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Table of contents

LIST  OF ABBREVIATIONS.  6

LIST  OF FIGURES  7

1  INTRODUCTION.  9

1.1  BACKGROUND  9

1.2  PURPOSE OF THE THESIS  9

1.3  DELIMITATION.  10

1.4  COURSE OF ACTION  10

2  THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA.  12

2.1  STRUCTURE OF THE AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM  12

2.2  THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE SCHOOLS.  14

2.3  COMPARISON OF TUITION COSTS  16

2.4  ADDITIONAL AMENITIES OF AUSTRALIA.  20

2.5  INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.  21

3  RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA.  22

3.1  TRAINING AS “QUALIFIED EDUCATION AGENT  22

3.2  CONTRACTS WITH LANGUAGE COLLEGES  24

3.3  EXCURSION: MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE BRISBANE  25

3.4  PUBLISHING AN E-BOOK  26

3.5  PARTICIPATION IN A SEMINAR FOR EDUCATION AGENTS.  29

3.6  INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.  31

4  MARKETING PREPARATION  32

4.1  PLANNING THE MARKETING.  32

4.2  BASIC QUESTIONS OF MARKETING  34

4.3  DETERMINING AND MEASURING THE MARKET  38

4.3.1  Analysis 1: Germans visiting Australia for a longer term  40

4.3.1.1  Student visa holders  41

4.3.1.2  Workingholiday visa holders  42

4.3.2  Analysis 2: Germans learning English by language travelling  43

4.3.3  Analysis 3: Germans completing an education in Australia.  43

4.3.4  Analysis 4: Germans completing English courses in Australia  44

4.4  MARKET SEGMENTATION  44

4.4.1  Segmentation no 1: German Student visa enrolments in 2009  46

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4.4.2  Segmentation no. 2: Workingholiday visa holders  47

4.4.3  Segmentation no. 3: German language travellers  47

4.4.4  Analysis and mapping of market segments  48

4.4.5  Selecting a market segment.  49

4.4.6  Customer profile  50

4.4.7  Effects on the product mix  50

4.5  EXTERNAL INFLUENCES ON THE MARKETING  51

4.5.1  Competition analysis  52

4.5.2  PEST Analysis.  53

4.5.3  Market surveillance  54

4.6  INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.  56

5  DEVELOPMENT OF A MARKETING MIX.  57

5.1  PRODUCT.  57

5.1.1  Analysis of the products:  58

5.1.2  Individual problems of the products  59

5.1.3  Marketing and advertising intangible products.  60

5.1.3.1  Photographs  60

5.1.3.2  Brands  60

5.1.3.3  Advertising the brand: A Slogan.  62

5.2  PRICE.  62

5.2.1  Cost-oriented approach  63

5.2.2  Competition-oriented approach.  65

5.2.3  Bundle Pricing  66

5.2.4  Applied price approach  66

5.3  PLACE.  67

5.3.1  Logistic of the products  67

5.3.2  The distribution of the products.  68

5.3.3  Selective distribution policy.  69

5.4  PROMOTION.  70

5.4.1  Personal selling  70

5.4.2  Referral marketing.  71

5.4.3  Direct marketing.  72

5.4.3.1  Email signature  72

5.4.3.2  Business network: Xing  72

5.4.4  Public Relations.  73

5.4.4.1  Poster  73

5.4.4.2  e-book  73

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5.5  INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.  74

6  RESULTS, FUTURE APPROACHES AND CONCLUSION  75

6.1  RESULTS: THE MISSION OBJECTIVES  75

6.2  RESULTS: SPECIAL MARKETING OBJECTIVE  76

6.3  PROSPECTIVE MARKETING APPROACHES  77

6.3.1  Marketing-campaign for the e-book  77

6.3.2  Publication of the thesis.  77

6.3.3  Extending the geographical range: New Zealand  78

6.3.4  Excursion: Profit through commissions:  78

6.3.5  Own Website  79

6.3.6  Search Engine Marketing  79

6.4  INTERMEDIATE RESULTS.  79

7  CONCLUSION.  80

ATTACHMENTS   82

LIST  OF REFERENCES  117

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List of abbreviations

AUD Australian dollar

ELICOS English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students

epk Electronic press kit

EUR Euro

FDSV Fachverband Deutscher Sprachreise-Veranstalter e.V.

