiting long-term degree-seeking international students. The partially validated cause
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associated with outcome expectancy and attributions will not be addressed in isolation but in
conjunction with the validated organizational causes below, because most of the IEO staff
members believed that the recruiting outcome was largely affected by the organizational
resources and support granted by the university leaders. The validated cause associated with
attainment value was that the IEO staff members were preoccupied with short-term international
student programs, which was identical to the underlying cause associated with cost value.
Therefore, this validated cause will not be addressed.
In the organization dimension, all five validated causes will be addressed due to the
significance of the problem. The IEO staff members had an attitude of helplessness as 43% of
the survey participants indicated that they felt helpless when attempting to get support from the
university. Two validated causes comprising the lack of resources for future recruiting activities
and the lack of a strategic plan across departments were each mentioned by more than 70% of
the interviewees. The two additional organizational causes uncovered during the interviews were
a low number of English-speaking administrative staff members and faculty members, and a low
level of internationalization. These two causes will be combined into one organizational
problem, which is a lack of an international environment. This validated cause was mentioned by
more than 60% of the interviewees.
In total, fourteen of the seventeen validated causes will be addressed, of which eight are
related to knowledge, two are related to motivation, and four are related to organizational issues.
Although the solutions are developed for each of the selected knowledge, motivational, and
organizational causes in the immediate sections below, they will first be introduced as
independent discrete elements without being connected to one another. These elements will serve
as the building blocks for further development of a larger plan. In the section of Solution
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Integration that follows the Summary of KMO Validated Causes and Solutions, all the
independent elements will be integrated to form a comprehensive and coherent solution with
step-by-step procedures to implement the plan.
A summary of the selected validated knowledge, motivational, and organizational causes
and rationales are listed in Table 9.

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Table 9
Selection and Rationale of the Validated Causes
Category Validated Causes Selection Rationale
Knowledge
(Factual)
1. The IEO staff members do not know from which
countries to recruit international students.
Yes 60% Gap
Knowledge
(Factual)
2. The IEO staff members do not know in which
countries they could find people to help them start
recruiting international students.
Yes 86% Gap
Knowledge
(Factual)
3. The IEO staff members do not know what types
of people, groups, or organizations to contact for
assistance in other countries.
Yes 87% Gap
Knowledge
(Factual)
4. The IEO staff members do not know that they
could model themselves after other Taiwanese
universities that have successfully recruited many
international students.
Yes 100% Gap
Knowledge
(Procedural)
5. The IEO staff members do not know how to start
recruiting international students in non-Chinese
speaking countries.
Yes 75% Gap
Knowledge
(Procedural)
6. The IEO staff members do not know how to
present the strengths of EAU and its degrees based
on the social/cultural contexts of the different
countries.
Yes 75% Gap
Knowledge
(Metacognitive)
7. The IEO staff members do not know which
recruiting methods should be applied to which
countries.
Yes 62% Gap
Knowledge
(Metacognitive)
8. The IEO staff members do not know which
recruiting strategies should be applied based on
the factors in which potential international
students make their choices of universities.
Yes 75% Gap
Motivation
(Outcome
Expectancy)
9. The IEO staff members see no chance of
succeeding, due to inexperience, an unfavorable
Taiwan job market, a lack of internationalized
curricula, and a low international reputation.
No The interviewees
claimed that failure to
recruit was due to lack of
organizational support,
which will be addressed
in the organization
section below.
Motivation
(Attainment
Value)
10. The IEO staff members do not see the importance
of recruiting more international students in order
to compensate for the shortfall of domestic
students.
No The cause was identical
to that of cost value.
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Table 9, continued
Category Validated Causes Selection Rationale
Motivation
(Goal Content)
11. The IEO staff members are not given a clear goal
of recruiting a specific number of international
students.
Yes 80% of the interviewees
talked about lack of a
goal for the future years.
Motivation
(Cost Value)
12. The IEO staff members are preoccupied with
short-term international student programs, so they
do not have enough time to recruit long-term
degree-seeking international students.
Yes 60% of the survey
participants agreed. This
problem was also
mentioned by most of the
interviewees.
Motivation
(Attributions)
13. The IEO staff members see the recruiting results
as external uncontrollable causes and not their
own recruiting efforts.
No More than 80% of the
interviewees mentioned a
low degree of
internationalization at
EAU, which will be
addressed in the
organization section
below.
Organization
(Attitude of
Helplessness)
14. The IEO staff members see themselves as
unimportant, because their requests are often
rejected, suggestions ignored, and ideas
unsupported by university leaders.
Yes 43% of the survey
participants agreed.
Some interviewees
mentioned “weak
leadership ”.
Organization
(Lack of
Resources)
15. The IEO staff members do not have enough
resources, such as manpower and funding, to
recruit more degree-seeking international students.
Yes Most of the interviewees
mentioned that there was
a lack of resources.
Organization
(Lack of a
Strategic Plan)
16. The university does not have a long-term strategic
plan across departments to recruit, educate, and
support international students.
Yes 75% of the interviewees
indicated that there was
no strategic plan.
Organization
Other
Dimensions
(Lack of an
international
environment)
17. There is a low number of English-speaking
recruiters, administrative staff members, and
faculty members.
Yes 50% of the participants
mentioned this problem.
18. There is a low level of internationalization at
EAU.
Yes 88% of the participants
mentioned this problem.
These two additional
causes will be addressed
as “lack of international
environment ”.

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Solutions for Knowledge Causes
Anderson et al. (2001) identified four types of knowledge including factual, conceptual,
procedural, and metacognitive, and six categories of the cognitive process consisting of
remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Three of these four
types of knowledge plus six categories of the cognitive process will provide guidance for
developing solutions to the validated knowledge causes.
The IEO staff members would be tasked to collect relevant information to increase their
knowledge about international student recruitment. Measures would be proposed to motivate the
IEO staff members to take on these additional assignments willingly and reduce any foreseeable
resistance. Two motivation tools are suggested during the solution implementation to spur the
change.
The first tool is the capacity tool. Capacity tools provide information, training, education,
and resources to enable individuals, groups, or agencies to make decisions or carry out activities
(Schneider & Ingram, 1990). The capacity tool is used because the new task requires extensive
information, training, and resources on a continuous basis. These requirements affect all the IEO
staff members involved in the plan implementation. When EAU leaders announce the new
recruiting goal, it would be helpful if they could commit to a proper allocation of resources. This
would include arranging planning sessions and training to ensure that the implementation of the
goal would not suffer from lack of information, skills, other resources (Schneider & Ingram,
1990). Once staff members are promised adequate support and resources, they would be more
likely to strive for success.
The second tool is a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Measures would be taken
to motivate the IEO staff members both intrinsically and extrinsically. Intrinsic motivation is
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critical because the IEO staff members are primarily driven by intrinsic rewards rather than
monetary gains. They would be propelled by purpose and the joy of discovery, and inspired by
the challenge inherited in this new task (Pink, 2009). In addition, positive feedback from the
university leaders would give the IEO staff members a sense of satisfaction and achievement,
which would serve as a great intrinsic reward. Extrinsically, the IEO staff members would be
explicitly told about the importance of accomplishing the task and its significant contribution to
the university ’s academic reputation (University of Southern California [USC], 2015). They
would be told that this success of this new task would enable EAU to position itself strongly in
the fierce competition among the Taiwanese universities. Small rewards, such as praise and
recognition by the group, that follow the partial completion of the task could be offered
frequently (USC, 2015). After the all the information has been collected by the IEO staff
members, a bigger reward such as a group celebration activity could be provided.
Factual
Factual knowledge includes the basic elements that students must know to be acquainted
with a discipline and to solve problems with it. It has two subtypes: knowledge of terminology
and the knowledge of specific details and elements. Knowledge of terminology includes
technical vocabulary and symbols. The knowledge of specific details and elements refers to the
knowledge of events, locations, people, dates, sources of information, etc. (Anderson et al.,
2001).
Research top source countries. Based on the triangulation of the survey results and
interview findings, the IEO staff members did not know which countries represented good
sources for recruiting international students. The cognitive processes that apply to this problem
are remembering and understanding. Researchers have found that students learn faster when they
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are asked to generate relevant knowledge from previous information or their own lives
(Ambrose, 2010). The IEO staff members have prior knowledge and experiences that the
Ministry of Education (MOE) provides with the most comprehensive and accurate information
about international students studying in Taiwan. Moreover, learning is improved when learners
are actively involved in the learning process (Rueda, 2011). Therefore, the IEO staff members
could be tasked to search for relevant data and information on their own. One IEO staff member
could retrieve the latest information from MOE regarding the countries from which international
students have been sent. Then the staff members could sort those countries in descending order
of international student enrollments. Finally, a list of the top fifteen source countries could be
generated with the number of the international students sent to Taiwan in the last decade. Kiewra
and Dubois (1998) found that diagramming was a useful approach in the representation of
knowledge. The top fifteen source countries could be marked on a world map or a chart before
showing to the other IEO staff members. This approach would enable the IEO staff members to
see these countries visually by continents and associate them with different cultures.
Find connections and assistance. Based on the triangulation of the surveys and
interviews, the IEO staff members did not know countries could be explored to find people to
help them start recruiting international students. Nor were the IEO staff members clear about the
types of people, groups, or organizations to contact for assistance in other countries. These two
validated knowledge causes were of the same nature and could be combined into one issue. The
cognitive process associated with this problem is remembering, which is retrieving relevant
knowledge from long-term memory, or recognizing and recalling (Anderson et al., 2001). One
solution is developed based on the information processing theory that learning is facilitated when
new information is connected to prior knowledge (Mayer, 2011) The IEO staff members could
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be tasked to retrieve prior information from the university ’s records about the connections which
EAU has previously built in these countries. They could be required to locate as many of these
connections as possible. These connections may include but are not limited to alumni clubs,
exchange students and scholars, overseas Chinese communities, government agencies, and sister
schools. Then, the IEO staff members could be required to obtain all types of assistance available
through MOE. The various connections and assistance collected by the designated IEO staff
members could be consolidated and organized into a final list because people learn better when
they outline and summarize the materials (Mayer, 2011).
Identify top recruiting universities. Based on the triangulation of the survey results and
interview findings, the IEO staff members did not know that they could model themselves after
other Taiwanese universities that have successfully recruited many international students. The
cognitive processes associated with this area are remembering and understanding, which mean to
recognize and to summarize. The IEO staff members could be assigned to find the universities
that have recruited more international students than EAU through MOE, which publishes official
data on the number of degree-seeking international students each Taiwanese university has
enrolled in the last five years. Then a comparison list with EAU with respect to the number of
international students could be summarized. The geographical location, size, and history, and
possibly also recruiting methods for these universities, could be added to increase the IEO staff
members ’ level of factual knowledge.
Procedural
Procedural knowledge refers to the knowledge of how to do something. It often takes the
form of a series or sequence of steps to be followed. It consists of knowledge of skills,
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algorithms, techniques, and methods. Procedural knowledge also includes knowledge of the
criteria used to determine when to use various procedures (Anderson et al., 2001).
Adopt promising recruiting methods. The interview data revealed that the IEO staff
members did not know how to start recruiting international students in non-Chinese speaking
countries. They also seemed to be unaware of when to use which recruiting methods. One
solution would be based on the learning principle that to develop mastery, students must acquire
component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned
(Ambrose, 2010). First, the IEO staff members could be tasked to collect recruiting methods
from books, articles, the Internet, MOE data sources, top-recruiting Taiwanese universities, and
other available sources. They could also seek the best practices in the market. The IEO staff
members must be assured that they are capable of learning new skills which could be improved
through modeling and practice (Ambrose, 2010). They could then develop the skills of using
those recruiting methods in a step-by-step process following the best practices. Afterward, the
IEO staff members may use the cognitive process of applying, which means to carry out or use a
procedure in a given situation (Anderson et al., 2001). When the IEO staff members have
become familiar with various recruiting methods, they may determine when and in what
situations to apply appropriate recruiting methods.
Present EAU ’s advantages. The interview findings validated that the IEO staff members
did not know how to present the strengths of EAU and its degrees based on the social/cultural
contexts of the different countries. It was also uncovered during the interviews that most of the
IEO staff members did not know how to fully explain the strengths of EAU. The solution to this
problem is based upon the dimension of procedural knowledge defined by Anderson et al., 2001,
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which associates procedural knowledge with subject-specific skills, algorithms, techniques, and
methods.
To increase procedural knowledge, the IEO staff members must acquire skills and
techniques to explain the advantages of studying at EAU. The IEO staff members could be
required to increase their knowledge about EA U’ s strengths, then to improve their presentation
skills about EAU ’s strengths. Dembo and Seli (2008) explained the use of rehearsal, elaboration,
and organizational strategies to improve learning. The rehearsal strategy involves repeating
words and terms. Furthermore, research has shown that distributed practice among frequent and
short periods is more effective than a smaller number of sessions of massed practice (Kornell,
Castel, Eich, & Bjork, 2010). The elaboration strategy includes paraphrasing, summarizing, and
creating analogies. The organizational strategy creates connections and interrelationships within
a body of information (Dembo & Seli, 2008). The IEO staff members could prepare a list of
EA U’ s advantages, recite them, and elaborate on them in their own words with great confidence.
They could also identify and list EA U’ s weaknesses in order to properly respond to potential
international students’ challenging questions. Lastly, an organizational strategy could be applied
by grouping the information into categories. For example, EA U’ s strengths may be divided into
internal and external ones. The internal strengths may include high quality faculty and state-of-
the-art facilities, while the external factors may include convenient location and low cost of
living. Furthermore, the IEO staff members must be able to articulate that EAU delivers greater
value to students compared to other Taiwanese universities. These advantages include EA U ’s
huge alumni network and its top Chinese language center available for all students.

