Students and university websites—consumers of corporate brands or novices in the academic community?

International Student Recruitment Strategies in Finland and China

“…Similarly, as suggested by Williams (2013) and Lažetić (2019), this study argues that websites, in their advising of prospective students, reflect the national strategies on education, in this case, the recruitment of international students. Thus, the analysis shows that the Finnish websites lean on commercial aspects articulated in tuition fees and skilled immigration with the introduction of work-related practicalities.…”

“…Maringe & Carter, 2007;Mazzarol & Soutar, 2002) by focusing on one particular mediator: websites that facilitate encounters between students and recruiters or host countries. An emerging body of research examines online content in higher education, particularly on websites in (international) higher education (Karram, 2014;Lažetić, 2019;Metcalfe, 2012;Vuori, 2015;Wilkins, 2012), and other mediators in the transition to higher education (Robinson-Pant & Magyar, 2018;van Zanten & Legavre, 2014). However, few studies of websites have focused on the embeddedness of national rationalisations regarding student recruitment and the construction of students' expectations by the websites.…”

“…As a starting point, this study builds on an argument that the information provided for prospective students constructs an idea of education, which is mediated by the policymaker's idea of education. According to Williams (2013) and Lažetić (2019), the ways in which higher education is portrayed to prospective students reflect their ideas of education:…”

“…This orientation can result in a kind of shopping attitude when the applicants are selecting potential destinations and institutions, attributing instrumental value to education and emphasising the needs both to provide and to receive satisfactory study-abroad experiences (Williams, 2013), which in Holbrook & Hirschman's (1982) terms can be referred as an 'experiential aspect of consumption' (p. 132). This consumerism attached to higher education is related to the broader transformation of the governing structures of higher education institutions (Lažetić, 2019;Naidoo & Jamieson, 2005).…”

A Qualitative Discourse Analysis of Ontario University Websites: Exploring the Value Systems of Teacher Education Webpages

“…Institutions of higher education have been shown to transmit features of value systems that contribute to the reproduction of social inequality through the curriculum, and institutional mediums such as university websites (Apple, 2011;Cotton et al, 2013;Killick, 2016;Lažetić, 2019;Savage et al, 2013;Tomášková, 2015). The cultural, political and/or social values transmitted are informed by educational beliefs and percolate through the curriculum and teaching practices.…”