KARTŲ SKIRTUMAI IR RINKODARA: NAUJAUSIŲ STUDENTŲ PRITRAUKIMO Į KOMUNIKACIJOS STUDIJAS ATVEJŲ ANALIZĖ

Abstract

University faculty members and managers agree that modern generations of students differ in values, beliefs, and dominant traits, while their attitudes and preferences are often conflicting and contradictory. This leaves open the question of whether those generational peculiarities are taken into account by university recruitment officers?
To address this question, a research project was initiated to examine the ways in which students made the decision to enroll in communication study programs at specific university in the 2018 intake. This research aimed to look into the communicational priorities of the newly recruited students as well as into their content preferences.
A questionnaire was designed to systematically assess the students’ motives in seeking specific information, their choice of specific communication channels, and the possible triggers that led to their decisions to enroll in specific communication programs.
To further identify differences, Generation Y students were researched in an additional focus group study on the attitudes of students who started communications studies at the same university in 2016. Both scientifically and practically valuable results showed surprisingly different preferences for visual and textual material. The data gathered also indicates a considerable difference between the attitudes of students, which emerged over the course of just two years.
Apart from its data, the scientific novelty of this research can be seen in the interdisciplinary fusion of different approaches that involve marketing, education science, communication, the management of educational organizations, and generational theory.
Practically, the findings of this research will help university recruitment officers to design new and more efficient marketing strategies that effectively target Generation Z students.