Charles H. Bélanger

Institutional image and retention

Abstract The image or ‘branding’ issue has become a strategic managerial decision for postsecondary institutions because it impacts upon the desire of a student to persist and complete, or to drop out. This paper examines the relationship that exists between students’ expectations and their lived experience as reported by students in an actual institutional setting. It is a case study which suggests actionable outcomes for the particular institution. More importantly, the approach used here is easily replicable and may be employed to provide useful information for image enhancement in other university settings.

How Canadian Universities Use Social Media to Brand Themselves.

This paper explores social media marketing strategies applied by Canadian universities as a tool for institutional branding, recruitment and engagement of home and international students. The target sample involves the total population of Canadian university-status institutions (N=106). Qualitative data were collected from two major social networking websites, Facebook and Twitter, over the span of six months to provide a comprehensive picture. Additionally, student enrolment data were compiled with the purpose of associating social media implementation with fluctuations of student enrolment. Results reveal that the Twitter platform is generally much more popular to carry conversations, but that Facebook remains the preferred website for university-initiated postings; most of these university-led postings, whether on Twitter or Facebook, relate to campus/student news and events. Findings point to institutions as only one of many message generators, while students and a host of third parties have become the dominant ones.

International Students: The Canadian experience

This paper is an analysis of the results of a voluntary on-line survey administered to international students attending Canadian universities. The participants include students attending a full programme of study as well as English as a second language (ESL) and exchange students. This study examines the role of the university with reference to providing the pertinent information/services to the students, pre- and post-arrival. Certain choice patterns of international students in selecting Canada vis-à-vis other countries are also examined. The results of our analyses indicate that Canada seems to have performed well in meeting the expectations of international students. Furthermore, this study did help to illustrate some of our inherent strengths that, if marketed properly, could allow Canada to enlarge its share of the foreign student market.

The Make Up of Institutional Branding: Who, What, How?

The purpose of this paper is to report on who creates branding within institutions of higher learning, and what impact branding has on core institutional activities such as student recruitment and fundraising, as well as on socio-psychological factors such as community respect and national prestige. Eighty-nine tertiary education experts covering three world regions were surveyed in order to gather information to fulfil the paper’s objectives. The nature and extent of involvement of enrolled students, alumni, higher management, external consultants, civic leaders and the business community were investigated to identify the part each plays, if any, in the development of an institutional brand. Findings indicate that institutions have a tendency to brand from the top down rather than from the bottom up.

Universities: public good or private profit

Funding higher education has increasingly become a paradox for many nation states. The paradox rests with the recognition that the nation state acknowledges that university education has long-term benefits for the state with a better educated society, an increased opportunity to provide an innovative, creative and high technology work force for economic growth. Against this foil is the global austerity facing many countries, challenging the state to reduce the fiscal debt. The article seeks a ‘third way’ through the paradox using a dialectic argument.

The Effective Teacher’s Characteristics as Perceived by Students

Students (N = 1,883) from 10 European countries answered a web questionnaire pertaining to three dimensions of what they expect and what they experience from their teachers. The dimensions were personality, classroom environment, and teaching style characteristics. Parametric statistics identified high communalities among variables, while gender, program type, and program level were found to have an influence on factor groupings. Overall, the gap between the expected xand the experienced proved to be overwhelmingly significant.

Why Some Youths Do Not Realise Their Post‐Secondary Education Aspirations

This paper explores the ability of students to achieve their optimistic educational scenario (aspirations) and to provide contextual information on the factors which may have influenced their failure to do so. With a large sample of approximately 20,000 respondents from a government longitudinal database, the authors have been able to further define certain characteristics related to youth, to their environment, and to “significant others”, and to identify specific barriers affecting participation rates.

Analyzing external environment factors affecting social enterprise development

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how factors in the external environment affect social enterprise (SE) development in Canada. With the decline in government funding for non-profit organizations, SE development is gaining greater traction. SEs are businesses and can be analyzed with methods similar to those for traditional businesses. Just as the external environment is important for assessing the success of businesses, in this study, the authors examine the external environment related to SEs.,In this statistical analysis, the authors compared 62 factors across 33 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) in Canada while treating SE revenue as the dependent variable. Links between the dependent variable and the external environment were analyzed through correlation and regression tests. Publicly available revenue figures for non-profit SEs by CMAs were compared with a selection of external environment factors, including demographic information and health indicators, also organized by CMA, as published by Statistics Canada.,The analysis demonstrated that three of the factors displayed significant positive correlation and one resulted in a predictive value. Positive correlations were discovered between SE revenue per capita and three of the variables: university education, perceived health, very good or excellent and no religious affiliation. Only university education was found to have predictive value.,This study is the first to compare SE revenue and the external environment across Canada’s CMAs. The results show that factors in the external environment create conditions more conducive to SE development.

Alcohol Use and the Effects on University Business Students.

This paper examines the effects of alcohol consumption on university undergraduate students in eight management schools in the province of Ontario, Canada. The study establishes two contrasting groups—the socially oriented and the academically oriented. It elaborates on the potential consequences that excessive drinking may have on the learning, ethics, and self-efficacy of these emerging adults and their interaction with classmates and faculty. These results will help to determine how alcohol affects the student experience, engagement, and success while attending a post-secondary institution.

Using the technology acceptance model to predict patient attitude toward personal health records in regional communities

Purpose To statistically measure (quantify) how a sample of Canadians perceives the usability of electronic personal health records (PHRs); in the process, to increase Canadian patients’ awareness of PHRs and improve physicians’ confidence in their patients’ ability to manage their own health information through PHRs. Design/methodology/approach We surveyed 325 Canadian patients living in Northern Ontario a) to assess a research model consisting of seven perceptions of PHR systems used to manage personal health information electronically, and b) to assess their perceived ability to use PHR systems. The survey questions were adapted from the 2014 National Physician Survey in Canada. We compared the patients’ results with physicians’ own perceptions of their patients’ ability to use PHR systems. Findings First, there was a positive relationship between surveyed patients’ prior experiences, needs, values, and their attitude toward adopting the PHR system. Second, how patients saw a PHR system’s user-friendli...