3.1 International students' satisfaction with the Faculty of Business and Management

Respondents were asked whether they would recommend HSE as a place of study for international students. They were given a scale from 1 to 5, where answer “1” meant that the respondent would definitely refrain from suggesting to others to apply to HSE, whereas “5” meant that the respondent certainly agrees to recommend the university to others. The answers are summarized below:

Figure 8 Distribution of respondents willingness to recommend HSE to other students

In general, it is evident that students tend to be satisfied with their studies at the Faculty of Business and Management in NRU HSE. The majority of them are favourable towards recommending HSE to international students, even though some respondents (6 in total, which is 5,47% of those who completed the survey) would rather withhold other international students from studying at HSE.

Yet, it is reasonable to assume that international students' satisfaction with HSE may be associated with how they prepared for studying abroad and is related to what affected their choice of a foreign university. Mainly, characteristics of HSE and sources of information were used to find relationship with student satisfaction.

Correlation analysis

Part 1.

In order to learn more about international students' decision making, it was decided to find relationship between their subjective evaluation of characteristics of NRU HSE as their future university and their evaluation of what they actually experienced when studying in NRU HSE. For this, “Recommendation” variable was developed to represent the willingness of a respondent to recommend NRU HSE as a place to study. It accounted for the international student satisfaction with NRU HSE, and the study tested its association with the important characteristics of the university. The Spearman's correlation coefficient was used due to the ordinal scale level of measurement of the data, the results are presented in Figure 9.

Figure 9 Correlation matrix “NRU HSE characteristics-recommendation”

For the purpose of interpretation, the relationship was considered: moderately strong - if correlation coefficient (r) is more than 0,25, moderate - if 0,15 ? r ?0,25, weak - if r < 0,15. The matrix is coloured to demonstrate the significance of discovered relationship (red-coloured coefficients are significant for б=0,05, grey ones are non-significant). To summarize the results, the following table was created:

It was discovered that all characteristics of HSE have positive relationship with satisfaction of international students with the university, but the strength of the relationship varies. For instance, students are more likely to recommend NRU HSE if they evaluated highly the prestige of HSE diplomas. They are also much likely to recommend HSE if they also valued opportunity to (1) stay in Russia after study completion and (2) work on and off campus. International students who value highly location of HSE also tend to recommend NRU HSE to others, but the relationship of recommendation variable is not as strong as with previously mentioned variables.

At the same time, students who indicated that they highly value HSE being a partner university of their former place of study tend to be satisfied with their studies at HSE, yet the relationship of this HSE characteristic with recommendation variable is the weakest. The more detailed table is presented below:

Table 6

Strength of the relationship between HSE characteristics and “recommendation” variables with their interpretation

HSE characteristic	Relationship with “recommendation” variable	Interpretation
The prestige of NRU HSE diplomas	Strong	International students who have high appreciation of the prestige of HSE diplomas are much likely to recommend NRU HSE to others
Opportunity to stay in Russia for further education or career purposes	Strong	International students who have high appreciation of opportunity to stay in Russia for further education or career purposes are much likely to recommend NRU HSE to others
Opportunity to work on and off campus	Strong	International students who have high appreciation of opportunity to work on and off campus are much likely to recommend NRU HSE to others
Location of NRU HSE (city, proximity to my native country)	Moderate	International students who value highly location of HSE are tend to recommend NRU HSE to others
The cost of studying and NRU HSE and financial support it offers	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of financial aspects of HSE and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
Availability of wide range of English-taught management programmes	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of availability of wide range of English-taught management programmes and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
Quality and location of HSE accommodation	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of quality and location of HSE accommodation and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
Developed student union and societies	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of developed student union and societies and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
I know someone who lives in Russia, and I wanted to be closer to them	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' indication of their willingness to live closer to someone in Russia and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
NRU HSE is a partner university of my place of study	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' indication of the importance of NRU HSE being their partner university and their willingness to recommend HSE to others

Part 2

Moreover, similar correlation matrix was computed and is shown below. It represents the association between the sources of information that international students used and their satisfaction with studying at NRU HSE (measured, again, by “recommendation” variable as the willingness of a respondent to recommend NRU HSE as a place to study).



