Changing Strategies in Student Recruitment among Selected TVE T Institutions in Machakos County, Kenya
Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to investigate the changing strategies in student recruitment among public middle-level institutions in Kenya, specifically the case of TVET institutions in Machakos County. The study was guided by the following objectives, to: (a) Establish the strategies adopted by the TVET institutions in marketing and recruiting students; (b) Determine the capacity of the TVET institutions in marketing and student recruitment ( c) Find out the extent of the area TVET institutions recruit students from, and ( d) Investigate other creative strategies used by the TVET in marketing and student recruitment. World over, a more knowledge-based economy is the norm; in that regard, there is a huge demand for the youth to join college for the acquisition of the desired skills. Therefore the colleges are scrambling for student recruitment in a very limited market. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect data from 15 respondents. The study made the following findings: TVET institutions in rural areas must aggressively adopt more effective and professional strategies for student recruitment. For example, hiring professional marketers, usage of websites for general information to the public, taking advantage of the social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Twitter to advertise their courses and colleges; branding themselves as a marketing strategy; adopting ICT to reach the youth for faster and wider coverage, and taking advantage of the vernacular FM radios for contextualized messages in the local communities. Finally, the study established that marketers have to be more creative, flexible, and innovative in their strategies, for example, using all existing avenues as marketing opportunities: sports day, festivals, and face to face contact with potential students. The study concluded that successful student recruitment requires aggressiveness, customer-focused and centrality, adoption of effective marketing strategies, and increased visibility in the society.
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