IH Brisbane International House Brisbane

n/a not applicable

PEST Political, Economical, Social, Technological.

PIER Professional International Education Resources

PhD Doctor of Philosophy

RTO Registered Training Organisation

VET Vocational and Educational Training

YTD Year to date

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List  of figures  

FIGURE  1 - THE AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM  

FIGURE  2 - ROLE OF ELICOS COLLEGES IN RELATION TO OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS  

FIGURE  3 - TOP 5 NATIONALITIES OF AUSTRALIA'S ENROLMENTS IN ALL SECTORS  

FIGURE  4 - NUMBER OF GERMAN STUDENTS IN ELICOS COURSES 2007 - 2009  

FIGURE  5 - PRICES FOR LANGUAGE COURSES IN LONDON  

FIGURE  6 - PRICES FOR LANGUAGE COURSES ON MALTA  

FIGURE  7 - PRICES FOR LANGUAGE COURSES IN AUSTRALIA.  

FIGURE  8 - COMPARISON OF TOTAL COSTS AND WEEKS  

FIGURE  9 - CONTENTS OF THE TRAINING AS EDUCATION AGENT  

FIGURE  10 - QUALIFIED EDUCATION AGENT COUNSELLORS IN GERMANY  

FIGURE  11 - AGREEMENT WITH INTERNATIONAL HOUSE BRISBANE  

FIGURE  12 - SLIDE OF THE AUTHOR'S MARKETING PRESENTATION FOR THE IH BRISBANE.  

FIGURE  13 - SEQUENCES OF THE IMPULSE STRATEGY.  

FIGURE  14 - MARKETING EMAIL FROM IH BRISBANE TO THE AUTHOR.  

FIGURE  15 - THE AUTHOR'S E-BOOK ON WWW.LUL.UCOM  

FIGURE  16 - DESCRIPTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS WORKSHOP 2010  

FIGURE  17 - AGENT PROFILE OF THE AUTHOR  

FIGURE  18 - PHOTOGRAPH OF THE AUTHOR AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SOUTHSIDE  

CHRISTIAN  COLLEGE.  

FIGURE  19 - VISIONS.  

FIGURE  20 - THE AUTHOR'S INTENTIONS FROM A SELF-ORIENTED POINT OF VIEW.  

FIGURE  21 - THE AUTHOR'S INTENTIONS FROM A MARKETING-ORIENTED POINT OF VIEW  

FIGURE  22 - THE PRODUCTS IN THREE DIMENSIONS  

FIGURE  23 - PERSONAL STRENGTH AND LIMITATIONS OF THE AUTHOR  

FIGURE  24 - QUESTIONS FOR A MARKET ANALYSIS.  

FIGURE  25 - ENROLMENTS AND COMMENCEMENTS OF GERMANS AT AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION  

INSTITUTIONS  FROM JANUARY 2007 TO MAY 2010  

FIGURE  26 - NUMBER OF GERMAN HOLDERS OF THE WORKINGHOLIDAY VISA DURING THE  

PROGRAM  YEAR 2008 - 2009.  

FIGURE  27 - AMOUNT OF GERMANS WHO DECIDED FOR ANY LANGUAGE HOLIDAY IN 2009.  

FIGURE  28 - POSSIBLE CRITERIA FOR MARKET SEGMENTATIONS  

FIGURE  29 - COMBINATION OF SEGMENTATION CRITERIA AND GERMAN STUDENT VISA  

ENROLMENTS  IN 2009.  

FIGURE  30 - COMBINATION OF SEGMENTATION CRITERIA AND GERMAN LANGUAGE TRAVELLERS  

2009.   

FIGURE  31 - COMPETITOR ANALYSIS  

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FIGURE  32 - PICTURE OF A SELF-CREATED MARKET SURVEILLANCE WITH GOOGLE.  

FIGURE  33 - PRODUCT ANALYSIS THROUGH CRITERIA  

FIGURE  34 - PHOTOGRAPH OF THE AUTHOR AND A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE HHH  

INTERNATIONAL  COLLEGE  

FIGURE  35 - LOGO OF INTERNATIONAL HOUSE BRISBANE  

FIGURE  36 - LOGO AS A REGISTERED EDUCATION AGENT FROM PIER.  