Figure 10 Correlation matrix “information sources-recommendation”

The table below summarizes the conclusions to be made from the correlation matrix:

Table 7

Strength of the relationships between information source and “recommendation” variables with their interpretation

Information source	Relationship with “recommendation” variable	Interpretation
NRU HSE website	Strong	International students who used official HSE website to learn about HSE are much likely to recommend HSE to others
News	Strong	International students who used news to learn about HSE are much likely to recommend HSE to others
Someone I know who studies at NRU HSE	Strong	International students who asked someone from HSE to learn about the university are much likely to recommend HSE to others
University ranking websites	Moderate	International students who valued highly university ranking websites as sources of information about HSE are tend to recommend NRU HSE to others
Online forums and blogs	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of online forums and blogs with information about HSE and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
Someone in my home country (a friend, parent, relative, professor, etc.	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students who asked someone in their home country about HSE and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
Education fair	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of education fairs to get information about HSE and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
Education agents	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of education agents and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
Events at my school	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of events at their schools/universities and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
Academic conferences	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of academic and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
Flyers and broshures	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of flyers and broshures and their willingness to recommend HSE to others
A government department in my home country	Weak	There is a weak positive relationship between international students' high appreciation of their gov. department to get information about HSE and their willingness to recommend HSE to others

Again, as with characteristics of HSE, the use of all sources of information of HSE is positive associated with satisfaction of international students with the university, but the strength of the relationship is different. What is interesting is that news as an information source has a relatively low mean score, as it is not considered to be important by many students. Yet, high appreciation of news and HSE website as means to get information about HSE makes students more likely to be satisfied with HSE. It may be explained by the fact that presence of the university in news is dedicated to some significant events at the university. News, in general, may impact the way HSE is perceived by the society. Coupled with slightly strong mean score of the source “Someone in my home country (a friend, parent, relative, professor, etc.”, news may encourage the choice of a particular place of study.

Strong positive relationship of recommendation variable and HSE website may be explained by (1) the availability of necessary information on the official website, and (2) information provided at HSE website being true to what it means to be a HSE student. That is, potential students find at the website answers to many of their questions before they come to Moscow. When they do start to study at HSE, they know what to expect and have less reasons to be dissatisfied with the university and the Faculty.

Furthermore, Hypothesis 3 “International students tend to be more satisfied with their experience at HSE if they used non-official (word-of-mouth) sources of information about the university when they made their choice of the university abroad” is rejected, as official sources (news and the university website) have the strongest relationship with student satisfaction.

Regression model

To measure the influence of HSE characteristics (that were described in the paper and analysed above) on the overall international student' willingness to recommend HSE, it was initially decided to perform a multiple regression analysis. The dependent variable is the recommendation variable, whereas the independent variables are the already mentioned characteristics of HSE. Before the model was applied, the author took into account the ordinal level of measurement of all of the variables. Accordingly, the ordered-logit regression was considered to be the most appropriate. However, the model turned out to not be very useful due to low level of predicting ability. The table below shows the coefficient of determination that is equal to 0,26155.



Table 8

Summary of regression “recommendation-characteristics”

Model summary
Model	R	R Square	Adjusted R Square	Std. Error of the Estimate
1	0,51141	0,26155	0,25232	3,9274

It implies that, by definition, the proportion of variance in international student' willingness to recommend HSE that can be explained by the variation in students' evaluation of HSE characteristics is just over 26%. It is a general rule in the research literature that the regression model does not have sufficient predictive abilities if the coefficient of determination is less than 0,5. For this reason, the author decided to not conduct the regression analysis. It should be noted, however, that the research in the marketing field describes the obtained value of R square as weak-to-moderate one, yet models with such small coefficients of determination offer low degree of practical application (Hair et al., 2013).