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Metacognitive
Metacognitive knowledge is the knowledge about cognition in general as well as
awareness of and knowledge about one ’s own cognition. Metacognitive knowledge includes
strategic knowledge, which is a general strategy for learning, thinking, and problem solving. It
also includes contextual and conditional knowledge, which is knowing when and why to use
different strategies. Learners must develop knowledge of the different conditions for which
different strategies are most appropriate (Anderson et al., 2001).
List students ’ decision-making factors. Based on the triangulation of the survey results,
interview findings, and document analysis, the IEO staff members had sufficient knowledge on
the factors by which prospective international students choose universities. However, the IEO
staff members did not know which recruiting strategies should be applied based on those factors.
Before a recruiting strategy is formulated, the IEO staff members could conduct additional
research on international students ’ decision-making factors. This may require the IEO staff
members to understand the educational systems, student demographics, school statistics, general
curricula, language proficiencies, levels of tuition, college attendance rates, pedagogical
practices, etc. in the top countries which have sent international students to Taiwan.
Additionally, IEO staff members could further seek to understand the different perceptions held
by prospective international students about various destination countries and institutions. The
information collection process would naturally compel the IEO staff members to ponder the
ways in which they may best interact with and attract prospective international students. Finally,
a list of international students ’ decision-making factors could be generated.
Collect country-specific information. According to Anderson et al. (2001), students
need to develop conditional knowledge for general cognitive strategies. One important aspect of
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conditional knowledge is the local situational and general social, conventional, and cultural
norms for different strategies. The triangulation of the survey results and interview findings
indicated that the IEO staff members did not know which recruiting methods should be applied
to which countries. First of all, the IEO staff members could be assigned to understand and
analyze the culture and norms of the top fifteen sending countries in order to develop appropriate
recruiting strategies. They could gather major facts about the particular cultures, histories, social
conditions, economic developments, and other human needs and concerns. Understanding the
conditional knowledge about local situations, cultures, and norms is essential in stimulating the
IEO staff members ’ thinking about the use of different strategies and ways of solving problems
(Anderson et al., 2001).
Summary
In order to close the knowledge gap preventing IEO from recruiting additional degree-
seeking international students, seven solutions are recommended to increase the IEO staff
members ’ factual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge:
1. Increase the IEO staff members ’ factual knowledge by tasking them to collect data
and facts about the top fifteen countries that have sent the most international students
to Taiwan in the last decade.
2. Increase the IEO staff members ’ factual knowledge by requiring them to find existing
connections and available assistances in these countries.
3. Increase the IEO staff members ’ factual knowledge by assigning them to identify the
Taiwanese universities that have recruited more degree-seeking international students
than EAU in the last five years.
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4. Increase the IEO staff members ’ procedural knowledge by tasking them and
equipping them to search for all the available recruiting methods from various sources
along with best practices among the Taiwanese and Asian higher educational
institutions. Then the IEO staff members could learn and practice using these
recruiting methods in a step-by-step process following the best practice. Having
acquired the recruiting skills, the IEO staff members could be asked to determine
when and in what situations to apply which appropriate recruiting methods.
5. Increase the IEO staff members ’ procedural knowledge by requiring them to identify
EAU ’s strengths, and to improve their presentation skills so that they may articulate
EAU ’s strengths and advantages.
6. Increase the IEO staff members ’ metacognitive knowledge by conducting research on
prospective international students ’ decision-making factors and perceptions of
destination countries and institutions.
7. Increase the IEO staff members ’ metacognitive knowledge by assigning them to
gather cultural, historical, social, and economic information about the top fifteen
countries that have sent the most international students to Taiwan in the last decade.
Having collected all the data in the areas of factual, procedural, and metacognitive
knowledge, the IEO staff members could apply the cognitive processes of analyzing and
evaluating when reviewing the elements. Then, the IEO staff members may select, organize, and
integrate appropriate data and information to create a recruiting plan. It is recommended that the
IEO staff members employ a series of strategic planning sessions to formulate a recruiting plan,
which will be delineated in the section of Solution Integration.

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Solutions for Motivation Causes
The triangulation of survey results and interview findings validated the motivational
causes associated with goal content and cost value. It was discovered that the IEO staff members
have a goal for the current year but not for the future years. Moreover, the IEO staff members ’
main job focus is on short-term international student programs. These two validated causes will
be addressed below.
Goal Setting
The solution for the lack of a clear goal is based on both the concept that effective
performance improvement must start with clearly understood work goals and the principle that
people are motivated when given concrete, challenging, and current goals (Bandura, 1997). A
goal is concrete when it is clearly defined, easily understandable, and measurable. A goal is
challenging when it is difficult but still possible to achieve. The challenge will drive people
beyond their current comfort zones but within reach with their maximum effort. A goal must be
current, because short-term daily or weekly goals are more motivating than long-term monthly,
quarterly, or yearly goals (Locke & Latham, 1990). The department ’s goal must be accompanied
by what have been called cascading goals for every individual whose activities will influence the
achievement of the department goal. Individuals need to know what they must accomplish on a
weekly basis to attain the goal (Locke & Latham, 1990). Based on these principles, the IEO
director could first set a department goal of recruiting a specific number of international students
before certain deadlines for the three-year period from 2016 to 2019. He could determine the
three-year recruiting goal based on the projected number of the domestic students from 2016 to
2019, followed by the EAU president ’s approval. Based on the overarching department goal,
each individual ’s goal could be decided. Then, the IEO director could officially announce the
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three-year department goal as well as individual goals to all the IEO staff members and obtain
their commitments to those goals. That commitment is essential to the success of the strategic
planning process and subsequent change implementation (Mbugua & Rarieya, 2014; Weiner,
2009).
The IEO staff members ’ new knowledge and skill developments should be aligned with
the specific three-year recruiting goal (National Research Council, 1996). The IEO director could
help the IEO staff members get additional information, job aids, and training to propel goal
achievement. In addition, having the IEO staff members take ownership of the goals would help
them to increase their personal confidence (Bandura, 1997; Locke & Latham, 1990). When they
believe that they have the skills required to succeed, they would become more committed to goal
achievement and invest mental effort in their work.
Increase Task Value
The survey results and interview findings confirmed that the IEO staff members were
preoccupied with short-term international student programs, so they did not have time to be
recruiting long-term degree-seeking international students. The solution is drawn from the
principle that higher levels of value motivate individuals (Pintrich, 2003; USC, 2015). When the
IEO staff members have multiple goals, such as international conferences, visiting scholars,
international student exchange programs, etc., the staff members are more motivated to pursue
the goal that has the highest value to them (Ambrose, 2010). The solution is to increase the task
value of recruiting degree-seeking international students.
Task value is increased when instructors include rationales about the importance and
benefits of the task (USC, 2015). Weiner (2009) asserted that organizational members value
organizational change, because they embrace the benefits produced by the organizational change.
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The IEO director could communicate openly with all the IEO staff members about the economic
and cultural benefits brought about by the degree-seeking international students. Economically,
recruiting an increasing number of degree-seeking international students is an important task,
because it would compensate for the shortfall of domestic students in the fall 2016 semester,
ensuring the financial soundness of the university. Additionally, task value is enhanced when the
instructor provides materials and activities that are relevant and useful to the learners, connected
to their interests, and based on real-world tasks (USC, 2015). The IEO director may use a chart
or table to present the projected revenue over the next three to five years in order to demonstrate
the positive economic impact generated by the degree-seeking international students. Then, the
IEO director may use another chart or table to demonstrate the adverse impact on EAU ’s revenue
when the recruiting goal is not accomplished. Furthermore, the IEO director could talk about the
immense cultural benefits delivered by degree-seeking international students. International
students bring diversity and different cultural perspectives to the EAU campus, which would
develop the domestic students ’ global views while increasing EAU ’s ranking and reputation.
Furthermore, instructors can increase the value of the task by providing models that are credible
and similar (Rueda, 2011; USC, 2015). The IEO director could conclude his talk by providing
evidence of successful international student recruitments by several other Taiwanese universities.
These universities did not only partially solve the problem of their declining number of domestic
students but also enhanced their academic reputation.
Summary
In order to remove the motivational barriers preventing the IEO staff members from
recruiting additional degree-seeking international students, two solutions were developed. These
two solutions are expected to keep the IEO staff members motivated and engaged.
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1. Assign a concrete, current, and challenging goal of recruiting a specific number of
degree-seeking international students by specific dates for the next three years. The
IEO director should officially announce the department goal as well as cascaded
individual goals to the IEO staff members and give them ownership of the goal. The
goal commitment by all the IEO staff members would ensure the success of a
strategic planning process and plan implementation.
2. Increase task value by explaining the importance as well as the economic and cultural
benefits brought about by an increasing number of degree-seeking international
students. In addition, other credible and similar universities which have recruited
more degree-seeking international students than EAU can be used as models to
further enhance the task value.
Solutions for Organizational Causes
Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) addressed the concept of culture and context through
two key ideas of cultural models and cultural settings. Cultural models are described as shared
mental schema or normative understandings of either how the world works or how it ought to
work. Cultural settings are defined as occurring “whenever two or more people come together,
over time, to accomplish something ” (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001, p. 47). The two cultural
concepts will be used to analyze organizational problems.
The triangulation of survey results and interview findings validated several organizational
causes. In regard to the cultural model, the IEO staff members had an attitude of helplessness
because they saw themselves as unimportant. With respect to cultural settings, the IEO staff
members did not have enough resources to recruit more international students. Furthermore,
there was a lack of a strategic plan across departments to recruit, educate, and support
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international students. Lastly, there was a lack of an international environment on the EAU
campus to attract long-term degree-seeking international students.
Leadership
The solution to address an attitude of helplessness is built on the principle that top
management must be continually involved in the improvement process (Clark & Estes, 2008, p.
118). Upper management ’s committed and visible involvement in the process is a critical success
factor (Dixon, Arnold, Heineke, Kim, & Mulligan, 1994). McMaster (2014) argued that the key
purpose of leadership is influence, which means to inspire a group of people to get excited, to
accept a new policy proposal, and to find a solution to a problem. It is recommended that the IEO
director work with the university president to provide continual support to IEO staff members
from the moment the new recruiting goal is announced to them. The IEO director must stress that
the task of recruiting degree-seeking international students has a high priority and that the IEO
staff members have been given an important assignment of keeping the university sustainable.
This assertion would create a positive emotional environment for individuals and teams at work
(Clark & Estes, 2008). Following the initial announcement, the IEO director may ask the
university president to visit the IEO staff members regularly and discuss recruiting strategies and
progress. Constant and candid communication builds trust and helps people adjust their
performance to accommodate unforeseeable events (Dixon et al., 1994). The IEO director may
frequently re-emphasize the university ’s commitment to achieving the recruiting goal, inspiring
the IEO staff members, encouraging independent and creative thinking, and moving together
with them to determine purposeful actions (Davis & Jones, 2014; Zacher & Johnson, 2014). In
addition, the IEO director must listen to staff members ’ comments and assure that employees ’
feedback is taken seriously. Strong leadership support from the IEO director and the university
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president would be crucial to the IEO staff members throughout the strategic planning,
implementation, and evaluation processes.
Optimization of Resource Allocation
The problem of the lack of resources must be addressed. When people fail to get the
necessary resources for a high-priority work goal, an organization suffers from a performance
gap (Clark & Estes, 2008). The solution is to optimize resource allocation in alignment with the
clearly defined goal, in order to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness (Donahue &
Zeckhauser, 2006; Hatley, 1972; Lepori, Usher, & Montauti, 2013). When the IEO staff
members accept the three-year goal of recruiting an increasing number of degree-seeking
international students, they can also develop a plan to seek financial support and employ
appropriate resources to facilitate goal achievement. Specifically, manpower and budget
planning could be examined and restructured in such a way to maximize goal attainment (Hatley,
1972; Saunders, 2014). Scientific procedures involving input-output measurements and cost-
benefit analysis can be used as tools in the development of optimal resource planning to improve
the effectiveness of a recruiting strategy (Hummel-Rossi & Ashdown, 2002; Saunders, 2014;
Smith, 2006).
Reallocate staff. It is suggested that the IEO director calculate the number of additional
staff members required to recruit more degree-seeking international students. He may work with
other departments to transfer any excessive staff members to IEO without having to hire new
ones. The staff members who are transferred to IEO must be explicitly informed that their main
job is to recruit degree-seeking international students and not to carry out short-term
international student programs. With internal staff transfers, the overall number of EAU staff
members could be kept intact.
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Redistribute budget. The budget report should be scrutinized by the accounting
manager. More funding could be allocated to international student recruitment without increasing
the overall budget. This could be achieved by moving excess funds from domestic student
matters and by moving the savings from utility expenses and government funding to
international student recruitment. Dembo and Seli (2008) emphasized that learning is enhanced
when knowledge is represented in diagrams. It would be useful to make a cost-benefit analysis
on a graphic chart demonstrating that the reallocation of resources would permit the university to
generate additional revenue from international students without increasing the overall
expenditure (Dembo & Seli, 2008).
Strategic Plan
The interview findings revealed that there is a lack of a strategic plan. The solution is to
develop a strategic plan which is defined as the means by which the organization most effective
organization establishes priorities and goals and coordinates their efforts to anticipate, direct, and
manage changes that are fundamental to organizational challenges (Luxton, 2005; Ruben, 2003;
Tromp & Ruben, 2004). A strategic plan enables an organization to translate its vision, mission,
and objectives into initiatives aligned with outcomes with strategic resource allocation and
commitments to assessment, accountability, and a goal-driven budget (DuPont-Morales &
Harris, 1994). In addition, leadership in the process of change is often perceived to be a critical
factor in creating and deploying strategy and in ensuring a successful change (Davies, Hides, &
Casey, 2001). The IEO director is recommended to lead the creation of a strategic plan during
the strategic planning sessions, which will be described in the section of Solution Integration. A
comprehensive strategic plan would be formulated as a guideline to inform a vision, a mission,
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goals, environmental analyses, recruiting plans, resource optimization, accountability, supporting
organizational arrangements, timelines, and personnel in charge.
International Environment
It was uncovered during the interviews that there was a low level of internationalization
on the EAU campus. Rummler and Brache (1995) and Galbraith (1995) illustrated that
organizational problems can be traced to the conflict between work processes with organizational
structure. Additionally, whenever the knowledge or motivational levels of the organization is
modified, the work processes and structures will need to conform (Galbraith, 1995; Rummler &
Brache, 1995). The solution is developed based on the principle that organizational structures
and processes should be aligned with its goals (Dixon et al., 1994). It is recommended that IEO
proposes to the university leaders to build an international environment that supports
international student recruitment and enrollment. Knight (2004) defined higher education
internationalization as the “process of integrating an international and intercultural dimension
into the teaching, research, and services functions of institutions ” (p. 5). Building an
international environment, which incorporates international perspectives into learning and
services, is the key to transforming the university (de Haan, 2014; Ozturgut, Cantu, Pereira, &
Ramon, 2014). Four measures to build an international environment are suggested for providing
the appropriate services for the influx of international students.
International student center. The first step in the four-part plan is to establish an
international student center. It is pivotal to help international students adapt to the new academic
environment and to meet their academic needs along with their social and cultural needs. To
demonstrate that EAU is serious about internationalizing its campus, it must provide necessary
support to assist international students in their transition and integration (Guo & Chase, 2011;
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Ozturgut et al., 2014). This signifies that EAU would need professional staff members who
would focus entirely on meeting the specific needs of international students. Assisting
international students involve highly specialized activities and should be handled by trained staff
members with international education experience (Liu & Dai, 2012; Qureshi, Janjua, Zaman,
Lodhi, & Tariq, 2014). This could be best achieved by establishing an international student
center which could be operated as a sub-division of IEO or as an independent unit. The sole aim
of the International Student Center is to serve and to satisfy the demands of an increasing number
of international students in their daily lives and studies. The staff members should receive
adequate training in order to provide international students with the best services possible.
Global competency. The second step is to enhance the IEO staff members ’ global
competencies. Essentially, higher education internationalization primarily requires internal
efforts rather than a set of external factors (Jiang & Carpenter, 2014). International students
interact frequently with administrative staff members for consultation and assistance. If the
administrative staff members are able to behave or communicate with the international students
with international or intercultural qualities or understanding, the chances of interacting positively
with the international students would be significantly higher (Liu & Dai, 2012; Nassar-
McMillan, 2014). In order to better serve international students, the administrative staff members
need to master their own global competencies: English fluency, intercultural sensitivity, global
awareness, attentiveness to diversity, multi-cultural understanding, historical perspectives, and
open-mindedness (Hamrick, Evans, & Schuh, 2002; Love & Estanek, 2004; Sandeen & Barr,
2006). It is recommended that professional development programs be provided to the IEO staff
members to enhance their global competencies, their English proficiency, their service attitudes,
and their cross-cultural communication as the priorities. Moreover, the IEO staff members must
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possess a good command of English to present EAU ’s strengths and strengths to prospective
international students and to answer their inquiries. In addition, they could assist in building an
international student community, planning campus activities, and helping international students
in their transition to EAU. The IEO staff members ’ global competencies could also be improved
through their interactions with international students, which is a key element in raising EAU ’s
perceptions in the minds of many international students (Bücker & Poutsma, 2010; Nassar-
McMillan, 2014).
English-taught degree program. The third step is to offer more English-taught degree
programs. Qureshi et al. (2014) believed that curriculum is at the heart of internationalization.
Others even argued that internationalization of the curriculum is the single most important
determinant among all internationalization strategies (Freedman, 1998). If international or
intercultural elements are incorporated into teaching, this change would convey a message that
internationalization is valued and that the university provides many learning opportunities for
prospective international students (Jiang & Carpenter, 2014; Liu & Dai, 2012; Qureshi et al.,
2014). In addition to designing English-taught curricula, the internationalization of pedagogical
practices and classroom experiences are critical to supporting the learning objectives of the
curricula. This may give international students a sense of belonging and provide them with a
learning space in which they would feel comfortable about sharing their experiences, as well as
helping them go through smooth transitions to EAU (Guo & Chase, 2011; Ozturgut et al., 2014).
To ensure that the internationalized curricula are properly designed to meet the demands of
international students, it would be extremely important to select both faculty and an academic
staff with reasonable international exposure. This practice would strengthen EAU ’s international
image (Qureshi et al., 2014). The IEO director is suggested to communicate the needs of the
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international students to the faculty members, in order to offer a higher number of English-taught
degree programs. Along with the addition of English-taught curricula, the IEO staff members
should seek faculty members ’ support when introducing EAU ’s degree programs to prospective
international students.
Supporting infrastructure. The fourth step is to build supporting infrastructure
throughout the campus. Hsu (2012) asserted that internationalization is a process to initiate
policies to adapt various cultural knowledge and their practices on campuses. International
students would receive information from instructions, directions, learning facilities, rules,
regulations, and many other things. Building adequate supporting infrastructure to serve
international students reflects the university ’s efforts to increase the level of internationalization
(Liu & Dai, 2012; Ozturgut et al., 2014; Qureshi et al., 2014). For example, EAU could formally
promulgate the use of English on campus. All the signs, directions, rules, policies, regulations,
instructions, documents, etc. must be translated into English to create an English-friendly
environment for international students. The IEO director may arrange for the involvements and
collaboration of related departments, such as IEO itself, the Office of Academic Affairs, the
Office of Student Affairs, the Computer Center, all the libraries, etc., in this project.
Furthermore, the EAU website could be revamped in an appealing matter to include English
descriptions of programs and services offered by EAU. The IEO staff members would be in the
best position to convey the importance of building supporting infrastructures for international
students and to suggest areas of improvements.
In short, internationalization is a critical success factor in international student
recruitment and enrollment. The continued efforts to promote internationalization on campus
would boost the IEO staff members ’ outcome expectancy and self-efficacy in achieving the goal
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of recruiting more degree-seeking international students. The IEO staff members could make a
proposal about the establishment of an international environment in the strategic planning
sessions, which will be described in the section of Solution Integration.
Summary
In order to close the organizational gap between the current number of international
students and the desired number, four solutions are recommended.
1. Allow the IEO director to work with the university president to engage in leadership
support and continuous involvements during IEO ’s strategic planning,
implementation, and evaluation processes.
2. Optimize resource allocation in alignment with the clearly defined recruiting goal.
Manpower could be reallocated and the budget redistributed to maximize
effectiveness of a recruiting strategy.
3. Create a comprehensive strategic plan that outlines a vision, a mission, goals,
environmental analyses, recruiting plans, resource optimization, accountability,
supporting organizational arrangements, timelines and personnel in charge.
4. Establish an international environment by taking the following measures:
i. Launch an international student center.
ii. Develop the IEO staff members ’ global competencies.
iii. Offer an increased number of English-taught degree programs.
iv. Provide adequate supporting infrastructures throughout the EAU campus.
Summary of KMO Validated Causes and Solutions
Solutions were identified for the significant knowledge, motivational, and organizational
causes in IEO ’s performance gap. Each solution was followed by an implementation plan for the
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IEO staff members in which to take actions. A summary of the validated causes, solutions, and
implementation of the solutions to close the gap stemming from the knowledge, motivational,
and organizational barriers is illustrated in Table 10.