FIGURE  37 - PREPARATION SEMINAR FROM WWW.REISEBINE.DE.  

FIGURE  38 - EMAIL AS INSTRUMENT OF REFERRAL MARKETING.  

FIGURE  39 - EMAIL SIGNATURE AS A MARKETING TOOL.  

FIGURE  40 - CONTRACT WITH AA EDUCATION NETWORK  

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1 Introduction

The marketing of Australian educational services and the establishment of the author as an expert and broker of these services are the focus of this thesis. Therefore, a combination of marketing approaches will be used for the realisation. The following introduction explains the elements of this work in detail.

1.1 Background

A temporary stay abroad in 2008 brought the author to Australia. There he attended a language school and came in contact with the Australian education system. Through conversations with language teachers, he was encouraged to become familiar with the job of “Education Agent”. Back in Germany grew a desire to deal more deeply with the possibilities of Australian education. At the same time the author was told by friends and colleagues that they travel mostly to Great Britain or Malta in order to improve their English. The cost of such trips appeared very high. The author decided to execute a deeper research about this issue. Moreover, the question should be clarified if and when it pays to take language courses in Australia instead of Great Britain.

As the author assumes that a language course in Australia could compete with British courses (in terms of cost), a marketing focus was chosen. A second visit to Australia was completed in order to do the practical research. It was determined to produce a master’s thesis in English (corresponding to the topic of the work).

1.2 Purpose of the thesis

The following questions serve as motivation for this thesis:

Š Are Australian language courses an alternative to European offers (es- pecially offers from Great Britain)?

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Š Could marketing instruments support the author to sell Australian educational services in Germany?

The work is intended to show that language courses in Australia have at least the same value than courses in popular European destinations. In addition, it will be described what theoretical considerations are necessary for a proper marketing planning. The practical implementation of planned instruments will also be explained as well as results that were collected during the preparation time of this thesis.

1.3 Delimitation

The focus is on the marketing of Australian English courses in Germany and related products (like consultation, brochures etc.). Vacation and travel could be seen as connected topics. They are mentioned only very briefly and will not be discussed further. More educational opportunities than English courses are mentioned for reasons of completeness. They are not discussed. The marketing planning and the practical application of the instruments suggests a kind of business establishment. Business issues (such as the choice of legal form) for self-employment are not within the scope of this work. The selected marketing tools are founded on a small budget. The author runs the marketing approaches in addition to his part-time job in a financial institution.

1.4 Course of action

The following chapter describes the structure of the Australian education system. It highlights the role of language schools and shows when it is worthwhile for a German to attend a language course in Australia. It also deals with the general motivations to travel Australia.

Chapter 3 focuses on the qualifications of the author. The provision of services (such as a consultation or the booking of a language course) requires special

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knowledge about the Australian education sector. The existing qualifications are described.

The 4th Chapter deals extensively with the marketing plan. Basic aspects of marketing are highlighted. The author’s vision and mission objectives form the beginning. Then, market research will be conducted to select target customers. After that, a competition analysis follows and a market surveillance is developed to monitor external influences.

In Chapter 5, a detailed marketing mix is created. The mix is based on the known model of the 4 P (the McCarthy model; product, price, place, promotion).

Chapter 6 demonstrates achieved marketing success. Then it describes marketing approaches that are useful for future activities. The last chapter summarises this work and gives a conclusion. The appendix provides evidence for the mentioned sources. An interview with Vicky Parkinson (Director of Studies of an Australian language school) en- riches the end of this work.

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2 The education system in Australia

This chapter provides a general survey of the educational system in Australia. After this it deals with the significant role of language schools and demonstrates the increasing interest of Germans within this system. It continuous with a comparison of tuition fees of famous language travel destinations for Germans. This supports Australia’s attractiveness as an education location (a key factor of the services the author intents to develop). At the end it stresses people’s main motives to travel to Australia.

2.1 Structure of the Australian education system

The structure of the Australian education system is similar to the German system. It starts with a differentiated school system (Primary and Secondary School) and continues either with a vocational or an academic education. The highest achievable education level is the doctoral degree (Doctor of Philosophy [PhD]). The Pyramid below shows all steps of the vocational and academic education and gives a simple overview of the system in general:

Source: Own production (*ELICOS means English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas

Students).

