Developing the Recruitment Process of Potential International Applicants and Students of Häme University of Applied Sciences

Abstract

This research was conducted to develop the recruitment process of students of international degree programmes of Häme University of Applied Sciences, HAMK. The aim was to identify the phases of the application process, find out what are the strong and weak points of it and detect ways to improve the process. The goals of the improvements are to enhance the engagement of the applicants to the process and to increase the number of foreign students at HAMK. The commissioning party of the thesis is Strategic Communications of HAMK, and the set goals are based on the vision which was published along the HAMK 2030 strategy in 2019. According to the vision, HAMK will increase the number of foreign students by 76 % by 2030. The recruitment process was inspected as a service process and the theory of Service design was used as the base of the study and development guide of the service. Service blueprint was used to identify and visualise the phases of the process and the activities and stakeholders involved. Two surveys, one for foreign first-year degree students and another for international education agents were conducted to collect information about customer experiences of the application process. Value Proposition Canvas was partly completed to recognise the applicants and students tasks and intentions, HAMK’s services that make it possible for them to complete the tasks, challenges that applicants and students might face when carrying out the tasks and possible solutions and ways to prevent such situations. The outcomes of the research are the visualisation of the recruitment process with applicants’ and students’ steps and tasks, employees’, and other stakeholders’ onstage and backstage actions as well as the technology involved. According to the student and agent survey, the recruiting process has many phases and services that the respondents are satisfied with, but there are also areas that need improvement such as instructing and supporting in residence permit and accommodation application and in registering to Finnish Population Information System. According to the Value Proposition Canvas it is recommended for HAMK to ensure that all information needed in the application process is easy to find, clearly written and examples are available if needed.