2.2 Suggestions of study improvement by international students

The questionnaire included an open question for respondents to provide recommendations to improve their studies at NRU HSE and life in Moscow. The range of recommendations given by international students is wide and involves issues from application process to living in Russia. It implies that NRU HSE should improve their engagement with international students in several directions in order to increase their satisfaction with the university, as summarized below in the Table 9.

Table 9

Suggestions to the Faculty by respondents

Recommendations (general direction)	Recommendations (detailed measures)
Study programmes (changes to content of educational programmes)	Adding more practical courses
	Additional language courses (of the main study language)
	Improve curriculum to better address current industry needs
University Student Support (changes to services available to international students from Study Offices)	To improve asav-platform for international entrants
	To increase partnerships with companies for organising internships for international students
	To provide more information about citizenship and work in Russia
Social agenda	To organise events for international students to meet each other
	To provide more information on cultural background in Russia
	Invite international students to participate in tours around Moscow to help adapt to life in a new city

3.3 Recommendations for measures of attracting international students to the faculty of business and management NRU HSE

The study was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses on the factors of influence on international students who chose management-related specialities at HSE. Therefore, the main conclusion to be made is that 2 out of 3 hypotheses were rejected. As was expected prior to the study, international students who chose the Faculty of Business and Management have friends or relatives living in Russia, which led to the confirmation of Hypothesis 1. However, in a contradiction with the proposed Hypothesis 2, international students who study management at HSE did not consider HSE being a partner university of their former place of study to be crucial in their decision to study at HSE. Similarly, international management students at HSE favoured official sources of information rather than word-of-mouth ones, thus the study rejected Hypothesis 3.

Overall, it appears that international students were under influence of an array of factors when they made a decision to study management at HSE. The main aim of the paper is to transform the findings into practical recommendations to HSE Faculty of Business and Management. The paper proposes a series of measures for HSE to use as a part of its international student recruitment strategy to attract more foreign students to study management in the future. These measures may be used by HSE and the Faculty of Business and Management in particular, even though they are adapted for the needs of prospective management students.

First of all, the study revealed the existence of positive relationship between international students' satisfaction with management studies at HSE and their choice of the information sources about the university. In particular, international students preferred official sources over unofficial ones. Secondly, the most satisfied with studying at HSE students tend to have indicated the importance of the prestige of NRU HSE diplomas and opportunity to stay in Russia for further education or career purposes.

Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that main groups of factors that influence the attraction of foreign students to the Faculty of Business and Management are associated with:

1. The abundance of official information sources.

2. The availability of career development opportunities through employment-related services and study programmes' content.

These findings are crucial for effective international student recruitment and are promising to be implemented by HSE. On the basis of conducted research, the paper suggests to: (1) encourage communication with international students at all stages, starting with information gathering, application to HSE and up to the time when the students are already enrolled to study management in HSE, (2) dedicate resources of the Faculty to business connections, career services and vocational skills development, and (3) improve the basic awareness of cross-cultural interaction challenges and opportunities.

The following Figure 11 summarizes the suggested directions of work:



Figure 11 Directions of work for NRU HSE to attract international students

Measures for international students' career advancement

The study revealed that international management students evaluate highly the opportunity of getting practical experience and vocational skills as the main factor for choosing future place of study. This is not surprising, since management-related specialities value leadership and industry experience. Russia is not unique in this issue: it was found that the return to education are lower for non-native students due to their common inability to succeed in the job market (Chevalier, n.d.). To increase the recruitment potential of the Faculty, it is promising to enlarge the network of collaborations with business experts and companies. The legislative changes were already discussed in the paper, thus, the author concentrates on the measures that are within the reach of universities to help international students secure a placement.

Indeed, obtaining a certain qualification, whether it is a Bachelor's or Master's degree, is often just the first step for international students. They want to get a job in Russia and stay here for further studies, but there is an array of obstacles for foreigners to do this in the country. One of them is the need to obtain a permit to work. Above that, international students in Russia (1) can only have a job according to the profession that is specified in the permit, and (2) their choice is limited to the region (or city) where their university is located. Moscow is a large megapolis with a lot of jobs available, yet it may be daunting for foreign students to find a management-related job during or after studies.