Figure 1 highlights important steps within the current Australian education

system. It does not show every single detail ¹ (e.g. a Registered Training Organisation [RTO] can offer a bachelor programme and not every university offers a Diploma programme).

It is not necessary to complete every single step of education to achieve the

next step. For example, a student who successfully completed the 12 ^th grade of senior secondary school can directly start a bachelor course at university. It is

¹ The attachment contains a detailed and official overview of the Australian education system

(www.aei.gov.au: Attachment 1)

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also possible to start a doctorate programme (PhD) after a bachelor degree (provided that the final marks are excellent).

2.2 The role of language schools

A database for Education Agents (www.pieronline.org: Attachment 2) explains that English language training usually takes place in dedicated colleges or centres. These English language colleges are solely focused on the needs of international students. This is in contrast to other educational sectors where the ma-jority of students are Australian rather than international. Language schools are part of the RTO sector (Registered Training Organisation) and are mentioned in figure 1 as ELICOS colleges (English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students). The following figure shows that ELICOS is as an important part within the education sector.

Figure 2 - Role of ELICOS colleges in relation to other educational institutions

Source: Australian Government 2010 (https://aei.gov.au: Attachment 3)

With 38,675 enrolments in January 2010, ELICOS is the third biggest sector after “Higher Education” with 126,764 enrolments at universities or colleges and 122,142 enrolments at VET colleges (Vocational and Educational Training). The total number of overseas ELICOS students in 2009 was 1,095,758 (https://aei.gov.au: Attachment 2). This amount clearly highlights the impor-

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tance of the sector and education in general (considering that Australia has a population of only 21m people [www.dfat.gov: Attachment 4]).

Figure 3 - Top 5 nationalities of Australia's enrolments in all sectors

Source: Australian Government 2010 (https://aei.gov.au: Attachment 3)

The figure above shows the five largest customers within the ELICOS sector. Focussed are only the months January 2009 and January 2010. Remarkable amounts have students from China and India.

Throughout 2009, an amount of 2,079 students from Germany were enrolled. In 2008 there were 1,812, compared to 1,744 in 2007.

Figure 4 - Number of German students in ELICOS courses 2007 - 2009

Source: Own creation, data based upon: Australian Government 2010: 2010 Pivot Tables.

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The slight rise of 3.9% from 2007 to 2008 was followed by a remarkable increase of 14.7% from 2008 to 2009. The trend suggests that improving English skills in Australia becomes more and more attractive to Germans.

2.3 Comparison of tuition costs

This paragraph will prove the attractiveness of language courses in Australia. The German Association of Language Travel Providers (Fachverband Deutscher Sprachreise-Veranstalter e.V. [www.fdsv.de: Attachment 5]) published a study which identifies:

Š 160,000 German language travellers every year. The majority (47.47%) choose Great Britain as target country. The second largest group (18.65%) decide to go to Malta. Together, these 66.12% show that these destinations are the most relevant targets for German language travellers. Data was gathered from multiple sources to research the main costs for language courses in Great Britain and Malta as well as in Australia. The following subparagraphs present the comparison. 2.3.1 Prices for language courses in Great Britain

The following figure presents detailed costs for 3 language courses from dif- ferent providers in Great Britain (London):

Source: Own creation, data based upon: Column 2: www.team-sprachreisen.de: Attachment 6.

Column 3: www.cdc.de: Attachment 7. Column 4: www.studiosus.com: Attachment 8. Basis

for the price of a return flight: www.lufthansa.de: Attachment 9 (prices can vary). Prices are

rounded to the nearest Euro amount.

Although there are differences between single prices (e.g. accommodation prices), the hourly rate for education is similar. Also, the overall prices are not entirely different. The average price of all 3 offers comes to 2,590.00 EUR (for 4 weeks).

2.3.2 Prices for language courses on Malta

The next figure presents detailed costs for 3 similar language courses on Malta (different cities):

Source: Own creation, data based upon: Column 2: www.eurosprachreisen.de: Attachment 10.