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Table 10
Validated Causes, Solutions, and Implementation of the Solutions
Category Validated Cause Solution Implementation
Knowledge
(Factual)
Lack of factual
knowledge on top
sending countries,
connections, assistance,
and other top Taiwanese
recruiting universities.
Increase the IEO staff
members ’ factual knowledge
by tasking them to collect
data, facts, and information
on their own.
The external facilitator assigns the
IEO staff members to collect, filter,
and organize data, facts, and
information during the strategic
planning sessions in the fourth
quarter of 2015.
Knowledge
(Procedural)
Lack of procedural
knowledge about how
to start recruiting in
non-Chinese speaking
countries.
Increase the IEO staff
members ’ procedural
knowledge by requiring them
to collect all recruiting
methods and the best
practices in the market. They
will learn the recruiting
methods in a step-by-step
process following the best
practices.
The external facilitator assigns the
IEO staff members to collect
recruiting methods and the best
practices during the strategic
planning sessions. Having become
familiar with the recruiting
methods, the IEO staff members
could determine when and in what
situations to apply which
appropriate recruiting methods.
Knowledge
(Procedural)
Lack of procedural
knowledge to present
EAU ’s strengths.
Increase the IEO staff
members ’ procedural
knowledge by first
identifying EAU ’s strengths,
then improving their
presentation skills.
The external facilitator requires the
IEO staff members to list EAU ’s
strengths and advantages, then to
practice presenting them through
the use of rehearsal, elaboration,
and organizational strategies.
Knowledge
(Metacognitive)
Lack of metacognitive
knowledge about
recruiting strategies.
Increase the IEO staff
m e m b er s ’ metacognitive
knowledge by first
identifying international
s tu d e n ts ’ decision-making
factors, and information
about the top sending
countries, then by selecting,
organizing, and integrating
all the elements to create a
strategic recruiting plan.
The external facilitator assigns the
IEO staff members to search for
international students ’ decision-
making factors, and country-
specific information, and to select,
organize, and integrate with other
factual and procedural knowledge
stated above to create a recruiting
plan during the strategic planning
sessions.
Motivation
(Goal Content)
Lack of future goals. Announce a concrete, current,
and challenging department
goal and cascade it into
individual goals. Then obtain
the p ar ticip an ts ’
commitments to this goal.
The external facilitator requests the
IEO director to determine and
announces a three-year recruiting
goal for the department and the
individuals at the onset of the
strategic planning sessions. Then,
he would seek all the IEO staff
m e m b er s ’ commitments to the
goals.

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Table 10, continued
Category Validated Cause Solution Implementation
Motivation
(Cost Value)

Staff members are
preoccupied with short-
term international
student programs.
Increase task value by
demonstrating the importance
and benefits of the task in
conjunction with the use of
creditable and similar models
to support the assertion.
The external facilitator requests the
IEO director to communicate to all
the IEO staff members about the
importance, economic and cultural
benefits brought about by
international students, and then to
use other top recruiting Taiwanese
universities as models for the IEO
staff members to follow.
Organization
(Attitude of
Helplessness)
IEO staff members see
themselves as
unimportant.
Engage leadership support
and continuous involvements
of the top management.
The IEO director works with the
university president to provide
leadership support to the IEO
members and to get them actively
involved in the strategic planning,
implementation, and evaluation
processes.
Organization
(Lack of
Resources)
IEO does not have
enough resources to
recruit an additional
number of degree-
seeking international
students.
Optimize resource allocation
in alignment with the new
recruiting goal. The change
could involve manpower
reallocation and budget
redistribution.
The IEO staff members plan the
optimization of resource allocation
during the strategic planning
sessions.
Manpower and budgets could also
be reallocated across departments
without increasing the overall
expenditure of the university.
Organization
(Lack of
Strategic Plan)
The university does not
have a long-term
strategic plan across
departments to recruit,
educate, and support
international students.
Create a strategic recruiting
plan to align the structure and
process of the organization
with the goal.
The IEO staff members create a
comprehensive strategic plan
outlining a vision, a mission, goals,
environmental analyses, recruiting
plans, resource optimization,
accountability, supporting
organizational arrangements,
timelines, and personnel in charge.
Organization
(Lack of
International
Environment)
 There is a low
number of
administrative staff
and faculty with a
high English
proficiency
 There is a low
level of
internationalize-
tion at EAU.
Build supporting
organizational arrangements
for goal attainment. Increase
the level of
internationalization on the
EAU campus by building an
international environment.
The IEO staff members discuss
ways of establishing an
international environment at the
strategic planning sessions.
Examples may include the launch
of an international student center,
development of staff members ’
global competencies, provision of
English-taught degree programs,
and supporting infrastructures
throughout the EAU campus.

