Samenvatting

The following research deals with the topic of student recruitment for the BA European Studies programme by the leading European universities offering this programme. The individual results of each benchmarking process can be located within each section of the report, and together formed the final ranking system of universities in regards to the universities' factors influencing student recruitment. The 10 benchmarked universities were: University of Amsterdam, University of Twente, University of Oslo, University Babes-Bolyai, Universität Osnabrück, University of Southern Denmark, University of Essex, King's College London, University of Birmingham and Maastricht University. Each section of the report was viewed as a category for individual benchmarking, and the most significant findings were as following:
• The findings of the Basic Information Section were that the universities are mostly similar in their focus on languages, the knowledge of the public sector and economics in their BA European Studies curriculum. The universities were also similar in their teaching methodologies which only differ in certain cases by minor differences, such as at the University of Southern Denmark, which places smaller emphasis on attendance and larger emphasis on individual self-study.
• The section of Admission Requirements focused on practical benchmarking of the admission requirements of each university. The results of this benchmarking proved that the mainland universities largely shared their admission requirements, with the British universities requesting more of their potential students - specifically in terms of grades. The results of this section were inconclusive towards the final ranking of the universities.
• The section of Promotional Activities and events organised by the universities, in which the British universities - with University of Birmingham offering the most diverse selection of activities - proved to be the most diverse in terms of the promotional event options for students, as well as the way they inform the students of these options.
• The section of Money Matters dealt with the benchmarking of tuition fees and scholarship options offered by the respective universities, as well as analysing the living costs that students need to expect from the various locations. In this section the University of Oslo was the leader with the non-existent tuition fees, with British universities faring the worst in this category.
• The section of Websites focused on the benchmarking of the websites of each university. This was carried out in a lengthy comparative analysis, which can be found in the Appendix 1.1. The results of this benchmarking concluded in the ranking of each website in 4 main categories, with the ranking being subjective to a critical evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of each. The 4 categories, or aspects, were targeted at what a potential international student might look for on a website regarding his/her choice of BA European Studies. In this section, each university had its weaker and stronger points, but the websites of the British universities proved to be the most superior, with the websites of the Dutch universities being successful as well.
• The last of the benchmarking s of individual sections was the comparative analysis of the universal ranking system for higher education institutions, in which Maastricht University holds the fifth place, placing slightly ahead of the University of Twente.
The benchmarking process was concluded in chapter XI with the final overall ranking of the universities' factors influencing student recruitment. The 4 main factors influencing the recruitment activities were established as Promotional activities, Tuition fees, Websites and Rankings. Further factors which influenced the final ranks were the added-value factors of scholarships and campus accommodation availability. The three best ranked universities were the British universities, with King's College London being awarded the 1st place . Maastricht University was ranked as the 4th best university in terms of its recruitment activities.
The main conclusions of the benchmarking were the following. The teaching methodology of the BA European Studies is largely the same across all benchmarked universities, with only minor differences such as required school attendance or division of the types of classes per modules. The admission criteria were the same for all universities, with the British universities placing a bigger emphasis on the weight of grades on the potential applicants' high school diplomas. Promotional activities were largely shared by the universities', with few innovative activities such as Accommodation tour or Virtual tour of the campus being offered by the British universities only. Scholarships owned and distributed directly by the universities were in the case of each university offered mostly to Master's students only, with University Babes-Bolyai and the British universities being the only exception to this rule. The best ranks for websites were awarded to the British universities, with Maastricht University being awarded the 4th place. The first place was awarded to King's College London.
The main recommendations for the Marketing department of Maastricht University were concerning possible improvements to the website, such as adding more statistics and implementing new functions. As for specific recruitment activities, the main recommendation was to implement the Accommodation tour, currently employed by University of Birmingham.