Column 3: www.alfa-sprachreisen.de: Attachment 11. Column 4: www.eurocentres.com: At-

tachment 12. Basis for the price of a return flight: www.idealo.de: Attachment 13 (prices can

^{vary). Prices are rounded to the nearest Euro amount.} Malta has higher prices for the return flight and accommodation. The actual hours of education per week are less than in Great Britain. The total amount of all offers is comparable. The average price (2,642.33 EUR) is also similar to the average price of the London offers. 2.3.3 Prices for language courses in Australia

Costs for 3 English courses in Australia were collected. The Prices are trans- lated to Euro (EUR).

Source: Own creation, data based upon: Column 2: www.hhh.edu.au: Attachment 14. Column

3: www.sce.edu.au: Attachment 15. Column 4: www.clcaustralia.com: Attachment 16. Basis

for the price of a return flight: www.hm-touristik.de: Attachment 17 (prices can vary). Prices

are rounded to the nearest Euro amount. The original prices were denominated in Australian

^{dollars and were translated at 1.65 AUD to 1.00 EUR.} The price for a return flight from Germany to Australia is high (1,000.00 EUR). Therefore, English courses from 1 to 3 weeks are very costly (compared to Great Britain and Malta). But due to lower tuition fees and accommodation cost, the price for a four week education seems to be competitive in relation to both other locations. 2.3.4 Comparison of average prices

The diagram below shows the 3 collected average total prices. After approximately 4 weeks, Australia’s price line cuts the others. It means that language courses in Australia start to become an attractive alternative to courses in Great Britain or Malta (after a period of 4 weeks).

^{Source: Own calculation based on average prices of total costs in all three countries.} An extension of all lines would indicate that longer-lasting English courses in Australia (more than 4 weeks) would be cheaper than courses in Great Britain or Malta. Besides those monetary facts, Australia provides additional reasons to be visited.

2.4 Additional amenities of Australia

Beside the fact that Australia is an Anglophone country and therefore a reasonable place for English-learners, it is a big attraction for travellers from Europe and especially Germany (www.jugendreisenews.de: Attachment 18). Possible explanations for this are the warm climate, the connection to the ocean and the different mentality and hospitality. Those circumstances support a positive image for Australia. Many tourists decide to travel within Australia to visit different cities and explore more of the unique nature ² .

² For example there are animals like kangaroos, crocodiles and koalas and natural phenomena

like the red soil and Uluru (also known as “Ayers Rock”). These conditions are nowhere else to

see.

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The route to Australia involves different flights which last around 24 hours altogether. The efforts for travellers are therefore much higher if the flying time is compared with a holiday trip within Europe. On the first hand, this could be seen as a disadvantage for Australia. On the other hand, the enormous efforts could be seen as a testimony of a high motivation that drives the people who decided to do such a trip.

2.5 Intermediate results

English Language courses in Australia start to become an attractive alternative after a period of 4 weeks. Longer-lasting English courses (more than 4 weeks) would be cheaper than courses in Great Britain or Malta. People have to invest high efforts to reach Australia. Figure 4 showed that more and more people are willing to do that. There has to be a high motivation to overcome the efforts. This could be another sign of a strong attractiveness.

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3 Research in Australia

This chapter is intended to show that the author has the necessary training and the contacts to market Australian services. 3.1 Training as “Qualified Education Agent”

The author completed a training as a “Qualified Education Agent“. This training was a web based education by PIER (Professional International Education Resources; www.pieronline.org: Attachment 19).

Source: PIER (www.pieronline.org: Attachment 20)

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The graphic above shows 4 chapters with different paragraphs. Australia's his-tory (A1.0 - Australia) was also a part of the training as well as ethical principles (Section D - Ethics [ETH]). The main parts are:

Š Understanding the Australian education system. Š Understanding regulations and legislation, especially visa legislation. Š Understanding and using statistical data for marketing. The training was designed for six weeks self tutoring. Since finishing it successfully, the author is mentioned on PIER’s website as a Qualified Education Agent:

Source: PIER (www.pieronline.org: Attachment 21)

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3.2 Contracts with language colleges

After the training as Education Agent, the author contacted several language colleges in Australia. An agreement with a language college in Brisbane was achieved. The following figure shows an excerpt of this agreement:

Source: Personal contract between the author and International House Brisbane (attachment

22).

The excerpt of the contract declares a commission of 25% of tuition fees. There are contacts to more language schools all over Australia (e.g. the HHH Interna- tional College, see paragraph 5.1.3.1).