Marketing Strategies for Internationalization in China’s Higher Education: An Ally or Barrier for Sustainable Development?
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
This study investigates whether a commercialized strategy in the marketing of internationalized higher education helps or 16 hinders sustainable progress in higher education. Adopting a qualitative method, this paper examines the role of campaigning to attract international students to undertake higher education.
This is an up-to-date and important problem how to manage educational process in the era of globalization, also touching educational services. In the study the Autohrs tried to answer the following research questions:
RQ 1. How are the rationales being justified for the marketing strategies adopted?
RQ 2. Do institutions’ marketing strategies in attracting international students differ?
RQ 3. Can these strategies help or hinder a sustainable higher education system?
In my opinion, the questions were answered withe proper use of qualitative research methodology and the aim of the study was reached. The choice and analysis of the sources (83 publications) is proper, deep enough and up to date. Also the sample choice (30 pesrons) and the interviews were carried out properly and enabled to reach the aim.
I have only minor technical suggestions:
1) There should be no dots in the end of captions of the tables, there should be a source under each table (even if it is "own elaboration") and the tables shoukld be standardized and fit the text column.
2) There are some grammatical errors, like comas in wrong places - please check the paper for the linguistic correctness.
Author Response
To
Editor
Sustainability
Subject: Resubmission of the revised manuscript of SUSTAINABILITY-2749090
Dear Editor
We would like to thank you for reviewing our paper and sharing the referee reports. We would also like to sincerely thank them for their time and valuable comments on improving our study.
We have addressed all of their possible comments. These changes are reported in blue colour text. The following are detailed responses addressing each comment in addition to this generic comment. We hope that the revised version will address the concerns raised by the reviewers. This paper is fully edited by a native speaker (certificate attached).
We appreciate your time and consideration.
Thanking you,
Reviewer 1:
Comment 1: There should be no dots in the end of captions of the tables, there should be a source under each table (even if it is "own elaboration") and the tables should be standardized and fit the text column.
Response: Thank you so much. Following your suggestion, we have thoroughly reviewed the format of tables and figures. We have incorporated dots where necessary, and beneath each table and figure, we have included the notation "Note: Extracted by authors." Furthermore, we have meticulously revised all tables to ensure compliance with standardization.
We are grateful for your valuable time in reading our paper.
Comment 2: There are some grammatical errors, like comas in wrong places - please check the paper for the linguistic correctness.
Response: Thank you so much. Following your suggestion, we have addressed and corrected the grammatical errors as per your guidance.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
2023 012 18 Article review for MDPI
The article covered in this review is entitled as follows:
“Marketing Strategies for Internationalization in China’s Higher 2 Education: An Ally or Barrier for Sustainable Development? “.
The authors of the article suggest that the article aims to assess the trade of “whether a commercialized strategy in the marketing of internationalized higher education helps or hinders sustainable progress in higher education. “ Therefore, their research was designed to “examines the role of campaigning to attract international students to undertake higher education“ which impact the attractiveness of higher education in the PRC.
Indeed, over the past decade, China’s higher education system became the world’s largest in terms of student and faculty numbers. Recently, it became the second-largest producer of scientific papers. This results from the rapid expansion and transformation since the early 2000s, achieving massification and popularization goals. Now, China’s higher education policies aim to attract more than 500,000 international students, enhance the quality and reputation of its universities, and foster global collaboration and exchange. In addition, China seeks to promote its culture, values, and interests through its higher education diplomacy.
To achieve the objectives of the research project, they decided to address the following research questions.
RQ 1. How are the rationales being justified for the marketing strategies adopted?
RQ 2. Do institutions’ marketing strategies for attracting international students differ?
RQ 3. Can these strategies help or hinder a sustainable higher education system?
The project's researchers collected the primary data: “To gather primary data, a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews (FGIs) were organized involving three respondent groups: administrators, academic staff, and international students. While semi-structured interviews with administrators and academics of international students aim to extract their viewpoints on marketing strategies and their consequential effects on sustainable education, FGIs were employed to gather international students’ feedback on the existing practices in their recruitment, management, and prospects for improvement. Since not all universities offer masters or doctoral programs, all the academics and international students who were interviewed were at the undergraduate level.“
They also collected secondary data from various sources, including “State Council [as it] is tasked with creating national education guidelines and associated policies, [and from]. The Ministry of Education (MOE) [as it] is responsible for crafting policies and regulations for the HE system to adhere to. At the same time, the MOE and certain central ministries also hold administrative authority over some of China’s top universities, which are commonly known as central HEIs.”