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Solution Integration
The scientific management school of thought claimed that change occurs because leaders,
change agents, and others see the need for a change (Eckel, Hill, Green, & Mallon, 1999;
Peterson, 1995). The scientific management theory which focuses on planned change,
organizational development, and strategic planning will be used to guide the solution
development (Kezar, 2014). Strategic planning is defined as a “process of developing and
maintaining a strategic fit between the organization and its changing marketing opportunities ”
(Kotler & Murphy, 1981, p. 471). Ellis (2010) defined strategic planning as the process of
determining what an organization intends to be in the future and how it will get there. The
purpose of strategic planning is to find the best future for the organization and the best path to
reach that destination. Atkins (2010) stated, “Strategic planning is an organization ’s process of
defining its strategy or direction and making decisions on how its resources will be used to
pursue this strategy ” (p. 19). In strategic planning, leaders play a crucial role as Kezar (2011)
described that the leader is the change agent at the center using rational scientific management
tools to develop change initiatives for the organization.
The solutions to address each of the knowledge, motivational, and organizational
dimensions would be integrated and delivered through three-month strategic planning sessions
from October to December 2015. The objectives of the strategic planning sessions are to assist
the IEO staff members in collecting data, then convert that data into information, and then use
that information to form a strategic recruiting plan and conceiving support systems, in order to
effectively accomplish the goal of recruiting 400 degree-seeking international students by July,
2016. Active involvement from all the IEO staff members in a collaborative way over the three
three-month period would be a key element. The solutions developed in the dimensions of
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knowledge, motivation, and organization would be incorporated into the strategic planning
sessions to produce a comprehensive strategic plan. It is preferable to break down the strategy
planning into a number of sessions, based on the segmenting and pre-training principles that
people learn better when a complex task is presented in manageable parts (Mayer, 2011).
Principles of Strategic Planning
Five principles are essential to successful strategic planning sessions: communication,
participation, collaboration, shared leadership, and transparency (Allen & Baker, 2012; Mbugua
& Rarieya, 2014; Moore & Diamond, 2000; Wilbon, 2012).
Communication. The first and foremost principle is communication. Leaders need to
understand the importance of open communication to the success of the strategic planning
process (Conneely, 2010; Delprino, 2013c: Moore & Diamond, 2000). It is essential to establish
a two-way communication and to build a feedback mechanism (Allen & Baker, 2012; Moore &
Diamond, 2000). Communicating to the participants about the goals, procedures, and
requirements, as well as the freedom to express their views at the onset of the strategic planning
session would enhance their involvements, mutual understanding, and group commitments
throughout the strategic planning process. Communication would also ensure the pa rticipa nts’
engagement at an early stage and throughout the strategic planning process (Mbugua & Rarieya,
2014; Nauffal & Nasser, 2012). The participants must understand the importance of the issues to
be discussed and receive the opportunities to share their expertise, new ideas, and even criticisms
(Moore & Diamond, 2000). A leader holding back information leads to mistrust and a lack of
assurance that every participant plays an important role in the process (Conneely, 2010). In
particular, leaders listening to the participants are the key to successful communication. The
leaders need to develop positive attitudes in welcoming unconventional inputs, suggestions, and
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feedback (Moore & Diamond, 2000). In short, the strategic planning process should raise every
participant ’s awareness of the importance of open communication to the success of strategy
formulation and implementation.
Participation. The second principle is participation, which encourages involvement from
all members in the various stages of the strategic planning process (Wilbon, 2012). It is
imperative to inform all members of the purpose of strategic planning as a process of charting the
way forward to the goal attainment within a specific period of time. Strategic planning is not
merely about the development of a plan. It is about bringing changes to the organization through
its members ’ abilities and willingness to implement the plan. By asking all members to join the
strategic planning sessions, the chances of obtaining their consensus and buy-in would be
significantly increased (Allen & Baker, 2012; Delprino, 2013a; McHatton, Bradshaw, Gallagher,
& Reeves, 2011). Furthermore, active participation in the strategic planning process is likely to
foster a problem-solving culture within the organization (Ainscow, 1999). When people are
given the opportunity to contribute their unique views in the decision-making processes, they are
likely to take ownership of the decisions and in turn, promote actions to implement the plan
(Temple & Ylitalo, 2009; Wilbon, 2012).
Collaboration. Rath and Conchie (2008) stated, “Effective leaders surround themselves
with the right people and build on each person ’s strengths ” (p. 21). Collaboration is to
acknowledge that different members have different strengths, expertise, and perspectives
(Mbugua & Rarieya, 2014; Tracy, 2014). By seeking members ’ inputs, the leader shows that
each member ’s expertise is valued in the development of a strategic plan (Delprino, 2013b;
Mbugua & Rarieya, 2014; McHatton et al., 2011). Collaborative approaches also result in more
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creativity, sharing of information, and generation of new ideas that people would otherwise
never think up (Barlett, 2008).
Shared leadership. Shared leadership or distributed leadership urges the members to
actively participate in the process of strategic planning for the improvement of an organization
(Mbugua & Rarieya, 2014). Spillane (2006) described distributed leadership as an idea that is
“primarily concerned with the co-performance of leadership and the reciprocal interdependencies
that shape the leadership practice ” (p. 58). Distributed leadership involves multiple individuals in
informal roles contributing to the collective actions of the strategic planning process (Jones,
Harvey, Lefoe, & Ryland, 2014; van Ameijde, Nelson, Billsberry, & van Meurs, 2009). In such
circumstances, the strategic planning process would not be left to the initial leader only (Ellis,
2010). Successful distributed leadership builds trust, enhances support of the participants in the
decision-making process, and increases the chances of the group acquiring valuable information
needed for the objective (Temple & Ylitalo, 2009; van Ameijde et al., 2009).
Transparency. The strategic planning process aims to initiate a change of culture within
the organization. One criterion to effect a change involves transparency, which builds trust
among the members of a team. It is critical to be transparent about how and why the conclusions
are reached during the strategic planning process (Allen & Baker, 2012). Meetings should
encompass all documents, discussions, data analysis, formation of a strategy plan, and resource
reallocation to ensure transparency and integrity, so that all the participants know their roles in
the strategy implementation and how they are affected (Conneely, 2010; Ellis, 2010).
Transparency is particularly important over seemingly disputable matters, such as resource
reallocation and job reassignment. In short, transparency in the final decision-making process,
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for example, by group consensus or individual expertise, can avoid any confusion or concerns in
the implementation stage (Delprino, 2013c).
Strategic Planning Process
Ellis (2010) urged leaders to keep in mind that strategic planning sessions aim to answer
three fundamental questions:
1. Where is the organization now?
2. Where do we want the organization to be in the future?
3. How do we plan to get there?
These three fundamental questions were used to guide the discussions and to stimulate
the IEO staff members ’ critical thinking in the strategic planning process. The IEO staff
members would first seek to understand their current situation in international student
recruitment. Then, they would compare the current situation with the new recruiting goal with
the best practice among the Taiwanese universities as a reference to the action planning. Lastly,
the IEO staff members would jointly determine the steps that would enable them to achieve their
goal. The style and procedures of the strategic planning sessions will be elaborated below.
External facilitation. It is recommended that the EAU leaders seek one or more external
facilitators, rather than having the IEO director leading the strategic planning process. An
external facilitator would be perceived as being objective and capable of bringing new structures
to temporarily replace the current organizational structures of hierarchy and communication
(Pettigrew, 1985; Weber, 1998). In addition, an external facilitator can set the agendas for the
group discussions and can guide the process of reaching a consensus. The external facilitator also
could announce ground rules to clearly state the ways in which the participants will interact with
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one another, the timetables, and the decision-making process flow (Facilitator.2015; Moore &
Diamond, 2000).
There are many benefits to using an external facilitator. First, given his/her neutrality, an
external facilitator can raise and confront relevant problems and reach conclusions on difficult
issues without letting the participants feel threatened. Sensitive issues can be probed with the
external facilitator ’s professional skills (Moore & Diamond, 2000). Second, an external
facilitator would allow the participants to engage actively in open discussions without the fear of
being judged or misjudged by the organizational leaders. The facilitator would create an
environment of strategic reflection and allow the participants to give bold answers (Hendry &
Seidl, 2003). Third, an external facilitator would minimize the chances of reaching decisions
based on the subjective views of a few participants or by predominant ideas that have long
existed within the organization (Strategic planning facilitator.2015). Fourth and finally, an
external facilitator would allow the organizational leaders to concentrate on listening to the
views of the participants without being distracted from having to manage the process details
(Strategic planning facilitator.2015). At the onset of the strategic planning sessions, the
organizational leaders must ensure that every participant knows that an external facilitator ’s sole
function is to lead the strategic planning process and plays no part in deciding the strategies. In
short, the external facilitator steers the participants throughout the strategic planning process, in
an effort to help them make decisions in a systematic fashion (Strategic planning facilitator.2015;
Strategic planning process.2015; Moore & Diamond, 2000).
Workshop approach. The most commonly used, and most effective, approach in
strategic planning is the workshop approach (Cosner et al., 2007; Groenveld, 1997; Phaal,
Farrukh, & Probert, 2007). In this technique, the leader engages all participants in the strategic
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planning process to draw on their knowledge and experiences to embark on a critical thinking
process. Workshops facilitate brainstorming and consensus building with the aim of capturing as
many perspectives as possible across the entire group. It enables all participants to identify a
large number of viable approaches and solutions, review the proposed actions in a timely
manner, and to fully examine the key issues (Wilbon, 2012).
The external strategic planning facilitator could foster a participative climate at the onset
of the workshop by acknowledging that everyone has the ability to contribute toward the
formation of the strategic plan. Such affirmation would empower the IEO staff members to
undertake their individually assigned tasks in order to ensure the overall success of the strategy
formulation (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990).
Elements of a strategic plan. A successful model of the strategic planning process is
composed of five components that apply across all institutional levels of planning (Ellis, 2010;
Lovik, 2014; Nauffal & Nasser, 2012). The five components are:
1. Vision, mission, and values
2. Goals
3. Environmental analyses
4. Action planning
5. Supporting organizational arrangements
Vision. The first component consists of a vision, a mission, and values. Vision is a
statement of what the organization wants to become or its future aspirations (Ruben, 2003).
Mission is the fundamental purpose of an organization and what it is attempting to accomplish
(Kotler & Murphy, 1981). Values depict the ideals and behaviors deemed important by the
organization. Collectively, the organization ’s vision, mission, and values provide statements of
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principles that guide decision-making and the development and implementation of plans (Nauffal
& Nasser, 2012).
Leadership is regarded as a critical factor in initiating strategic planning sessions and
“essential in order to create a vision, communicate policy, and deploy strategy ” (Davies et al.,
2001, p. 1026). In the first stage of the strategic planning sessions, the IEO director is
recommended to openly communicate with all the IEO staff members about the purposes of the
strategic planning sessions and to reiterate EAU ’s vision, mission, and values. Then, the IEO
director could increase the task value by explaining the importance of recruiting more degree-
seeking international students with a sense of urgency. Then, the IEO director may illustrate the
economic and cultural benefits brought about by them. International students would not only
contribute to the university ’s revenue but would also bring diversity to the EAU campus, which
is expected to enhance EAU ’s reputation. Other Taiwanese universities which have successfully
recruited a greater number of international students could be identified as models for EAU in
which to learn.
Goals. The second component is goals, which provide participants with a reference point
against which to measure and demonstrate institutional progress and accomplishments. The
setting of goals aligns the institution ’s vision, mission, and values to the department ’s objectives
(Nauffal & Nasser, 2012). Strategic goals can be objective oriented or management oriented
(Worthen & Sanders, 1987). During the second stage of the strategic planning process, the IEO
director could announce the three-year recruiting goal and explain that it was determined based
on the declining number of domestic students. Charts or graphs are helpful, as integrated
auditory and visual information can maximize working memory capacity (Mayer, 2011).
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Weiner (2009) asserted that committed individuals are central to institutional changes,
because they believe some sort of change is urgently needed. The IEO director must stress that
the change initiative could solve an important organizational problem. The participation of all the
IEO staff members in the strategic planning sessions would be sought, after they all understand
the importance of the new recruiting goals. Lastly, the IEO director may address the attitude of
helplessness by promising full support to the IEO staff members. In the subsequent strategic
planning sessions, the IEO director could constantly reassure the IEO staff members of the
university ’s commitment to goal achievement.
Environment analysis. The third component of strategic planning is environment
analyses, which are to examine both the internal and external forces impacting an institution
(Delprino, 2013a; Nauffal & Nasser, 2012). Well-known techniques such as SWOT analysis is
most frequently employed (Chance, 2010; Kezar, 2010). SWOT analysis assesses strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of an organization. Additional studies such as market
analysis, environmental forecasts, competitor analysis, etc. could also be conducted at this stage
(Hambrick & Fredrickson, 2005). Porter (1996) stressed that strategic positioning means
performing different activities from rivals or performing similar activities in different ways. The
IEO staff members would be instructed to conduct a SWOT analysis, higher education industry
analysis, environmental forecasts, competitor analysis, etc. These analyses would provide the
IEO staff members with the details to select the appropriate activities which deliver greater value
to degree-seeking international students, so that EAU may differentiate itself from its peer
universities. The IEO staff members would also prepare a list of EAU ’s strengths and
weaknesses in comparison to other top recruiting Taiwanese universities, in order to discuss the
ways to highlight EAU ’s advantages in the recruiting plan at a later stage.
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Action planning. The fourth component is action planning, which is the heart of the
strategic planning process. In this stage, the focus is shifted from broad objectives to specific
strategies and action steps which would facilitate the realization of goals. A recruiting plan can
be divided into a series of action steps with individuals being assigned specific tasks for
achieving individual goals by a specific date (Ellis, 2010; Nauffal & Nasser, 2012). The action
plan identifies timelines, personnel, resources, communication flow, and operational tactics
necessary to achieve the objectives (Bryson, 1995). Moreover, a recruiting plan delineates both
the short-term actions needed to move the institution in the right direction in the immediate
future and the long-term actions leading to more complex evolutionary changes (Ruben, 2003;
Tromp & Ruben, 2004).
The solutions to address the factual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge issues
would be implemented in this stage. To increase factual knowledge, the IEO staff members
would be tasked to prepare a list of the top fifteen countries which have sent most international
students to Taiwan in the last decade and the total number of international students from each of
these countries. Then, the IEO staff members would search for connections to these countries
and any available assistance to help them start recruiting degree-seeking international students.
In addition, the IEO staff members would locate the Taiwanese universities which have recruited
more international students than EAU. The geographical location, size, recruiting history of these
universities, and their recruiting methods would be identified as benchmark and best practices.
To increase procedural knowledge, the IEO staff members would be required to collect all
available recruiting methods from books, articles, the Internet, MOE, peer universities, and other
available sources. Then, the effectiveness of the recruiting methods would be analyzed. When
the IEO staff members have become familiar with the various recruiting methods, they may
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determine when and in what situations to apply which appropriate recruiting methods. To
strengthen metacognitive knowledge, the IEO staff members would identify the factors which
affect international students ’ choices of universities. Furthermore, the IEO staff members would
seek to understand the cultural, historical, social, and economic conditions of the top fifteen
countries that have sent the most international students to Taiwan in the last decade.
Anderson et al. (2001) elucidated that to create is to put elements together to form a plan,
coherent whole, or make an original product. The three cognitive processes of selecting,
organizing, and integrating which can enhance learning, would be applied in this stage (Mayer,
2011). The first cognitive process of selecting has already been carried out when the IEO staff
members selected all the relevant data, facts, information about SWOT analysis, top-sending
countries, EAU ’s connections and available assistance, recruiting methods, and students ’
decision making factors, etc. before the group discussions. The second cognitive process of
organizing would be applied when the IEO staff members place all the collected data together for
further analysis. Finally, the third and last cognitive process of integrating would be applied. The
IEO staff members would analyze and evaluate the collected data, and convert it into useful
information. Then, they would combine the information with their expertise, understanding, and
benchmarking and best practice assessments to develop metacognitive knowledge and make
informed decisions about which actions to take on (Datnow, Park, & Kennedy-Lewis, 2012;
Marsh, 2012). After the discussions, the IEO staff members would integrate all the elements to
create a recruiting plan. Hambrick and Fredrickson (2005) illuminated that an action plan should
consist of five dimensions: arenas, vehicles, differentiators, staging, and economic logic.
Arenas. The first dimension of the recruiting plan is arena. The most fundamental
question that action planners ask is, “Where will we be active? ” (Hambrick & Fredrickson, 2005,
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p. 53) The recruiting plan should first include the countries, geographic areas, and schools in
which the IEO staff members decide to recruit degree-seeking international students. For
instance, EAU may actively recruit international students from Malaysia, Vietnam, and
Indonesia as a great number of students perceive Taiwanese degrees as more valuable in light of
pursuing better job opportunities. This section should also contain the degree programs and the
corresponding features that the IEO staff members decide to promote, for example, Global
Business Program and Journalism Program which are EAU ’s core degree programs.
Vehicles. The second dimension is vehicles, which address the question, “How will we
get there? ” (Hambrick & Fredrickson, 2005, p. 53) A vehicle is the means by which recruiters
make their presence in particular countries or geographic areas. The IEO staff members would
describe all the connections that EAU has established in the overseas countries, the available
assistances, and the types of recruiting methods which they intend to employ in the target
countries. For example, EAU has a large number of overseas sister schools, exchange students,
visiting scholars and a huge alumni network, which may aid EAU in recruiting international
students.
Differentiators. The third dimension is differentiators, which address the question, “How
will we win in the marketplace? ” (Hambrick & Fredrickson, 2005, p. 53) A strategy should
identify not only where an organization will be active and how it will get there but also how the
organization will win in the field. Accordingly, the IEO staff members would elaborate how they
could persuade prospective international students to choose EAU over other universities. This
part of the recruiting plan would illustrate EAU ’s strengths, as well as the ways in which EAU
could meet international students ’ needs with a full understanding of the factors affecting their
choices of universities based on the social/cultural contexts.
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The main purpose of this section is to identify EAU ’s competitive advantage, which
requires the participants ’ critical thinking. Porter (1996) argued that in the business context, “A
company can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve ” (Porter,
1996, p. 62). An organization must configure itself to provide something unique and valuable
(Ghemawat & Rivkin, 2006). Similarly, higher education institutions are increasingly required to
gain competitive advantages in order to create a competitive position (de Haan, 2014). Examples
of competitive advantages of higher education institutions include quality of education,
reputation, a unique selling point, quality of facilities and services, university and industry
partnerships, the living environment, top ranking in specific fields, the alumni network, and
international accreditation (de Haan, 2014). A university may combine multiple competencies to
produce a superior competitive advantage (Mazzarol & Soutar, 1999). The IEO staff members
could mingle a number of EAU ’s distinctive competencies to form a unique competitive
advantage. For instance, EAU has entered into partnerships with many private companies to
provide students with the opportunities to gain practical experiences in their fields and to find
career paths. In addition, EAU has established a mechanism to constantly review the curricula to
ensure its fulfillment of the industry requirements. Moreover, EAU ’s teaching quality is
supported by state-of-the-art facilities and advanced information technology. EAU ’s unique
competencies could be combined into one strong competitive advantage.
Having identified EAU ’s multiple competitive advantages, EAU could construct a
positioning statement which would quickly appeal to prospective international students
(Harrison-Walker, 2009). There is a number of ways in which a positioning statement can be
conceived (Aaker & Shansby, 1982). The first way is to position an organization by attribute.
Brown University positions itself as an open-minded Ivy League college. The second way is to
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position an organization by use. Cornell has distinguished itself as the university-of-choice for
majors in hotel administration. The third way is to position by user. Saint Leo College is
positioned as college for working adult students. The fourth way is to position by price or
quality. The University of Michigan is often called “The Harvard of the Midwest. ” The fifth way
is to position a university by associating it with more prestigious institutions (Harrison-Walker,
2009). The IEO staff members could craft a short positioning statement to quickly leave
prospective international students with a strong impression of EAU. For instance, EAU may
position itself as “a university situated in a metropolitan city with the widest range of curricula
aligned with the latest global industry trends. ”
Staging. The fourth dimension is staging, which addresses the question, “What will be
our speed and sequence of moves? ” (Hambrick & Fredrickson, 2005, p. 53) Most strategic
planners do not call for equally balanced initiatives on all fronts at all times. Instead, some
initiatives must come first and then succeeded by others (Hambrick & Fredrickson, 2005). It is
important for the IEO staff members to prioritize the overseas countries, recruiting methods,
connections, assistances, and type of students, etc. to determine the timelines and short-term and
long-term approaches. Timelines and people in charge of the actions must be explicitly stated in
the recruiting plan. For example, EAU may focus on China through sister schools in the first
year, Southeast Asian countries through Ministry of Education in the second year, then Korea
and Japan through visiting scholars in the third year.
Economic logic. The fifth and final dimension is economic logic, which addresses the
question, “How will we obtain our returns? ” (Hambrick & Fredrickson, 2005, p. 53).
Specifically, a cost-benefit analysis would be employed. All the costs associated with
international student recruitment in conjunction with the projected revenue from an increased
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number of degree-seeking international students must be included in the strategic plan to obtain
buy-in from the board.
After the recruiting plan is constructed, the IEO staff members would be required to
improve their skills to present EAU ’s values and strengths. This step would address one of the
procedural knowledge causes. By that time, the IEO staff members would have a complete list of
EAU ’s advantages. They would recite EAU ’s competitive advantages and explain in their own
words with a convincing tone. In the end, the IEO staff members must be able to explain the
rationales of applicants selecting Taiwan as their destination country and to fully describe EAU ’s
unique advantages compared to other Taiwanese universities.
Supporting organizational arrangements. The last component of strategic planning is
supporting organizational arrangements. Clark and Estes (2008) stressed the importance of
aligning the structures and processes of the organization with goals. This type of change is
viewed in the scientific management as a change at the organizational level. It is helpful during
the implementation phase as leaders determine which structures, processes, symbols, rewards,
and policies must be in place to build support for institutional changes (Kezar, 2014). While it is
important for the IEO staff members to make their own recruiting plan, it would be beneficial for
them to seek external support from other departments to assist them in goal attainment. The IEO
staff members could focus on three aspects: internationalization, optimal resource allocation, and
accountability.
Internationalization. The IEO staff members would make a proposal to the university
leaders to increase the level of internationalization on the EAU campus. They could discuss the
ways of building an international environment, which may include, but is not limited to,
establishing an international student center, creating professional development programs for staff
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members to increase their global competencies, improving their English skills, developing
English-taught degree programs, and building strong structural support on campus, etc.
Resource optimization. The organizational cause with respect to the lack of resources
would be addressed. Resource allocation must be optimized in alignment with the new three-year
recruiting goal. A cost-benefit analysis could be used as a tool to develop optimal resource
planning. Specifically, the number of additional staff members and budgets required by the IEO
staff members would be specified in the strategic plan to request for the resources needed for
goal attainment. Reallocation of internal staff and redistribution of budgets across departments
are preferred, as these practices could help the IEO staff members achieve the desired outcome
without increasing the overall university expenditures.
Accountability. Lencioni (2002) added that another role of the leaders is to encourage and
allow the team to serve as the first and primary accountability mechanism. If responsibilities
were clearly defined, teams would become more effective in coordinating their collective inputs
(van Ameijde et al., 2009; Lencioni, 2002). With a clear accountability system, members would
make better efforts for the intended directions, pursue their own activities, and monitor their own
degrees of progress. The final step to take during the strategic planning session is to establish an
accountability system within the IEO department. The purpose of accountability reporting is to
measure the ongoing results of the recruiting plan against its predetermined goal and then to take
corrective actions when necessary (Allen & Baker, 2012; Nauffal & Nasser, 2012; Nwosu &
Koller, 2014).
Strategic Plan
A comprehensive strategic plan is the final product of the strategic planning sessions. It is
also important to know that documentation is a crucial part of the strategic planning process. At
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the close of each strategic planning session, a document should be prepared to record the
participants, objectives, description of the planning process, timelines, environment analyses,
benchmarks, best practices, strategic initiatives with specific actions, assessment measures, and
so on (Lovik, 2014). With the collaborative efforts of all participants, a comprehensive strategic
plan encompassing goals, SWOT analysis, environmental scans, recruiting plans, resource
optimizations, the building of an international environment, accountability systems, timelines,
and personnel in charge would be prepared towards the end of the last strategic planning session
with the consensus from all the IEO staff members. This comprehensive strategic plan would
serve as the guideline for the IEO staff members to follow in 2016.
According to Clark and Estes (2008), employees can use job aids that contain self-help
information for the jobs of performing certain tasks. After a series of strategic planning sessions
is conducted, the important elements of the recruiting plan could be posted as a job aid to
constantly remind all the IEO staff members how to perform their tasks. Collis and Rukstad
(2008) found that organizations which have simple clear statements are often the most successful
ones in their industries. Some well crafted strategies cannot be well implemented, because they
are not simple, clear, and succinct enough that everyone can internalize and use as guiding light
for goal achievement. A good strategy statement used as a job aid for all the IEO staff members
would contain three critical components: objective, scope, and competitive advantage (Collis &
Rukstad, 2008).
Objective should be the department and individual goals with timelines. Scope includes
the type of international students and geographic locations in which IEO would conduct
recruiting activities. Competitive advantage is the essence of the strategy. It describes EAU ’s
distinct competencies by which EAU differentiates itself from other universities. Some examples
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include quality of education, excellent student services, and curricula that meet the specific needs
of the students based on social/cultural contexts. Competitive advantages explain the reasons
why degree-seeking international students should choose EAU over others universities. A clear
and succinct strategy statement would ensure that the IEO staff members align their activities
with the statement, that their individual choices reinforce each other, and lastly, that they work
more effectively to attain the goal (Collis & Rukstad, 2008).
A summary of strategic planning and recruiting processes with timelines, validated
causes, implementation plans and evaluations are provided in Table 11. The components of a
comprehensive strategic plan are depicted in Figure 45.

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Table 11
Strategic Planning and Recruiting Processes, Timelines, Validated Causes, Implementation
Plan, and Evaluations
Strategic Planning and
Recruiting Processes
with Timelines Validated Causes Implementation Plan Evaluation
1. Vision, mission
and values

October 2, 2015,
morning
Motivation (Cost
Value)
 The external strategic planning facilitator
communicates the purpose of the strategic
planning sessions which would be conducted
in workshop style.
 The external facilitator distributes a schedule
of the strategic planning sessions with topics
to all the IEO staff members.
 The external facilitator reiterates EAU ’s
vision and mission.
 The university president and the IEO director
convey the importance of recruiting an
increasing number of international students
who would compensate for the shortfall of
domestic students. Then, the university
president and the IEO director would explain
the economic and cultural benefits brought
about by international students.
 The IEO staff
members would be
given a survey form
to rate the first
strategic planning
session and to give
concrete suggestions
for improvements.
 An acceptable
standard of 4.0 for
the evaluation would
be established.
2. Announcement
of Goals

October 2, 2015,
morning
Motivation (Goal
Content)
 The external facilitator requests the IEO
director to announce the three-year recruiting
goal, which is calculated based on the
projected declining number of domestic
students. The first-year department goal is to
recruit 400 degree-seeking international
students by July 2016. The department goal
would be cascaded into individual goals. The
external facilitator asks the IEO staff
members to commit to the department and
individual goals.
Organization
(Attitude of
Helplessness)
 The university president and the IEO director
declare to provide strong leadership support
to the IEO staff members and continual
involvements in the strategic planning,
implementation, and evaluation processes.
 The external facilitator announces the
subsequent dates for more strategic planning
sessions and assigns tasks to the IEO staff
members. The external facilitator seeks
participation from all the IEO staff members.
 The external facilitator tasks the IEO staff
members to collect industry and environment
forecast data for the next strategic planning
session.

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Table 11, continued
Strategic Planning and
Recruiting Processes
with Timelines Validated Causes Implementation Plan Evaluation
3. Environmental
Analysis

October 9, 2015,
afternoon
Knowledge
(Factual)
 The IEO staff members come to this planning
session with industry data prepared. They
conduct SWOT analysis, industry analysis,
environmental forecasts, and competitor
analysis.
 The IEO staff members would be assigned to
collect data and facts for the next strategic
planning session: top sending countries,
connections, assistance, top recruiting
Taiwanese universities, and best practices.
 The IEO staff
members would be
given a survey form
to give rating.
 A checklist would be
used to assess the
IEO staff members ’
acquisition of new
knowledge during the
strategic planning
session.
4. Action planning
Part One

October 23, 2015,
afternoon
Knowledge
(Factual)
 The IEO staff members show a list of top
sending countries, connections, and assistance
available to start recruiting international
students and a list of top recruiting Taiwanese
universities, their statistics, and their
recruiting practices.
 The IEO staff members describe benchmark
and best practices.
 The IEO staff members would be assigned to
collect data and facts for the next strategic
planning session: recruiting methods and best
practices.
 The IEO staff
members would be
given a survey form
to give rating.
 A checklist would be
used to assess the IEO
staff members ’
acquisition of new
knowledge during the
strategic planning
session.
5. Action Planning
Part Two

November 6, 2015,
afternoon
Knowledge
(Procedural)
 The IEO staff members collect all available
recruiting methods and share the best
practices.
 The IEO staff members discuss and determine
when to apply appropriate recruiting methods.
 The external facilitator assigns the IEO staff
members to collect data and facts for the next
strategic planning session: international
students ’ decision-making factors and cultural
contexts of the top fifteen sending countries.
 The IEO staff members
would be given a
survey form to give
rating.
 A checklist would be
used to assess the IEO
staff members ’
acquisition of new
knowledge during the
strategic planning
session.
6. Action Planning
Part Three

November 20,
2015, afternoon
Knowledge
(Metacognitive)
 The IEO staff members identify international
students ’ decision-making factors.
 The IEO staff members explain the cultural,
historical, social and economic conditions of
the top fifteen sending countries.
 The external facilitator requests the IEO staff
members to integrate the collected
information to form a recruiting plan during
the next session.
 The IEO staff members
would be given a
survey form to give
rating.
 A checklist would be
used to assess the IEO
staff members ’
acquisition of new
knowledge during the
strategic planning
session.

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Table 11, continued
Strategic Planning and
Recruiting Processes
with Timelines Validated Causes Implementation Plan Evaluation
7. Action Planning
Part Four

November 27,
2015, afternoon
Knowledge
(Metacognitive)
 The IEO staff members select, organize, and
integrate the collected data into useful
information.
 The IEO staff members analyze and evaluate
the information to create a recruiting plan
consisting of five elements: arenas, vehicles,
differentiators, staging, and economic logic.
EAU ’s competitive advantages must be
emphasized in the recruiting plan.
 The IEO staff
members would be
given a survey form
to give rating.
 The IEO staff members
would be asked to
provide a list of the
specific actions they
will take to start
recruiting international
students in the
countries they are each
responsible for,
towards the end of the
strategic planning
session.
8. Action Planning
Part Five

December 4, 2015,
afternoon
Knowledge
(Procedural)
 The IEO staff members prepare a list of
EAU ’s advantages.
 The IEO staff members improve skills to
present EAU ’s strengths and advantages.
 The external facilitator assigns the IEO staff
members to collect information for the next
strategic planning session: elements of an
international environment on campus.
 The IEO staff
members would be
given a survey form
to give rating.
 A checklist would be
used to assess the IEO
staff members ’
presentation skills at
the end of the strategic
planning session.
9. Supporting
Organizational
Arrangements

December 18,
2015, afternoon
Organization
(International
Environment)
 The IEO staff members make a proposal to
the university leaders to build an international
environment on the EAU campus.
 The IEO staff members
would be given a
survey form to give
rating.
 The two proposals
would be submitted to
the university leaders
before December 31,
2015.
Organization
(Lack of
Resources)
 The IEO staff members calculate the
additional number of staff members and
budget needed to recruit international
students.
 The IEO staff members make a proposal with
cost-benefit analysis to optimize resource
allocation.
 The external facilitator guides the IEO staff
members to establish an accountability system
within IEO.
 The IEO director
provides an
accountability system
table to the IEO staff
members by December
31, 2015.

