University Websites: Attractive or Casual?

Abstract

International student mobility is increasing around the world and the number of students who prefer Turkey for higher education is increasing every year. It is also important for universities to be able to influence students' preferences and attract more successful students. The most used and most important means of universities to introduce themselves to students coming from another country, to leave a positive image and to increase their organizational attractiveness are the corporate websites of universities. Universities create an image about themselves with the visuals they use on their websites. In this study, the image attractiveness of the websites of universities in Turkey towards international students was examined. For this purpose, it has been examined by using visual content analysis whether there are contents that will positively affect the organizational attractiveness of the university for foreign students on the home pages of the websites of state and private universities in Turkey. Among 129 state and 74 private universities in Turkey, 25 universities were selected by proportional stratified sampling method. The codes determined as a result of the visual analysis were gathered under four themes. It has been found that universities mostly include their scientific studies on their websites, and private universities give more space than state universities to the educational environments, buildings, campuses and visuals of their students interacting in these environments, which create the first impression of the university for international students.