1.1 Wholesome services for non-resident students of the Faculty

One of the solutions would be to thoroughly develop partnerships with companies to provide international students with real opportunities to work in Moscow. The Faculty needs to place recruiters and students under one roof, so that foreigners would be able to find employment in a simpler way. This measure is a cumulative one and represents a wide range of services available to international students of the Faculty. For instance, it is suggested to start from simple things such as handbooks to international students, where they can find up-to-date information on Russian labour legislation, main characteristics of Russian market economy, tax system, etc. Then it is advised to organise workshops, career fairs specifically for international students, and the final part may be the introduction of one-to-one meetings with employers and mentoring facilities by HR experts of the most foreigner-friendly companies on the Russian market.

The suggested direction in which it is possible to progress in establishment of new career services and, at the same time, to improve the existing administrative infrastructure, is represented by the following figures:

Figure 12 Establishment of new career services to international students (part 1)

Figure 13 Establishment of new career services to international students (part 2)

The improvement in the development of vocational skills on the basis of project learning towards a degree at HSE

It is understandable, however, that the availability of placement for international students is limited by season, economic conditions and nationality of a student. Furthermore, the development of full-fledged career services to international students requires a substantial amount of time, finance and human resources. Thus, the paper suggests to start with establishment of short-term work opportunities by industry leaders. These may involve project-based assignments by companies for international students, just as there is project-based work that is mandatory to earn credits towards a a graduation from HSE. However, such project-based learning is often more theoretical than practical, as there are lots of research-based projects available for students to choose, whereas the range of applied projects is smaller. Research projects are limited to HSE and are mostly conducted by HSE teachers rather than industry professionals. It would be effective to assign international students mostly to applied projects by external businesses rather than the science-related ones, as they would be able to earn the needed vocational experience as a part of their degree completion.

The following figure demonstrates the desired improvement of already existing university project-based learning to attract more international students:

Figure 14 Transformation of project-based learning for international students

Measures for better information provision to international students

The study revealed the existence of positive relationship between international students' satisfaction with management studies at HSE and their choice of the information sources about the university. In particular, international students preferred official sources over unofficial ones. This finding can be implemented by HSE. The paper suggests to encourage communication with international students at all stages: information gathering, application to HSE and studying management in HSE.

Currently, HSE provides a substantial amount of information for its international students to read before studying at HSE. There is a handbook for international students and a dedicated page on the website, which allows prospective students to contact corresponding members of staff. There are also several resources on social network websites for international students to explore. Nevertheless, there is a room for improvement, and the paper suggests to make information provision more effective by working in two directions: (1) the materials are to better adapted to the needs of management students, and (2) the addition of a new communication channel to be used in addition to existing ones.

Guidance by former international students:

Prospective international students have been found to prefer official information. Moreover, satisfied management international students have been found to have got information from HSE students when they chose their future place of study. It is promising for the Faculty to establish connection of prospective international students with actual international students of the Faculty. Indeed, current or former HSE students have obtained valuable knowledge of the university during their studies. It is common for universities to issue a guide with necessary pre-arrival and orientation information. The same can be issued for prospective students to learn what they can expect from studying management at HSE. However, this information should be provided by international students, who can deliver their own view of the university and study programmes, as well as student life for foreigners. Such a guide should contain a range of testimonials from international student body and alumni. This is effective in rising international student mobility, because: (1) the guide made by actual international management students is a reliable and thorough informational source that offers authentic opinions on studying at HSE, (2) prospective students would be able to find answers to a number of questions about management studies at HSE and become more confident in their choice, (3) the fact that international students were not only authorised, but encouraged to share their thoughts on their experience as students at HSE shows that the Faculty invests time and effort into welcoming foreigners to study management. The guide should be marketed on the HSE website and be made easily available to prospective students on request.

