Place, Prestige, Price, and Promotion: How International Students Use Social Networks To Learn About Universities Abroad

This qualitative study aims to explore the social media component of international student’s college choice process for studying abroad.  One of the emerging evidence was that participants applied social media specific criteria, such as the number of “likes”, the number of followers, and the ratio of followers to following to rank Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and measure their prestige.  Another emerging finding was that participants with no connections abroad relied exclusively on social media for their college choice decisions and without social media would not even consider an option of transferring abroad.   Videos and pictures offered by social network sites (SNS) provided emotional benefits by helping “to see” an unknown reality, develop sense of belonging, diminish apprehensions of moving abroad, and solidify the choice of HEI, while traditional sources of promotion, such as websites, were perceived as not trustworthy. Higher education professionals could hire individuals with proven expertise in social media to create consistent and meaningful content on different social media platforms to connect with potential international candidates.   

Culture of prevention, socio-economic factors and early disease detection in Russia.

According to the report from the Russian Federal Statistical Commission r “Healthcare In Russia. Population Health”, there is an increase in the number of various malignant cancers among all population groups. The report documents a steady increase from 329.5 first time diagnosed cases for 100,000 population in 2005 to 361.8 first time diagnosed in 2010 and 402.6 of first time diagnosed in 2015 and 408.6 fist time diagnosed in 2016. This study is focused on analyzing the healthcare panel data from the Russian Federal Statistical Commission and identifying the possible causes of this increase. The increase can be attributed to early diagnostics, increased access to doctors, improvements in doctor’s education, and federal investment in high precision diagnostic tools. Russian system of healthcare has always emphasized access and prevention. Investment in early diagnostics, and more precise diagnostics tools and procedures could help in addressing and treating cancer earlier, reducing the cost of treatment and increasing recovery rate

International Students' Use of Social Network Sites for College Choice Activities and Decision Making

What are the effective ways to attract international students to your campus? One approach is to learn how foreign students obtain information that impacts their college choice decision. This need determined the goal of this study to explore the Social Network Site (SNS) component of a foreign student’s college decision-making process. This qualitative study was conducted among undergraduate students from Russia State University for Humanities (RSUH). Participant selection was made through a questionnaire aimed to identify students who were in different stages of making a decision regarding transferring to a HEI abroad. The data analysis procedure was informed by the work of Creswell (2002) and Glaser and Strauss (1967). Participants reported that language (Russian) and convenience were among the highest motivating factors for membership in specific SNS. The benefits of SNS included opportunities for instantaneous connections with individuals of similar interests; unbiased and multidimensional views presented by SNS members. Respondents searched SNSs for information about majors, culture norms abroad, the cost of education, and careers after graduation. They were applying SNS-specific criteria, such as the number of SNS’ “likes”, followers, and the ratio of followers to following, to evaluate HEIs’ worthiness. One of the emerging study findings was that participants with no connections abroad relied exclusively on SNSs for their college choice decisions. These individuals acknowledged that without SNSs they would not consider an opportunity to transfer to an HEI abroad, as they had no channels for obtaining such information. For participants with connections abroad, the advice of their international contacts played a major role in their college choice and SNSs played a supportive role. Limitations related to the use of SNS included a dearth of current research, minimal control over content posted by third parties, time constraints related to mastering SNS features and maintaining a meaningful content. Recommendations for overcoming these obstacles and strengthening HEI professionals’ connections with international students include developing fluency and expertise in different features of various SNSs or hiring individuals with proven expertise in SNS; creating consistent and meaningful content on various SNS platforms and conducting more research about the use of SNS by international students