The best communication tools to reach students

3IBL2, HES - University of Applied Sciences Research Skills and Techniques

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION. 2-3 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANISATION.. 3-4 3. COMMUNICATION (TOOLS)....................... 4-8 4. FIELD RESEARCH.. 4. 1 RESEARCH METHOLOGY......................................................................................................................... 4.2 RESEARCH RESULTS ............................................................................................................................... 5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................... 6. APPENDIXES ................................................................................................................................

1. Introduction
Nowadays internships are immense important for students to upgrade their Curriculum vitae, to grow professionally and having the possibility that the internship turns into a permanent position. Also businesses internships are the key in todays economy, companies are relying increasingly on interns to shore up the spaces where full-time jobs have been cut. 1 2 The HES, School of Economics and Business, is the business school of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. It is one of the largest institutes for higher professional education in The Netherlands with around 10,000 students. During my research it was found that for students going on an internship it is of highly importance that they are well informed to find the appropriate internship. Therefore, communication with the Placement office international at the HES and the students is mainly important. Often this communication process lacks clarity, completeness and appropriateness of level of detail. Failures to communicate are a complex issue with multiple causes tend to lead to unnecessary problems such as confusion, frustration and is time consuming (see research results). Miscommunication or a lack of communication is affecting students' capacities for finding a placement. Therefore, the aim of this research is to improve the communication between the International career centre of the HES and its students regarding internships by using the most effective communication tools. The main question to be answered is: Which communication tools should the Placement office international use to improve communication with students regarding internships? In order to answer the main question, sub questions were set up: How is the communication structure and what communication tools are currently used at the international department? What are the current problems and possible solutions according to students and personnel What communication tools are the most frequently used by students? What information regarding the internship do students want to know and through which communication tool do they prefer to be provided of this information? Which social media communication tools are mainly used by the international office and students?

1 2

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/worklife/04/14/cb.why.internships.important/index.html http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/college-internships

2. Description of the organization

The HES School of Economics and Business is the business school of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA) established in 1867 and is one of the largest institutes for higher education in the Netherlands. It is situated in Amsterdam. The HES employs around 600 and has productive contacts with the business world. HvA offers the HvA students its knowledge and tries to continuously renew and expand that knowledge via lectures and knowledge platforms in the Netherlands and abroad. HVA helps students grow into independent professionals by internships and assigning research projects. The HVA also has a close relationship with the University of Amsterdam which creates benefits in the areas of education and research and this close collaboration increases efficiency through knowledge exchange. Specially designed international programmes taught in English attract yearly students from all over Europe, USA, Canada, Mexico, Africa, Australia and Asia to complete their international business studies. All programmes are designed to meet the Dutch standard in Higher Professional Education (HBO). The School of Economics and Business is recognized by the HBO Council and the Minister of Education of the Netherlands, and is also recognised by a wide variety of international partners.3

International placement office Like the HES, each of the seven schools of the HvA has an International Office. The International Office helps incoming international students to plan their stay in the Netherlands as well as outgoing students to plan their exchange or abroad. Before the research I was found that within the HES there are several international departments: International department, International office, bureau stage en afstuderen and the international placement office. It was quite complicated and confusing to identify the difference and purposes of those departments, and after the interviews with the students it was found that they also have problems to know where to go with questions about their internship. On internet it was found that the international office is for exchange students. International offices attendants can answer students questions about living in the Netherlands and studying at the HvA/HES but they also arrange paper work between students and the international institutions. However, during the research I found out that this department is not responsible for internships. 4 Through the interviews (see research) it became clear that the International placement office is the department that guides students from international studies at the HES to find an international internship. It is the students task to find a placement but the International placement attendants are there to help students with questions, to give advice, arrange the necessary paperwork and to evaluate internships reports.
3 4

http://www.international.hva.nl/schools/schools/school-economics-and-management http://www.international.hva.nl/study/international-offices

3. Communication(tools)
I did a desk research on communication and communicant tools to have a better understanding of the importance of good communication and to know which communication tools are available and which are adequate to reach students. Communication can be divided in external communication and internal communication. Internal communication involves communication that exists within a company which includes: communication between employees, communication between management and communication between management and its employees, whereas, external communication involves communication from the company to the outside. It is about exchanging information and messages between an organization and other organizations, groups, or individuals outside its formal structure. This can be communication between an organization and customers, suppliers, channel partners, media, government, general public. 5 Communication between the International office and the students is considered as external communication. However, I chose to focus on both internal and external communication because I found information about internal communication relevant to my research as well since you can see the International office as the management informing its employees (students) about what tasks they need to do and to provide the students with recommendations and feedback. The importance of good communication In today's business environment, corporate identity and corporate communications, when viewed and managed from a strategic perspective, can provide many organizations with a distinct competitive advantage (Citation: John M.T. Balmer, Edmund R. Gray, (2000) "Corporate identity and corporate communications: creating a competitive advantage",). Profit organizations are just as, if not more committed than non-profit organizations, to ensuring that the mission and objectives set forth are carried out. However, communication is not what it used to be, the new global economic environment, the far-reaching changes in the mass media and the development of technology, internet and social media are just some of the factors directly affecting communication. Since students are quick adapting to the fast growing environment and especially the fast growing internet technology, programs and social media, it is important for the International placement office to stay up-to-dated to reach students in the most effective and efficient way. 6

5 6

http://tutor2u.net/business/gcse/people_communication_introduction.htm http://issuu.com/revistalatinadecomunicacion/docs/rlcs_art890en

The five most efficient and effective communication tools to reach students and its advantages and disadvantages 1. