Postgraduate recruitment strategies of Malaysian public higher education institutions to achieve an innovative hub

• Main Authors: Othman, Siti Norezam, Md Isa, Filzah, Ahmdon, Muhd Afiq Syazwan, Sharaf, Muhammed Abdullah
• Format: Article
• Published: Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. 2019
• Subjects: LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/26586/; http://doi.org/10.1504/IJMIE.2019.102583
• Institution: Universiti Utara Malaysia

Recruitment strategies are crucial for the success of attracting students, which influences the country's education standards and quality. To understand the recruitment strategies applied in the Malaysian public universities, a focus group discussion that involved 19 participants from three different groups, that is (nine) students, (five) universities' representatives and (five) policymakers, was employed. The objective of this paper is to understand the recruitment strategies used to attract students. This paper was conducted using a qualitative method to determine current recruitment strategies adopted by the higher education institutions and to identify issues and challenges regarding postgraduate students' recruitment faced by the local and public universities. The findings revealed that universities use (1) non-active recruitment strategies and (2) passive recruitment strategies. The results disclosed that postgraduate students are recruited mostly through non-active recruitment strategies. Remarkably, respondents considered Malaysian' public universities not ready to become an innovation hub due to several foundations.