In General, the article achieved the declared goals and objectives
The conclusion summarizes the study's findings and „response to challenges from the rapid increase in international students; China has implemented policies and regulations to enhance the quality of international students’ education. “
Recommendations:
I would like to suggest you revise the text:
1) Overall – revise the introduction in order to state goals and objectives and research approach clearly
2) Please rewrite the abstract by clearly defining the research objectives and goals and discussing the expected results
3) Please consider REWRITING the Conclusion in order to discuss the findings of the “semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews (FGIs).” In the current format, the conclusion discusses the outcome of the changes without clearly linking to the results of the study.
4) Please consider shortening the article by at least 10 %as in this format, the article is too long
Comments on the Quality of English Language
need some improvement
Author Response
To
Editor
Sustainability
Subject: Resubmission of the revised manuscript of SUSTAINABILITY-2749090
Dear Editor
We would like to thank you for reviewing our paper and sharing the referee reports. We would also like to sincerely thank them for their time and valuable comments on improving our study.
We have addressed all of their possible comments. These changes are reported in blue colour text. The following are detailed responses addressing each comment in addition to this generic comment. We hope that the revised version will address the concerns raised by the reviewers. This paper is fully edited by a native speaker (certificate attached).
We appreciate your time and consideration.
Thanking you,
Reviewer 2:
Comments:
Comment 1: Overall – revise the introduction in order to state goals and objectives and research approach clearly.
Response: Thank you so much. Following your suggestion, we have provided further clarification on the goals and objectives; please refer to Page 3 for detailed information.
Comment 2: Please rewrite the abstract by clearly defining the research objectives and goals and discussing the expected results.
Response: Thank you so much. Following your suggestion, we have defined the research objectives and goals, and clarified the expected results in Abstract. Kindly refer to Page 1 for detailed information.
Comment 3: Please consider REWRITING the Conclusion in order to discuss the findings of the “semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews (FGIs).” In the current format, the conclusion discusses the outcome of the changes without clearly linking to the results of the study.
Response: Thank you so much. Following your suggestion, we have rewritten part of the conclusion. Please see Page 22.
Comment 4: Please consider shortening the article by at least 10 % as in this format, the article is too long
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Response: Thank you so much. Following your suggestion, we have removed "3. Research Context" as we think that the research context has also been sufficiently clarified in the "4.2 Regions and Universities Selection" section. Additionally, we have eliminated redundant words, resulting in a reduction of approximately 10% in the total word count. To enhance readability for international readers, we enlisted the assistance of a native speaker to edit the paper, leading to linguistic improvements throughout the document.
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The paper with the title "Marketing Strategies for Internationalization in China’s Higher 2 Education: An Ally or Barrier for Sustainable Development?" is very interesting. It examines the role of campaigning to attract international students to undertake higher education. The flow is very good.
I have one comment that authors should review. Please fix the formatting of tables and figures according to journal's guidelines.
I hope that in the future, the authors will extend their research in other countries to gain a deeper understanding of this topic.
Author Response
To
Editor
Sustainability
Subject: Resubmission of the revised manuscript of SUSTAINABILITY-2749090
Dear Editor
We would like to thank you for reviewing our paper and sharing the referee reports. We would also like to sincerely thank them for their time and valuable comments on improving our study.
We have addressed all of their possible comments. These changes are reported in blue colour text. The following are detailed responses addressing each comment in addition to this generic comment. We hope that the revised version will address the concerns raised by the reviewers. This paper is fully edited by a native speaker (certificate attached).
We appreciate your time and consideration.
Thanking you,
Reviewer 3:
Comment 1: Please fix the formatting of tables and figures according to journal's guidelines.
I hope that in the future, the authors will extend their research in other countries to gain a deeper understanding of this topic.
Response: Thank you so much. Following your suggestion, we have reviewed the format of Sustainability and made corresponding revisions accordingly. We are sincerely appreciative of your valuable advice, and we plan to broaden the scope of our research in future endeavours.