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Table 11, continued
Strategic Planning and
Recruiting Processes
with Timelines Validated Causes Implementation Plan Evaluation
10. Formulation of a
Strategic Plan

December 25,
2015, afternoon
Organization
(Lack of a
Strategic Plan)
 The IEO staff members integrate all the
information above to formulate a
comprehensive strategic plan with a vision, a
mission, goals, SWOT analysis, recruiting
plans, resource optimization, an international
environment, an accountability system,
timelines, and personnel in charge.
 The IEO staff members use a strategy
statement containing objectives, scopes, and
competitive advantages as a job aid.
 The IEO staff members
would be given a
survey form to give
rating.
 The IEO staff members
would be given a
survey form on
December 25, 2015, to
indicate the degree to
which they would apply
what they have learned
on their jobs.
 The comprehensive
strategic plan would be
distributed to all the
IEO staff members and
university leaders by
December 31, 2015.
11. Recruiting Process
January to June,
2016.
Review session on
the last Friday
afternoon of each
month.
Goal
Achievement
 The IEO staff members start recruiting from
January to April 2016 with a pre-determined
goal in mind.
 The IEO director
would monitor the staff
members ’ progress in
the monthly review
sessions from January
to June 2016.
12. International
Students ’
Application
Process
March to July,
2016. Review
session on the
last Friday
afternoon of
each month.
Goal
Achievement
 The IEO staff members assist prospective
international students in applying for EAU ’s
degree programs.
 The IEO director
would monitor the
number of applicants
against individual
goals in the monthly
review session from
March to July 2016.
13. Recruiting
Outcome
Review session on
the afternoon of
August 21, 2016.
Evaluation  The IEO staff members have recruited 400
international students.
 The IEO staff
members ’ performance
would be evaluated
against the
predetermined goal of
recruiting 400 degree-
seeking international
students by August,
2016.

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Figure 45. The components of a comprehensive strategic plan

Strategic Plan
1. Timelines
2. Personnel in
charge
Vision,
mission,
values
Goals
SWOT
(Strengths,
weaknesses,
opportunities,
threats)
Recruiting Plan:
1. Arenas (where)
2. Vehicles (how)
3. Differentiators
(what)
4. Staging (when)
5. Economic Logic

Resource
Optimization
International
Environment
Accountability
System
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Evaluation Plan
To determine if the recommended solutions are effective, an evaluation plan is proposed
to assist the IEO director in assessing the impact of the solutions. The four-level evaluation
created by Kirkpatrick (2006) would be used to guide the assessments of the proposed solutions.
The four levels of the evaluation include: (a) Reaction (Motivation); (b) Learning or
Performance (What did they learn? Or, are they performing differently during the intervention?);
(c) Transfer or Behavior (Are they doing it after the intervention is completed?); and (d) Impact
(Is the gap closed?).
Level 1 Reactions
The first level of evaluation measures the degree to which participants react favorably to
the learning experience (Kirkpatrick, 2006). In order to assess the participants ’ satisfaction with
the strategic planning sessions, they would be given a survey at the end of each strategic
planning session. The survey would contain three questions using a Likert scale of five and an
open-ended question which gives an opportunity for the participants to provide their own
comments. The purpose of giving the survey to the participants at each of the strategic planning
sessions is to make immediate changes to achieve more positive outcomes. The aim of giving the
survey at the end of the strategic planning process is to compare the “before and after ” reactions,
to get a measure of gain and an overall judgment about the motivational impact of the strategic
planning sessions on the participants (Clark & Estes, 2008).
The three closed survey questions using a Likert scale of five are:
Please circle the number that best represents your own reaction to the strategic planning
session just now: (1 = Poor; 2 = Fair; 3 = Average; 4 = Good; 5 = Excellent):
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1. Overall, how much did you enjoy this strategic planning session?
1 2 3 4 5
2. Did you have a chance to be actively involved in the strategic planning session?
1 2 3 4 5
3. Will you be able to use or apply on the job what you have gained?
1 2 3 4 5
The open-ended question is:
What improvements can be made to make future strategic planning sessions more
effective?
The IEO staff members would be asked to answer the survey questions anonymously.
The objective is to get 100% immediate responses after each strategic planning session. The
participants would leave their completely filled survey forms on the tables. They would not be
permitted to take the survey forms back and submit them at a later time. The results from the
three closed-ended questions would be tabulated to get an average score for each question. An
acceptable standard of 4.0 would be established, and the combined results would be compared to
that pre-determined standard of 4.0. If the reaction falls below the desired standard of 4.0, then
the IEO director would decide what changes need to be made, based on the comments of the
open-ended question.
If the implementations of the solutions are effective, the IEO staff members would be
expected to show a high level of satisfaction with the strategic planning sessions. They would
demonstrate great interests and engagements during the strategic planning sessions. In practice,
they would actively collect the data and facts as required and share the information eagerly with
one another.
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Level 2 Learning
The second level of evaluation measures the degree to which the participants acquire the
intended knowledge, skills, attitudes, confidence, and commitment, based on their participation
in a training event (Kirkpatrick, 2006). The assessments could be conducted in three ways. First,
their skills would be assessed. The learners would engage in practice exercises where they apply
what they have learned (Clark & Estes, 2008). Second, their knowledge is assessed. A trained
observer uses a checklist containing key elements of the procedure, to assess their proficiency.
Scores on these progress checks can be used to diagnose the correct learning problems (Clark &
Estes, 2008). Third, their attitudes, confidence, and commitments are assessed. Surveys will be
conducted to elicit their responses.
The first assessment intends to understand whether or not the IEO staff members have
acquired the knowledge and skills to recruit international students from other countries. After a
comprehensive recruiting plan for the department is formed at the end of the last strategic
planning session, the IEO staff members would be asked to provide a list of the specific actions
they would take to start recruiting international students in the countries in which they are each
responsible. This list would represent an individual recruiting plan. Six “W ” questions should be
answered in the IEO staff members ’ individual recruiting plans:
1. Who: What type of international students are you targeting?
2. Where: In what countries would you recruit international students?
3. What: Which of our degree programs and services would you promote to the
international students in these countries?
4. When: When will you start recruiting? Please match the dates and action steps.
5. How: How would you get in touch with prospective international students?
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6. Why: Why would international students want to choose EAU? Please list EAU ’s
competitive advantages.
The second assessment would employ a checklist which would include all the steps
required during the strategic planning sessions to form a recruiting plan. The IEO director would
be responsible for using the checklist to assess the IEO staff members ’ acquisition of the
necessary knowledge and skills. The checklist for the strategic planning sessions is in Table 12.

Table 12
Level Two Checklist for the Strategic Planning Sessions
Complete Incomplete
1. Goal announcement
2. SWOT analysis
3. Competitor analysis
4. Top sending countries
5. Connections & assistance
6. Top Taiwanese recruiting universities
7. Best practices
8. Recruiting methods
9. International students ’ decision-making factors
10. Social/cultural contexts of top sending countries
11. Recruiting plan: Arena
12. Recruiting plan: Vehicles
13. Recruiting plan: Differentiators
14. Recruiting plan: Staging
15. Recruiting plan: Economic logic
16. Practice presentation

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A third assessment would employ a survey at the end of the last strategic planning session
to measure the IEO staff members ’ attitudes, confidence, and commitment. The survey items
were drawn from the New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick, 2015) but tailored to the needs
of IEO staff members. The survey items for level two can be combined with the survey questions
for level one before distributing them to the IEO staff members at the end of the strategic
planning sessions. The three survey items for level two are listed below.
Please circle the number that best represents your own reaction to the strategic planning
sessions (1 = Strongly Disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Neutral; 4= Agree; 5 = Strongly Agree):
1. I believe that recruiting degree-seeking international students is important to my job.
1 2 3 4 5
2. I think that I will be able to successfully recruit degree-seeking international students.
1 2 3 4 5
3. I intend to follow the recruiting plan on my job.
1 2 3 4 5
The survey responses will be tabulated and the combined results compared to the
acceptable standard of 4.0. If the results do not conform to the accepted standard, individual
interviews will be conducted to identify key areas of improvement.
If the implementations of the solutions are successful, the IEO staff members would be
anticipated to acquire new knowledge and skills, in order to create a complete recruiting plan.
In addition, the IEO staff members would then know the recruiting goal, gain the skills to recruit
international students, believe in the importance of achieving the goal, and demonstrate a high
level of confidence and commitment.
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Level 3 Transfer
The third level of evaluation measures the degree to which the participants apply what
they have learned during training when they are back on the job (Kirkpatrick, 2006). The third
level of evaluation focuses on how much the IEO staff members have changed their behavior
after the strategic planning sessions. This assessment would be implemented by conducting
monthly review sessions. Clark and Estes (2008) explicated that the leaders may ask them for on-
the-job examples of what the application of their knowledge and skills learned in training did to
solve a problem or accomplish a task. The IEO director may call a monthly department meeting
in which each IEO staff member reports his or her recruiting progress, the planned deadlines, the
latest results, and the anticipated outcome.
In order to ensure that the knowledge and skills acquired in the strategic planning session
are applied on the job, the IEO director could ask his staff members two questions:
1. Are you now following the recruiting plan which was created during the strategic
planning sessions?
2. If the answer to the first question is no, ask the IEO staff members to explain what
they are doing differently and their impact on the recruiting results.
The progress updates reported by all the IEO staff members should be recorded in written
documents, in order to determine whether the recruiting plan determined at the strategic planning
sessions are contributing to the goal. All actions that are either the same or different from the
original recruiting plan should be kept in writing to determine the degree of knowledge and skills
actually being transferred to their jobs (Clark & Estes, 2008). In addition, any success stories
about recruiting international students using the knowledge and skills learned at the strategic
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planning sessions can serve as concrete examples to prove the value of those strategic planning
sessions (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Lastly, the New World Kirkpatrick Model also adds required drivers. Specifically, this
includes processes and systems that reinforce, encourage, and reward performances of critical
behaviors on the job are urged (Kirkpatrick, 2015). In addition to monitoring the recruiting
progress during the monthly review meetings, the IEO staff director is encouraged to motivate
the IEO staff members by acknowledging their efforts, extending leadership support, and sharing
with them a sense of satisfaction and achievement, which serve as a great intrinsic reward (Pink,
2009).
If the strategic planning sessions are successfully implemented, the IEO staff members
could quickly apply the actions steps outlined in the recruiting plan to recruit international
students. They may either contact the people, groups, or organizations that are able to provide
assistance or use new recruiting methods to attract prospective international students.
Level 4 Impact
The fourth level of evaluation measures the degree to which outcomes occur as a result of
the strategic planning sessions and subsequent reinforcements (Kirkpatrick, 2006). The outcome
to be measured at this level is whether or not the organizational performance gap has indeed been
closed.
The fourth level of evaluation would be conducted at the end of August 2016, which is
about six months after the last strategic planning session is completed. The internal report of
international student enrollments generated by the registration office would be used to evaluate
the bottom-line results. Then, the IEO director will share this report to all the IEO staff members.
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The focus of level-four evaluation, which would be the last step, is to find out how much
the performance gap has indeed been closed. As stated in Chapter 1, EAU expects to have 200
international students in Fall 2016 with no efforts made. If the admission intake of degree-
seeking international undergraduate and graduate student enrollments reaches 400 in July 2016,
then IEO ’s performance gap will be completely closed. If the admission intake of degree-seeking
international undergraduate and graduate student enrollments are between 300 and 400, then
IEO ’s performance gap will be 50% closed. An acceptable standard of 50% would be
established, which means that the IEO staff members are expected to create an admission intake
of at least 300 degree-seeking international undergraduate and graduate students. The data results
for this level of evaluation are critical, because they will be used as the basis to develop the
recruiting plan for the following year.
If the strategic planning sessions and the subsequent efforts are successful, the IEO staff
members would be expected to achieve their shared goal of recruiting 400 degree-seeking
undergraduate and graduate international students in July 2016.
Strengths and Weaknesses of this Study
All research methodologies have strengths and weaknesses. The primary strength of this
study was the use of the Gap Analysis Framework to address problems in the dimensions of
knowledge, motivation, and organization. The entire process of diagnosing problems and
providing solutions was tailored to meet the current needs of the organization. The clearly-
defined organizational goal guided the study, which was divided into manageable parts. The key
stakeholders were carefully selected, with the entire group of members providing responses from
which the root causes of the performance gap were identified. In addition, no extra financial
requirement or human resources were required to complete the study. The solutions and
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233
implementation plan were based on concrete evidences rather than presumptions. Most
importantly, the Gap Analysis approach provided the key stakeholders an opportunity to create
well-thought-out strategies through a systematic process, to monitor their own progress against a
measurable goal, and to make continuous improvements in the future.
The weakness of the study lie in the significant amount of time required to identify the
underlying causes in the dimensions of knowledge, motivation, and organization and to develop
appropriate solutions. The process of methodological design, data collection, and solution
development spanned over a period of nine months. Timely solutions were unavailable under the
Gap Analysis approach. By the time the final recommendations were finalized for the university
leaders to review, the organizational structure, needs, and human resource deployment may have
already changed. The external environment and the degree of complexity may also have varied
and affected the key stakeholders ’ levels of knowledge and motivation, so that the previous
responses to the survey and interview questions no longer held true anymore. Therefore, the
solutions developed under this study may have become less relevant to address the problems at
hand. A new layer of assessment may be required to understand the most current situation.
Limitations
There were three limitations inherent in this study. First, the surveys were taken by the
IEO staff members in the office while they were heavily engaged in their daily jobs. It was
uncertain whether the IEO staff members thought through each survey item carefully and
whether any external interruptions had arisen to interfere the accuracy of the responses. Second,
the survey contained 40 items, which exceeded the number of items in any of the usual surveys
they had previously taken. It was unsure whether the IEO staff members had given equal
attention to each survey item, to reflect the trueness of their understanding. It was possible that
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the IEO staff members became impatient toward the end of the survey and gave responses
without adequate thinking. Consequently, there was a slight chance that the IEO staff members
may have misinterpreted some of the survey items, because they were eager to finish the survey
in haste and get back to work. Third, some of the new IEO staff members may not have had
sufficient knowledge and work experiences to answer each survey item correctly. For example,
some of the IEO staff members were mainly involved in short-term student exchange programs;
therefore, they could not provide true responses concerning long-term international student
recruitment. They may have simply guessed the answers that they believed would be viewed
positively.
Future Research
Future research can be conducted to further understand international recruitment and
enrollment in four areas. First, international student recruitment and enrollment have become a
pressing need for many Taiwanese universities in recent years, due to the declining number of
domestic students. However, there has been an insufficient amount of literature surrounding
Taiwanese universities’ efforts in international student recruitment. In addition, the limited
literature focuses mainly on a few top research universities, and nearly no research has been
conducted on non-research institutions similar to EAU. Additional studies of international
student recruitment schemes implemented by both public and private universities would
contribute to the literature. Specific areas of interest may include policies, practices, incentives,
and changes enacted by public and private universities to produce effective recruitment results.
Best practices could be identified to assist other East Asian universities in making better
decisions on international student recruitment.
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Second, while this study focused on the primary stakeholder, which was the International
Education Office of EAU, further research may be extended to two other stakeholders identified
in this study: faculty and international student applicants. Curriculum development could be
addressed with faculty being the key stakeholder. Areas of interests may include changes of
curricula to meet the demands of international students, changes of pedagogical practices
following the models developed by western countries, ways of enhancing the quality of
education to attract international students, and joint-degree programs. If the key stakeholder of
the study is changed to international student applicants, the research findings would provide
direct help to universities which are keen on recruiting international students. This type of
research could focus on the demographics, preferences, and needs of a large number of
international students to pinpoint the most critical factors influencing their choices of
universities. The research findings may also assist the Taiwanese government in implementing
appropriate policies to build the nation into an educational hub.
Third, in the course of data collection for this study, inconsistencies were discovered
between the survey results and interview findings. Modifications could be made to survey items
in future research to increase clarity. For example, one of the survey statements was, “I am able
to get enough resources I need to recruit degree-seeking international students. ” It was uncovered
during the interviews that the participants had resources for the current year, but not future years,
if they were to recruit more international students later. The survey item could be altered as, “I
will be able to get enough resources in the future when I need to recruit more degree-seeking
international students. ”
Fourth and finally, further research could be aimed at the effectiveness of different
recruiting strategies. EAU is expected to employ a number of recruiting strategies in many
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countries in which they intend to recruit international students. It would be helpful to compare
different recruiting methods or strategies and identify the most effective ones. This new research
would be the extension of this study. Similarly, recruiting strategies could be studied among
many other East Asian public and private universities, since they are anticipated to aggressively
recruit international students in the next few years. More data and evidences will be available in
the future, when these universities have accumulated more experiences in recruiting international
students. Research could be directed to investigating the results of using different recruiting
strategies, evolvement of recruiting methods and strategies, and rationales for the effectiveness
of some recruiting strategies.
Conclusion
An East Asian University (EAU), the focus of this study, is expected to experience a
decline in the number of domestic college students due to the drop in the national birth rate. EAU
has predicted that the number of domestic undergraduate and graduate students admitted would
decrease by 6% by Fall 2016 and by 16% as of Fall 2019. One natural solution is to look to
international enrollments to offset the decline. To compensate for the declining number of
domestic students, EAU has set a goal to recruit 400 international students to its undergraduate
and graduate programs in July, 2016.
The purpose of this project was to conduct a gap analysis (Clark & Estes, 2008) to
examine the root causes of the performance gap between EAU ’s projected international student
enrollment of 200 students and the desired outcome of 400 admitted international students.
Assumed causes for the performance gap were generated, based on personal knowledge,
learning, motivation, and cultural/organization theories and literature review. These causes were
validated by using surveys, interviews, and document analysis.
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237
Through the triangulation of the survey results, interview findings, and document
analysis, eleven assumed causes were validated. It was found that the IEO staff members had
gaps in factual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge concerning the recruitment of
international students. In the dimension of motivation, a lack of goal content and a low task value
were identified. And in the area of organization, attitudes of helplessness, a shortage of
resources, the lack of a strategic plan, and a low level of internationalization on EAU ’s campus
were found to be impeding IEO ’s efforts to recruit international students.
An integrated set of solutions was provided to address the barriers in the areas of
knowledge, motivation, and organization. It was recommended that a series of strategy planning
sessions be conducted with active involvements from all the IEO staff members in a
collaborative way over a three-month period from October to December 2015, in an aim to
formulate a comprehensive and well-thought-out strategic plan. The recruiting work based on the
strategic plan will be performed from January to June, 2015. In addition, a four-level evaluation
plan based on Kirkpatrick (2006) was developed, which can be executed when the recommended
solutions are implemented.
Hopefully, this study will help EAU fulfill its mission of achieving excellence in
instruction and research. While the findings and recommendations in this study are designed for
EAU, other universities may find inspiration from this study, and it may generate new ideas
about how to increase an inst it uti on’s international student recruitment capacity and thereby take
full advantage of globalization.

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APPENDIX A
THE PROJECTED DECLINE IN NUMBER OF TAIWANESE DOMESTIC COLLEGE AGE
STUDENTS FROM 2011 TO 2025 (MOI, 2014)

Year
Number of Domestic
College Age Students % Change
2011 276,000 0
2012 278,000 1%
2013 271,000 -3%
2014 272,000 0%
2015 272,000 0%
2016 252,000 -7%
2017 238,000 -13%
2018 250,000 -8%
2019 241,000 -11%
2020 213,000 -2%
2021 212,000 -22%
2022 189,000 -31%
2023 184,000 -32%
2024 181,000 -33%
2025 178,000 -35%

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262

2011 2012
2013 2014 2015
2016
2017 2018 2019
2020
2021 2022
2023
2024 2025
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
350000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Number of College-age Students in Taiwan
Year No. of College-age Students
2016 Drop
by 7%
2020 Drop
by 22%
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263
APPENDIX B
HISTORICAL AND PROJECTED NUMBER OF EAU STUDENT ADMISSIONS

Year
EAU Domestic Student
Admissions % Change
2011 4,900 0%
2012 4,900 0%
2013 4,900 0%
2014 4,900 0%
2015 4,900 0%
2016 4,600 -6%
2017 4,400 -10%
2018 4,400 -10%
2019 4,100 -16%
2020 3,900 -20%
2021 3,600 -26%
2022 3,500 -28%
2023 3,300 -33%

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-
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
PROJECTED EAU Domestic Student Admission
2016 Drop by
6%
2019 Drop by
16%
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APPENDIX C
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION OFFICE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

IEO Director
International Student Division
Senior Manager
Project
Manager
Project
Assistant
Project
Assistant
Project
Manager
Project
Assistant
Project
Manager
Special
Assistant
Overseas Chinese Student Division
Senior Manager
Project
Manager

Project
Manager

Project
Assistant
Project
Assistant
Editor
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APPENDIX D
HISTORICAL AND PROJECTED NUMBER OF DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL
STUDENT ADMISSIONS AND IEO ’S PERFORMANCE GAP

Historical Forecast
Admissions Fall 2009 Fall 2013 Fall 2016 Fall 2019
Domestic Student
Admissions (A)
4,950 99% 4,900 98%
4,600
(-6%)
92%
4,100
(-16%)
82%
International Student
Admissions (by natural
growth) (B)
50 1% 100 2% 200 4% 400 8%
Number of Domestic and
International Students (by
natural Growth) (A) + (B)
5,000 100% 5,000 100% 4,800 96% 4,500 90%
Additional Number of
International Students
Needed (Gap) (C)
0 0 0 0
200
(Gap
50%)
4%
500
(Gap
55%)
10%
Desired Number of
Domestic and International
Students (A)+(B)+(C)
5,000 100% 5,000 100% 5,000 100% 5,000 100%
Desired Number of
International Students (B)
+(C)
50 1% 100 2% 400 8% 900 18%

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50
100
200
400
0
0
200
500
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
2009 2012 2016 2019
Current Projected Enrollments Needed Enrollments
Performance
Gap 50%
Performance Gap
55%
IEO's Performance Gap
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APPENDIX E
THE GROWTH IN THE NUMBER OF DEGREE-SEEKING INTERNATIONAL
STUDENTS IN TAIWAN
Year Number of Degree-Seeking International Students in Taiwan
2006 14,330
2007 16,195
2008 17,758
2009 20,676
2010 22,438
2011 25.107
2012 28,696
2013 33,206
2014 40,078

-
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
45,000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Number of Degree-Seeking International Students in Taiwan
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APPENDIX F
ASSUMED KMO CAUSES AND CODING ACRONYM

Assumed KMO Causes Coding Acronym
Knowledge Factual KF
Knowledge Procedural KP
Knowledge Metacognitive KM
Motivation Attribution MA
Motivation Attainment Value MAV
Motivation Cost Value MCV
Motivation Extrinsic Value MEV
Motivation Goal Content MGC
Motivation Outcome Expectancy MOE
Motivation Self Efficacy MSE
Organization Autonomy OA
Organization Competition OC
Organization Helplessness OH
Organization Negative Belief ONB
Organization Resistance to Change ORC
Organization Resources OR
Organization Strategic Plan OSP
Other OT

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APPENDIX G
INTERVIEW PROTOCOLS
Interview Questions for International Education Office (IEO) Director and Managers
Date: September xx, 2014

Participants: International Education Office director and seven IEO managers (8 people)

Interviewer: Ms. Chang to interview the IEO director
The Office of Research and Development chief manager interviews seven IEO managers

Interviewee: Mr./Ms. XX. Positions:

Opening remarks:

Hi, XX

It is nice to see you, director/manager XX. Thank you for taking the time to do the interview. I
have 10 questions regarding international student recruitment. I know this is your area of
expertise. This interview is part of the regular performance improvement project of the
university. Your views are extremely important and valuable to the success of this project. Please
be ensured that your personal information will not be revealed and the interview notes will be
kept strictly confidential. Anything you say will not affect your appraisal, nor will you get
reprisals for giving negative comments. Please relax and share with me as much as information
as you can. The focus of this interview is to understand how you recruit international students
and your department ’s operation. Let ’s start the interview.

1. How would you start recruiting potential degree-seeking students in non-Chinese
speaking countries? Please give me some examples. (KP)

2. How would you change the international student recruiting strategies for different
countries? Please give me some examples. (KM)

3. How would you formulate recruiting strategies based on the factors in which international
students make their choices of universities? (KM)

4. How would you present the value of East Asian University and its degrees to recruit
degree-seeking international students based on the social/cultural contexts of different
countries? Please give me some examples. (KM)

5. Do you have a clear goal of recruiting a certain number of degree-seeking international
students by a certain date? If yes, what is the goal content? (MGC)

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271
6. How successfully do you think you can recruit more degree-seeking international
students in other countries? Why? (MSE)

7. How much autonomy do you have over your job of recruiting degree-seeking
international students? To what degree are your views on international student
recruitment taken by the university leaders? (OA)

8. Is there a recruiting plan for degree-seeking international students in your department? Is
there a strategic plan for recruiting degree-seeking international students across
departments? Please tell me about the plan details such as timelines, resources, and
people in charge. (OSP)

9. What obstacles do you think are preventing you or your department from recruiting more
international students? (OT)

10. Overall, what improvements do you think can be done to increase the number of
international students at EAU? (OT)

Thank you, XX, for spending XX minutes with me. Here is a small gift as a token of
appreciation.

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Interview Questions for University President
Date: September xx, 2014

Participants: University President

Interviewer: Ms. Chang

Opening remarks:

Hi, Mr./Ms. President,

It is nice to see you. Thank you for taking the time to do the interview. I have 8 questions
regarding international student recruitment. This interview is for the purpose of helping us
improve EAU ’s performance. As the supervisor of the International Education Office, your
views are extremely important. Please be ensured that your personal information will not be
revealed and the interview notes will be kept strictly confidential. Anything you say will not
affect your appraisal. Please relax and share with me as much as information as you can. The
focus of this interview is to understand how you recruit international students and your
department ’s operation.

1. How would you present the value of East Asian University and its degrees to recruit
degree-seeking international students based on different social/cultural contexts of
different countries? Please give me some examples. (KM)

2. Do you have a clear goal of recruiting a certain number of degree-seeking international
students by a certain date? If yes, what is the goal content? (MGC)

3. How much resource do you give IEO? (OR)

4. How successfully do you think your team can recruit more degree-seeking international
students in other countries? Why? (MSE)

5. How much support do you give to IEO staff members in recruiting degree-seeking
international students? Please give me some examples. (OH)

6. Is there a strategic plan for recruiting degree-seeking international students across
departments? If yes, please tell me the plan details such as timelines, resources, and
people in charge (OSP)

7. What obstacles do you think are preventing EAU from recruiting more degree-seeking
international students? (OT)

8. Overall, what improvements do you think can be done to increase the number of degree-
seeking international students at EAU? (OT)

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Thank you, president, for spending XX minutes with me. Here is a small gift as a token of
appreciation.

INCREASING INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT

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Interview Questions for the Academic Director
Date: September xx, 2014

Participants: Academic Director for English-taught degree programs

Interviewer: Ms. Chang

Opening remarks:

Hi, Director XX,

It is nice to see you, Director XX. Thank you for taking the time to do the interview. I have 9
questions regarding international student recruitment. This interview is for the purpose of
helping you improve EAU ’s performance. As you play an important role assisting IEO in the
process of recruiting international students, your views are extremely important to the success of
this project. Please be ensured that your personal information will not be revealed and the
interview notes will be kept strictly confidential. Anything you say will not affect your appraisal,
neither will you get reprisals for giving negative comments. Please relax and share with me as
much as information as you can. Let ’s start the interview.

