Expanding International Student Recruitment and Retention in Higher Education Institutions

Current policies at RRC and situation

International business is good for the organisations to retain the international students and expand the educational institution around the globe. RRC at Canada is one of the successful institutions for higher studies and there is strong student base who come for better educational opportunities and training at RRC. The current policies and practice at RRC is effective to manage the student admission where the institution is also efficient to expand their operations across 50 countries where the students come in Canada for getting admission and utilise the institutional resources for better educational system (RRC, 2020). As per the admission policy of the organisation, the students first need to apply for the courses and choose the right course structure according to their study, background of the educational subjects, own interest and professional goal, which helps the students to choose the correct course for their personal and professionals growth. After that, prepare to apply and apply for the courses by filling up the admission form online (Morawski, 2018). For students navigating the various complexities of admission, seeking expert guidance through business dissertation help is going to be invaluable.

The admission requests must be submitted by the students where they can apply directly to the organisation through online application form. Additionally, all the admission requirements must be fulfilled and the students must read the leaflets of applying for the courses at RRC and after that, the offer for the study plan has been received by the students for confirmation of the admission. The students must pay the deposit fee and they receive the letter of acceptance. These steps are important for the students to take admission in RRC (Marini et al., 2020). After receiving the letter of acceptance, the students must apply for visa and study permit to Canada and fulfil all the documentation for their passport. After getting study permit, the students must notify the authority of RRC about the study permit as well as fulfil the payment of tuition so that they get successful admission for the study courses in RRC (RRC, 2020).

The policies and procedures at RRC for admission of the international students is effective, where the students apply for the educational courses and produce the documents physically at the college after getting visa and study permit. In the recent pandemic era of COVID 19, it is impossible for the college to arrange the students and retain them in the college campus as the strategy of social distancing. It is not safe for the students to go to the campus as it many spread the virus and it would be risky for the college authority to manage their students safely. There is safety concern from the end of the college authority and thus the students are unable to resent physically at the campus and access the course by staying at Canada. Due to such situation, it is necessary for RRC to provide the chance for online and distant education so that the students can learn from their home country. It is one of the latest strategies of RRC to continue the learning process and session for the educational activities and provide the opportunity to the international students to access educational courses at RRC (RRC, 2020).

Advantages and disadvantages of current policies of admission

The online credentials for the admission at RRC are advantageous for the authority to manage application convenience, maintain logistics system, inclusion of the international students and increasing the performance of the college. The accuracy and efficiency in the educational field would also be improved where RRC is efficient to maintain the online credentials and engage the students for safe access of the institutional study portal and cooperate with the teaching professionals. However, there are several disadvantages of such online system, where the college may suffer from unsafe internet credentials (Deygers, 2018). In the recent years, the issue of data breach and hacking as well as malware and virus are increasing at a rapid rate which will raise concern among the authority of RRC to manage their international students safely. Due to unsafe credentials, the online application makes it easier for the systems to be breached and for the application for scores to be manipulated (Deygers and Malone, 2019). The fear of hackers to the target universities and educational institutions is another disadvantage of such online learning activities. Lack of confidentiality management and lack of authenticity in information are other issues which may raise difficulties for the RRC to manage their international educational system.

Suggested policies for international credentials

It is necessary for the international students to have international credentials to access the information of the RRC at Canada. It is mandatory for the students to have the credentials to apply for the course work and get admission by applying in the college with proper filling up the forms and the fulfilling the requirements set by the institution. The academic records must be produced properly in the institution with proper university stamps and the original documents must be produced through Fax and email. This is the main criteria should be set by the RRC to maintain authenticity of the information provided by the international students. The standardisation test is mandatory for the organisation to identify the capabilities and skill set of the students and it is also mandatory for the college to choose the students eligible for getting admission in the college. On the other hand, the English language proficiency is examined through the test or the students may produce the certificate of the English language course to get direct admission in the RRC (RRC, 2020). The academic credentials are hereby mandatory for the international students to produce their educational certificates to apply for the educational courses in the RRC. Original documents with the sign of the schools and colleges are necessary for applying at RRC so that the identity and the education of the students can be evaluated and the authority of RRC can judge the students for selecting the students in the college.

Cost saving of new policies at RRC

The new system is a cost saving approach for the RRC to manage their international operations. As the students are unable to learn by presenting physically at the college there are scopes for online and distant learning and the college can retain a huge numbers of international students for the educational courses in such a pandemic era, where more numbers of students are interested to apply for the distance learning and online educational courses due to absence of migration to Canada. For the authority of RRC, the information technology and online credentials may be costly, but overall cost can be reduced in long run by including and attracting more students globally for the educational courses at RRC (Decock et al., 2016). There would be no such fixed cost and maintenance cost at the campus which further reduces the new system of RRC. Hence, the new policies and practice of online credentials and learning would be fruitful for the RRC to reduce cost and make the institution profitable in long run.

Risks associated with the new policies

The new system of online credential management and distance education will have some risk factors such as malware where digital hackers watch all the move and tricks of the organisation, data thefts and loss, negligence, data breach, unsafe data, hacking. The students personal data, payment mode and credit and debit card numbers may be hacked which is one of the major risk of the RRC to manage their database safely. The hackers may hack the college online portal and hack the system for accessing the personal information which leads to data breach and misuse of data for money theft or others from students account (Gribble and McRae, 2017). Other risk is inefficiency in big data management as well as the management of the online software system through which the classes are conducted. These are the major risk factors associated with the new credential system and online education policies.

Implementation of the policies

It is necessary for the RRC to implement the suggested policy and maintain the academic standard for providing the scope of admission to the students. Implementing the plan includes proper development of the software system, the system for accepting Fax for the original documents. The organisation must invest in the software development to engage with the students and develop appropriate admission form with in-depth information of the students. Fax management and the examining the authenticity of the documents provided by the students are mandatory for implementing the policy at RRC as well as the authority must manage the international students through international credentials, study permit and all the required documentation of the students. International expansion of RRC is important for the college to target the countries and retain the international students for the educational courses at the college (RRC, 2020). The institution is able to provide high quality educational courses with efficient teaching professionals and course structure for personal and professional development of the students by maintaining the international credential and accept only the original documents from the students so that the risk factors such as data breach and manipulation of the score will be voided efficiently.

Reference List

• Decock, H., McCloy, U., Steffler, M. and Dicaire, J., 2016. International students at Ontario Colleges: a profile. Canadian Bureau for International Education Research in Brief, 6.
• Deygers, B. and Malone, M.E., 2019. Language assessment literacy in university admission policies, or the dialogue that isn’t. Language Testing, 36(3), pp.347-368.
• Deygers, B., 2018. Promoting an empirically founded university admission policy. A pragmatic-idealistic perspective. In Sociolinguistics Symposium, Date: 2018/06/27-2018/06/30, Location: Auckland, NZ.
• Gribble, C. and McRae, N., 2017. Creating a climate for global WIL: Barriers to participation and strategies for enhancing international students’ involvement in WIL in Canada and Australia. In Professional Learning in the Work Place for International Students (pp. 35-55). Springer, Cham.
• Marini, J.P., Westrick, P.A., Young, L. and Shaw, E.J., 2020. Validity of the SAT® for Enrollment-Related Decisions: Focus on International Students Attending College in the US. College Board.
• Morawski, A., 2018. Credential Considerations. International Educator, 27(6), pp.50-51.
• RRC, 2020. How to apply. [online] Available at: https://www.rrc.ca/international/how-to-apply/ [Accessed on 17 July 2020].