If the Faculty is not able to aggregate enough feedback from its current or former international students, in a meantime, it is suggested to start with online blogs by international students of the Faculty. These may be written by current international students or alumni. Such a measure is not new to many universities, yet the paper highlights the importance of including contact details of the authors. This way, future students feel closer to the Faculty and may be persuaded to engage and learn about opportunities that studying at HSE offers.

Another important addition to the idea is to start with asking for feedback from current international students or alumni on the application process. This may include advice on document collection, financing and making applying more user-friendly and straight forward. The subsequent parts of a guide or online blogs may be dedicated to the study process itself.

The figure below shows the suggested addition to relevant communication channels:

Figure 15 Transformation of communication channels with international students

SMS communication:

The paper suggests using SMS to recruit more international students to HSE. The proposed measure is effective due to the following reasons: (1) The higher education market is large, and the competition is quite strong. The students are presented with many options, and the usage of SMS is a way to differentiate HSE from other universities, (2) SMS offers opportunity to establish and keep communication with prospective students at the earliest stages of their decision making in relation to the future place of study. Indeed, one of the most common problems experienced by institutions and businesses alike is the shortness of close relationships with target audience. SMS notifications, in addition to common email marketing, are suggested as a promising tool for the university to make international students aware of future university events, tuition fees, deadlines, etc. email, SMS is more personal and is less likely to be hidden by spam filter in student emails. Once international students provide their phone numbers, the implementation of SMS can benefit the international student recruitment of the Faculty in many ways: (1) prospective students may be helped to get back on track with application deadlines and requirements to the document submission, which is helpful for those students who need to be reminded of key dates and stages of the application process. Therefore, with SMS, they are more likely to keep their engagement with HSE; (2) students may be contacted about industry-related events they can take part in, even in online format. As prospective international management students were found to be interested in career advancement, upon receiving SMS, they are more likely to become aware of opportunities that the Faculty provides to get practical experience with the help of HSE.

Nevertheless, as international students come from different parts of the world, SMS usage can be expensive for HSE relative to other marketing options. Thus, the same communication channel can be exercised in messenger applications for mobile phones, providing similar results in terms of recruitment increase.

The example of enrolment-inducing messages is provided below:



Figure 16 An example of messages to induce international students' recruitment

Measures dedicated to the establishment of expectation management

This is the most subtle and unprecise measure of those suggested by the paper, yet it is significant for enhancing international student recruitment. It can be demonstrated by the following figure:

Figure 17 Expectation management measures for NRU HSE aimed at international students

One of the most common recommendations from international management students, as recorded in the study, was the clarification of certain stages of their academic and professional development in HSE: they wanted more information on (1) the governmental requirements for studies/work, (2) basic idea of what to expect from HSE and Moscow. Both of these areas are to be more or less covered by the suggested communication channels (the guide, the internship development, the improvement of student services, etc.). Yet, it was found by many researchers that there is an apparent lack of understanding among both recruiters and university staff on the benefits of establishing relationships with international students. Because of this, the measures taken by institutions to increase attraction of foreign students do not provide the results that are expected from them.

To tackle the issue, the Faculty is suggested to organise staff training on cross-cultural communication, as well as specifics of conflict management. These are to be held on a regular basis. What is more, it is reasonable to involve in these types of activities domestic students as well. This would (1) ensure the effectiveness of study process and (2) help international students to adapt to studying management at HSE.

Furthermore, the other side of the issue is that international students often have unrealistic view of their opportunities in a new country (Kisch, 2015). To help them, HR specialists and counsellors should put emphasis on recommending flexibility to international students, teach them to become more open to employment options and skills development, as well as continually provide as much information as possible on immigration policy and stages of job application process.

MOOCs usage as a part of “be prepared without surprises” approach

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are widely used by universities worldwide. The already implemented MOOCs by HSE are currently used to assist digital education and promote the university on the global market. To increase international students' interest in the Faculty of Business and Management, it is suggested to develop a series of short and easily accessible MOOCs specifically for prospective international students. These may include the main information on HSE, its buildings, educational system and student societies. The benefit of MOOCs is that they: (1) offer visualisation and better engagement of the viewers, (2) make understanding of everything from HSE university requirements to cultural norms of Russia easier. Finally, (3) MOOCs makes it possible for international students to adapt their expectations about HSE and the country at the time of application to the university. The service is supposed to be extended up to the stage of communication with already enrolled international students for preparation to HSE studies and life in Russia.

The introduction of some kind of expectation management, therefore, plays the substantial role in enhancing international student recruitment. It would form the basis for the Faculty to attract foreign students and successfully accommodate them in Moscow and HSE.



Conclusion

The paper has reached the main goal of developing recommendations for the HSE Faculty of Business and Management to increase the recruitment of foreign students, relying on the factors that influence their decision to study abroad. In the course of achieving the proposed aim of the research, all of the mentioned tasks of the study have been completed:

1. the author conducted the analysis of literature on the topic of what affects international students' in their choice of future university. This part of the research made it possible for the author to reveal a variety of factors that may have impact on students when they decide to study abroad. Secondary information by relevant researchers has served as an introduction to the topic and required a deeper knowledge of the current situation.

2. The next task was reached with the provision of up-to-date statistics on the Russian educational market. The analysis of the available data lead to the summary of the relevant actions taken by universities in Russia and their ability to attract international students. The necessary quantitative information was found on the degree of popularity of Russia relative to other countries, as well as the most common nationality of international students who already study in the country. To become familiar with the Russian law, the latest changes in Russian legislation were discovered that were relevant for the attraction of international student. A short analysis of their influence and potential use has been provided as well. Finally, the data was given on the Faculty of Business and Management at HSE as the main potential user of the results of the study.

3. After that, a significant part of the research was dedicated to the survey of current and former foreign students at NRU HSE Faculty of Business and Management. The survey was conducted fully online due to the decision of HSE to provide only distant learning in the later part of 2019/2020 study year. The author was able to reach a sufficient number of respondents to perform a number of statistical tests. The questionnaire was designed to provide information on different aspects of foreign students' decision making of a place of study, as well as their subjective view of HSE and the Faculty. The paper was able to learn of respondents' experience at the university and their suggestions for a positive changes in the Faculty.

4. The paper made it possible to ascertain the relatively narrow pool of factors that had the most influence on the students who chose to study management-related specialities at HSE. In particular, the usage of statistical software (namely, SPSS) allowed to establish the relationship of student' satisfaction with their studies at HSE and the informational sources they used to learn of HSE. Similar to that, there was discovered what features of the university were considered to be significant by satisfied with HSE students. The answers to the survey provided information on prior acquaintance of management foreign HSE students with someone from Russia. The open nature of some questions allowed for the personal opinion of the respondents on the ways to improve international student services at HSE and study programmes of the Faculty.

5. The last task of the research was reached with the development of recommendations to HSE on the attraction of foreign management students. The provided suggestions were based on the results of the conducted research. It was decided to concentrate on three directions of work, according to the results of the survey. Current marketing actions among potential foreign students were taken into account, and the recommended measures were formulated in order to increase the effectiveness of international student recruitment of the Faculty in the future.

Each stage of the paper allowed to deepen the understanding of the topic. The author believes it is necessary to mention the main conclusions to be made from the study.

To begin with, the literature review led to the development of one of many possible classifications of factors that influence the attraction of students to universities abroad. It was decided to divide the factors into two categories according to their origin in relation to a student, which was promising to serve as a primary framework for further research. What is crucial is that the paper considered the provided classification to be not as definite as was expected, and it was concluded that it needs to be adjusted to Russian universities' characteristics. The discovered changes in legislation in the country have been evaluated as positive and promising to international students' recruitment, which made the paper even more significant for HSE. The closer inspection of the data on Russian educational market showed that Russian universities are mostly popular with students from China and the CIS, and HRU HSE Faculty of Business and Management has capacity to attract more foreign students.

The conducted empirical study has rejected two out of three hypotheses. In particular, international students of the Faculty had acquaintances with someone in Russia before they came here, yet partnerships of HSE with other universities have shown to be of little importance when used to increase the recruitment of international students. Moreover, management foreign students were found to prefer official sources of information, which was not what was expected in the hypotheses developed by the author.

One of the most crucial conclusions from the study is the discovered positive correlation of foreign students' satisfaction with the Faculty and (1) the information sources they used to learn about the university, (2) their evaluation of the prestige of NRU HSE diplomas and opportunity to stay in Russia for further education or career purposes. It was also found that international students expect to obtain better student services and social events at HSE.

According to the results of the survey and the already existing infrastructure of resources available to international students, the paper suggested to improve marketing of HSE among the target audience in three directions, related to the communication, career guidance and expectation management. The advice on precise measures was provided with the explanation of effectiveness of the suggested actions and the description of their transformation in the future to assist growing international students' needs.

All in all, growing foreign student body is seen as an improvement of a university position in rankings. For instance, it is a general view that it allows for a more productive study process and greater knowledge and experience sharing among students and teachers. The results of this research focus on academic mobility in management programmes and offer opportunity to improve marketing of NRU HSE among potential international students. The given recommendations are expected to increase the popularity of the university among management candidates and persuade them to consider or even choose NRU HSE to study. Although this research has some limitations, which were mentioned in the paper, it is possible to encourage further research into the field to promote more faculties and even other Russian universities as a study destination.



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Appendixes

Appendix 1

International student survey (Spring 2020)

Thank you for your agreement to complete this survey. It has been circulated among international students studying at the Faculty of Business and Management at Higher School of Economics. This survey is designed to learn more about factors that influenced international students to choose this educational institution and program, and their experiences in Russia. Your answers will stay anonymous, as the information you provided will be generalized and will contribute to increasing inbound student mobility to NRU HSE. No one will contact you about your answers: a “group result” is what will be reported, and no one will have the ability to know what you said on any particular question unless you tell them.

Instructions:

Please ensure you read each question all the way through before answering. The survey should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

Keep the following in mind:

1. There are no right or wrong answers.

2. Respond honestly.

3. Do not overthink; your first reaction will produce the best results.

Thank you in advance!

Questions

1. What is your gender? *

1.1 Male

1.2 Female

2. What is your country of origin?

3. In what level of education are you currently enrolled at NRU HSE? *

3.1 Undergraduate (BSc)

3.2 Postgraduate (MSc)

4. What other universities did you consider to study abroad? (These may be located in Russia or elsewhere)

5. How many programs at NRU HSE did you consider? *

5.1 Only one programme

5.2 I considered several programmes

6. What other programs at NRU HSE did you also consider to apply to?

7. At what form of studies do you participate in NRU HSE? *

7.1 Programme taught entirely in English

7.2 Programme taught entirely in Russian (including programmes with few English-taught courses)

7.3 Several courses in English (as a part of exchange studies for 1-2 semesters)

8. Сhoose a statement you agree with most: *

8.1 I could have studied at a Russian taught programme, but chose the one in English

8.2 I considered only English taught programmes

9. If you study at HSE for more than 1 semester, what is your plan after the completion of your educational program? Please choose no more than 2 options.

9.1 To get a job in your own country

9.2 To get a job in Russia

9.3 To get a job somewhere else

9.4 To continue higher education in your own country

9.5 To continue higher education in Russia

9.6 To continue higher education somewhere else

10. How important were the following reasons for applying to study at NRU HSE? *

Scale: 1 (Not important) 2 3 4 5 (Very important)

10.1 The prestige of NRU HSE diplomas

10.2 Opportunity to stay in Russia for further education or career purposes

10.3 The cost of studying and NRU HSE and financial support it offers

10.4 I know someone who lives in Russia, and I wanted to be closer to them

10.5 Availability of wide range of English-taught programmes in management at the needed level of study

10.6 NRU HSE is a partner university of my place of study

10.7 Factors associated with the location of NRU HSE (city, proximity to my native country)

10.8 Developed student union and student societies

10.9 Quality and location of HSE accommodation

...