1. How would you start recruiting potential degree-seeking students in non-Chinese
speaking countries? Please give me some examples. (KP)

2. How would you change the international student recruiting strategies for different
countries? Please give me some examples. (KM)

3. How would you present the value of East Asian University and its degrees to recruit
degree-seeking international students based on the social/cultural contexts of different
countries? Please give me some examples. (KM)

4. Do you have a clear goal of recruiting a certain number of degree-seeking international
students by a certain date? If yes, what is the goal content? (MSC)

5. How attractive is our English-taught degree programs to international students? How do
you promote the degree programs? (KM)

6. How much resource do you receive from the university for recruiting degree-seeking
international students? (OR)

7. How successfully do you think you can recruit more degree-seeking international
students in other countries? Why? (MSE)

8. What obstacles do you think are preventing you from recruiting more degree-seeking
international students? (OT)

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275
9. Overall, what improvements do you think can be done to increase the number of
international students at EAU? (OT)

Thank you, director, for spending XX minutes with me. Here is a small gift as a token of
appreciation.

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276
APPENDIX H
SURVEY ITEMS
1. From which countries do you think you can recruit degree-seeking international students?
(KF)

___________________________________________________________

2. In which countries can you find people to help you start recruiting degree-seeking
international students? (KF)

___________________________________________________________

3. What type of people, group, or organization can you contact for assistance in the countries
where you intend to recruit degree-seeking international students? (KF)

___________________________________________________________

4. Which Taiwanese universities can you learn international student recruitment from? (KF)

___________________________________________________________

5. How many hours per week do you spend on recruiting degree-seeking international
students? (OR)

___________ hours per week

6. How important do you think the following factors are in affecting potential students ’
choices of universities? Please put a “X ” in the appropriate box for each item. (KF)

Not
Important
Slightly
Important Important
Very
Important
EAU ’s reputation
Quality of EAU ’s degree program
Desire to learn Chinese
Strong relationship between EAU and
an overseas university

Foreign students unable to find
comparable degree programs in their
home countries

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277
Job opportunity in Taiwan and China
Foreign students unable to gain access
to local universities in their home
countries

Overseas degree better than a local one
Desire to learn about other cultures
Geographic proximity between Taiwan
and a foreign student ’s home country

Cost of living in Taiwan
Tuition/Financial aid
International student support provided
by EAU

Alumni ’s recommendation

Other important factor(s) ________________________________________________
7. How confident do you feel about using the following recruiting methods? Please put a “X ”
in the appropriate box for each item. (KP)

Not
Confident
Slightly
Confident Confident
Very
Confident
EAU website
Social media
Overseas recruiting tour
Domestic recruiting seminar
EAU alumni networks
Agents and consultants
Promotional printing materials
(brochure, poster, magazine)

PR activities
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278
International students ’ testimonies
Advertising
Internet search
Cultural events
Local high schools
Taiwanese community in foreign
countries

Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices
in foreign countries

Other recruiting methods you feel confident using:
_______________________________________________________________________

Please respond to questions 8 to 40 by checking the appropriate box.
Please check the appropriate box.
1
Strongly
Disagree
2
Disagree
3
Somewhat
Disagree
4
Somewhat
Agree
5
Agree
6
Strongly
Agree
8. Even if I try hard, I do not
expect to see a successful
outcome of recruiting more
degree-seeking international
students. (MOE)

9. I know which recruiting
strategies for degree-seeking
international students to use
in which countries. (KM)

10. I know how to formulate a
recruiting plan based on the
most important factors
affecting international
students ’ choices of
universities. (KM)

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279
11. It is important to recruit more
degree-seeking international
students. (MAV)

12. I am competing against my
department colleagues for
better results of recruiting
degree-seeking international
students. (OC)

13. We have a goal to recruit a
specific number of degree-
seeking international students
each year. (MGC)

14. I do not think the results of
recruiting degree-seeking
international students will be
satisfactory, even if I try
hard. (MOE)

15. There is a high turnover rate
in my department. (MEV)

16. I often choose short-term
international student program
over degree-seeking
international student
recruitment. (MCV)

17. Recruiting more degree-
seeking international students
is important to me. (MAV)

18. I experience autonomy and
choice over my job of
recruiting degree-seeking
international students. (OA)

19. I know my goal of exactly
how many more degree-
seeking international students
to recruit each year. (MGC)

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280
20. I am able to get resources I
need to recruit degree-
seeking international
students. (OR)

21. I believe it is useful to learn
new techniques to recruit
degree-seeking international
students. (MEV)

22. Learning new techniques to
recruit more degree-seeking
international students is
important to me. (MCV)

23. I am confident that I can
recruit degree-seeking
international students in
unfamiliar countries. (MSE)

24. I believe long-term
international students are
more troublesome, so I prefer
not to increase the number of
those students. (MCV)

25. The outcome of recruiting
degree-seeking international
students is the result of
external uncontrollable
causes, such as government
policy, not my own efforts.
(MA)

26. I do not like to change my job
from providing short-term
international student
programs to recruiting
degree-seeking international
students. (ORC)

27. I am preoccupied with short-
term international student
program so that I do not have
enough time to recruit
degree-seeking international
students. (MCV)

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281
28. My department does not like
change from arranging short-
term international student
programs to recruiting long-
term international students.
(ORC)

29. I feel helpless when trying to
get support from the
university for recruiting
degree-seeking international
students. (OH)

30. Learning new techniques to
recruit more degree-seeking
international students is
useful to me. (MEV)

31. Long-term degree-seeking
international students are
harder to care for, so I do not
like to recruit more of them.
(MCV)

32. I seldom get adequate support
from the university for
recruiting degree-seeking
international students. (OH)

33. It is important for me to learn
new techniques for recruiting
degree-seeking international
students. (MCV)

34. I feel negative about my
department because the
percentage of international
student is small. (ONB)

35. I have enough resources to
recruit more degree-seeking
international students. (OR)

36. I know I will be able to
recruit degree-seeking
international students in
unfamiliar countries. (MSE)

INCREASING INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT

282
37. There is competition within
my department so that people
are unwilling to share their
experiences of recruiting
degree-seeking international
students with one another.
(OC)

38. The outcome of recruiting
degree-seeking international
students involved many
external factors, thus it is
beyond my control. (MA)

39. I am often asked to share my
views on recruiting degree-
seeking international students
and international student
recruiting plan. (OA)

40. There is a strategic plan
across departments to achieve
a common goal of recruiting
degree-seeking international
students. (OSP)

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283
APPENDIX I
DOCUMENT ANALYSIS PROTOCOL
The International Education Office director will be asked to provide the following documents.
The documents will be examined to see if they contain necessary information for the study.

Documents to be collected from International Education Office
Contain information
Yes No
Marketing Tools for recruiting degree-seeking international student
including: (KP)
1. Design of website
2. Brochures
3. Poster and others

Organization Chart including: (OR)
1. Employees ’ respective job responsibilities.
2. Percentage of work hours spent on recruiting degree-seeking
international students.

Budget Report including: (OR)
1. IEO ’s funding
2. Allocation of the fund to different tasks.
3. Budget vs. actual spending.

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284
APPENDIX J
RESPONSES TO SURVEY QUESTION 1
Knowledge of Countries to Recruit International Students From
From which countries do you think you can recruit degree-seeking international students? The
countries are listed in order from the most frequently mentioned to the least.
1. Malaysia (12)
2. China (11)
3. Vietnam (11)
4. Hong Kong (9)
5. Indonesia (9)
6. USA (5)
7. Japan (3)
8. India (3)
9. Myanmar (3)
10. Macau (3)
11. Canada (3)
12. Korea (2)
13. Thailand (1)
14. The Philippines (1)
15. Nigeria (1)
16. Panama (1)
17. Germany (1)
18. France (1)
19. Singapore (1)

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285
APPENDIX K
RESPONSES TO SURVEY QUESTION 2
Knowledge of Countries with Connections with EAU
In which countries can you find people to help you start recruiting degree-seeking international
students? The countries are listed in order from the most frequently mentioned to the least.
1. Malaysia (11)
2. China (8)
3. Vietnam (6)
4. Indonesia (6)
5. Hong Kong (5)
6. USA (4)
7. Canada (2)
8. Macau (1)
9. Korea (1)
10. Japan (1)
11. Germany (1)

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286
APPENDIX L
RESPONSES TO SURVEY QUESTION 3
Knowledge of Available Assistance
What types of people, groups, or organizations can you contact for assistance in the countries
where you intend to recruit degree-seeking international students? The people, groups, or
organizations are listed in order from the most frequently mentioned to the least.
1. Education Expo in overseas countries (8)
2. EAU ’s alumni club (7)
3. Sister schools (6)
4. International student club in overseas countries (4)
5. International student office in overseas universities (1)
6. Education Expo in overseas countries (1)

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287
APPENDIX M
RESPONSES TO SURVEY QUESTION 4
Knowledge of Top Taiwanese Universities in International Student Recruitment
Which Taiwanese universities can you learn international student recruitment from? The
universities are listed in order from the most frequently mentioned to the least.
1. National Taiwan University (12)
2. National Taiwan Normal University (5)
3. Private Shih-Hsin University (5)
4. National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (2)
5. National Chung Hsing University (1)
6. National Chung Kung University (1)
7. National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (1)
8. Private Chung Yuan Christian University (1)

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288
APPENDIX N
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF THE MOTIVATIONAL SURVEY
RESPONSES
Category Survey Item Mean SD
Outcome
Expectancy
Q8: Even if I try hard, I do not expect to see a successful
outcome of recruiting more degree-seeking students.
2.73 0.96
Q9: I do not think the results of recruiting degree-seeking
international students will be satisfactory, even if I try
hard.
3.2 1.66
Attainment
Value
Q11: It is important to recruit more degree-seeking
international students.
4.87 0.92
Q17: Recruiting more degree-seeking international students is
important to me.
3.27 0.96
Goal Content Q13: We have a goal to recruit a specific number of degree-
seeking international students each year.
4.33 1.54
Q19: I know my goal of exactly how many degree-seeking
international students to recruit each year.
4.47 1.41
Extrinsic
Value
Q15: There is a high turnover rate in my department. 3.6 1.62
Q21: I believe it is useful to learn new techniques to recruit
degree-seeking international students.
4.67 0.62
Q22: Learning new techniques to recruit more degree-seeking
international students is useful to me.
4.8 0.56
Cost Value Q16: I often choose short-term international student programs
over long-term degree-seeking international student
recruitment.
4.8 0.98
Q27: I am preoccupied with short-term international student
programs, so I do not have enough time to recruit long-
term degree-seeking international students.
4.9 0.62
Q24: I believe long-term degree-seeking international students
are more troublesome, so I prefer not to increase the
number of those students.
2.13 0.92

INCREASING INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT

289

Category Survey Item Mean SD
Cost Value Q 31: Long-term degree-seeking international students are harder
to care for, so I do not like to recruit more of them.
2.47 0.74
Q 22: Learning new techniques to recruit long-term degree-
seeking international students is important to me.
4.47 1.19
Q 33: It is important for me to learn new techniques for recruiting
long-term degree-seeking international students.
4.40 1.45
Self-
efficacy
Q23: I am confident that I can recruit long-term degree-seeking
international students in unfamiliar countries.
4.2 0.75
Q36: I know I will be able to recruit long-term degree-seeking
international students in unfamiliar countries.
3.87 1.30
Attributions Q25: The outcome of recruiting long-term degree-seeking
international students is the result of external uncontrollable
causes, such as government policy, and not my own efforts.
4.47 0.83
Q38: The outcome of recruiting long-term degree-seeking
international students involves many external factors, and
thus, it is beyond my control.
4.27 0.96

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290
APPENDIX O
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL SURVEY
RESPONSES
Category Survey Item Mean SD
Resistance to
Change
Q26: I do not like to change my job from providing short-term
international student programs to recruiting long-term degree-
seeking international students.
2.40 0.83
Q28: My department does not like to change from arranging short-
term international student programs to recruiting long-term
degree-seeking international students.
2.27 0.7
Attitude of
Helplessness
Q29: I feel helpless when trying to get support from the university
for recruiting degree-seeking international students.
3.53 0.99
Q32: I seldom get adequate support from the university for recruiting
degree-seeking international students.
2.93 0.96
Negative Belief Q34: I feel negative about my department, because the percentage of
international students is small.
2.67 0.98
Competition Q12: I am competing against my department colleagues for better
results in recruiting degree-seeking international students.
2.33 0.72
Q37: There is a competition within my department so that people are
unwilling to share their experiences of recruiting degree-seeking
international students with one another.
2.53 0.99
Lack of
Resources
Q20: I am able to get the resources I need to recruit degree-seeking
international students.
3.93 1.16
Q35: I have enough resources to recruit more degree-seeking
international students.
3.73 1.22
Lack of
Autonomy
Q18: I experience autonomy and choice, in my job of recruiting
degree-seeking international students.
4.46 1.12
Q39: I am often asked to share my views on recruiting degree-
seeking international students and an international student
recruiting plan.
4.5 0.99
Lack of
Strategic Plan
Q40: There is a strategic plan across departments to achieve a
common goal of recruiting degree-seeking international students.
4 0.76

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This project examines international student enrollment at an East Asian University (EAU) located in Taiwan. The study focuses on the perspective of the recruiters, which consisted of fifteen employees at EAU’s International Education Office (IEO). The Gap Analysis problem-solving framework is applied to develop strategies to help the recruiters achieve their goal of increasing international student admissions beginning in the 2016 academic year. The purpose of the project is to identify the root causes of knowledge, motivational, and organizational issues that explained the gap between IEO’s projected international student enrollments and the desired number of enrollments. Surveys, interviews and document analyses were employed to collect data, which were used to validate the assumed causes in knowledge, motivational and organizational issues. Solutions to close IEO’s performance gap are proposed based on the validated causes. Lastly, an evaluation of the implementation plan is provided to conclude the study.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Chang, Iris (author)

Core Title Increasing international student enrollment at an East Asian university: a gap analysis

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Global Executive

Publication Date 08/12/2015

Defense Date 08/10/2015

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag International Education Office,international student enrollment,internationalization,OAI-PMH Harvest,performance gap,recruitment,strategic planning

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Filback, Robert A. (committee chair), Robison, Mark Power (committee member), Seli, Helena (committee member)

Creator Email irischan@usc.edu,irischang1014@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-633087

Unique identifier UC11305688

Identifier etd-ChangIris-3826.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-633087 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-ChangIris-3826.pdf

Dmrecord 633087

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Chang, Iris

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA