Spotlight on Asia

As media headlines herald news of major economic downturns and slow recoveries in the West, more and more organisations have been looking towards the East and focusing on getting a foothold in the Asian marketplace.  But what does it take to be successful? 

The world’s largest continent is made up of 47 countries, with approximately 60% of the world’s population of diverse ethnic groups, speaking different languages and dialects, practicing various religions all woven into a myriad of cultures.  Worldwide study and career opportunities are becoming equally as diverse and Richmond Associates has been looking at how this impacts our clients. 

According to data collected by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) since 2003, the number of applications from overseas students for places at UK-based universities has been steadily increasing.  In particular, applications from students in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Pakistan and India have been rising and universities have been responding to the growing interest.

As more education institutions are competing on an increasingly global stage, these organisations have found that strategic internationalisation is becoming ever more important.  More funds are being invested in Asian higher education institutions to increase their capacity and capability, to attract more applicants from their local and regional markets.  Education institutions are having to look beyond their home shores, be it through building partnerships with other institutions, setting up international campuses, increasing student recruitment activity outside of their home country or reaching out to overseas alumni networks.

The University of Nottingham opened two overseas campuses - Semenyih, Malaysia in 2000 and Ningbo, China in 2005 - to cater to the interest in the University from students overseas.  The Malaysian government had encouraged the opening of new private education institutions and for existing overseas universities to set up branch campuses in Malaysia.  For higher education institutions, this opened the door for successful twinning programmes to operate, either with other universities or with another campus site.  From Australia, Monash University, Curtin University of Technology and Swinburne University of Technology all have campuses in Malaysia since 1998, 1999 and 2000 respectively. 

In the education sector, these kinds of successful partnerships, and ‘twinning’ with overseas institutions, provide exchange programmes and research collaboration opportunities for students and lecturers, which can help to broaden and vary the curriculum.  The enhanced student experience and visibility of the institution can then help to attract applications from overseas students.  This in turn geographically widens the pool of alumni that the institution can reach out to, to retain their support and engagement.  Institutions also face the challenge of raising funds from this extended pool of potential supporters, especially when considering numerous different cultural nuances and limited resources to manage these strategically important relationships from the UK.  Some universities have opened offices in the Asia Pacific region to represent them as required – student recruitment, alumni events and/or fundraising, whilst others are determining how much relationship building and management can be handled from the UK.  As education is highly valued and respected in Asian society and culture, the case is somewhat already made for universities and schools.  Cultural institutions, on the other hand, are finding it challenging to establish a case for support with potential donors.  Development professionals are also finding that the emphasis on giving within the family and to religious causes is still strong in Asia, and therefore are finding it challenging to compete for funds for educational and cultural causes.  As a result of this, the focus of their work and majority of time taken, is directed at connecting and build relationships with their potential donors or key influencers.     

Recently, we asked a number of senior development professionals from the UK who have either worked in or have interests in the Asian market to share their experiences with us.  Most agreed that a consistent approach and regular visits to their Asian constituency was the most effective method of building an affinity with the local donor base, and therefore increasing the donor’s motivation to give.  Diaspora giving is also high in Asia; universities in the region are targeting wealthy Chinese, Korean, Indian and Japanese prospects overseas, to support these institutions regardless of whether the donor is an alumnus or not.  It was also noted that some high-profile Asian donors have supported multiple institutions around the world which indicated that, in these cases, the donors had not necessarily felt an affinity with a particular institution, but rather more to the cases they were asked to support.  Some of the development professionals recommended having the right local representative on the ground – someone able to maintain the consistency of the institution’s relationships with these donors, and able to open doors to generational networks to advance the institution’s reach. 

It was clear, and was the one thing that everyone agreed on, that relationships with potential supporters in Asia take a long time to develop, and institutions have to make a long term commitment in order to see a return on the investment of time and resources.  Richmond Associates will continue to update you with trends and sector news as we learn more about advancement in the Asia-Pacific region.


Article written by Sonja Dunphy, Practice Manager at Richmond Associates.