In cooperation with the British Council, StudyPortals mystery shopped the world´s top universities - through students´ eyes. Following-up on our study from 2014, when we focused on the World’s Top 500 Universities, this year’s analysis highlights the Top 500 Universities in the US and Canada. We presented the report at NAFSA 2015.

1. THROUGH STUDENT EYES:
STUDENT INSIGHTS INTO UNIVERSITY
RECRUITMENT PROCESSES
Stephen Carey Magnus Olsson Julian Longbottom Shehan Thampapillai
British Council IELTS StudyPortals Studyportals CQUniversity

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› Investigated the world’s Top 1,000 universities from a
prospective student’s perspective
› Focus: Top 500 universities in the US and Canada
› Mystery-Shopped 2 programs from each university
› Benchmarking on 40 different data points
› A university-specific report benchmarking it against the top 500
universities in the US and Canada, and the world
› A macro report with insights into US and Canada universities
through student eyes
What?
2

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› 4.5 million international students worldwide in 2014
› Difficult for students to choose a study program
› Want to help students access better information
› Help universities reach out to international students
Why?

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An Example

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› Method: mystery-shopping
› Data collection: team of student at our data center in Romania
› Which universities
 Top 1000 Webometric
 Top 100 Shanghai Ranking
 Top 100 Times Ranking
 Top 100 US News Ranking
 Only those with English taught programs
How

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Geographical Distribution of Our Data

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Our Research Model

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Student Eyes Rating by Region

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Macro Report
› Provide Information
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Degree level and type
Email address
Application deadline
Duration of programme
Application requirements
English language proficiency requirements
Total tuition fee
Application information for international
students
Start date
Accreditation of the programme
Student testimonials
Difficult to find
Somewhat difficult to find
Not easy nor difficult to find
Quite easy to find
Easy to find

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› Response Time to Student Inquiries
Macro Report
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
0.5 1 2-4 5 or more No reply
Days

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› Response Time to Student Inquiries, per Continent
Macro Report
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
0.5 1 2-4 5 or more No reply
Asia
Australia
Canada
Europe
USA

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› Number of Attempts to Contact the Student
Macro Report
7.68%
2.13%
67.49%
20.33%
2.36%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
1 reminder 2 reminders No reminder No reply in first
place
More than 3
1 reminder
2 reminders
No reminder
No reply in first place
More than 3

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North American Insights
› Split up by Ranking

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› Public vs Private
North American Insights

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› Google Pagerank
North American Insights

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› Provide Information
North American Insights

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› Mobile Friendliness
North American Insights
Not mobile-
friendly
33%Awesome! This
page is mobile-
friendly.
67%

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› Response Time to Student Inquiries
North American Insights

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› Number of attempts to contact the student
North American Insights

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› Comparing Elite University Groups
North American Insights
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
C9
Ivy League
Group of 8
Universitas 21
Russel Group
Findability Information and Usability Responsiveness

21. www.studyportals.eu/research/top-500-benchmark/
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Stephen Carey Magnus Olsson Julian Longbottom Shehan Thampapillai
British Council IELTS StudyPortals Studyportals CQUniversity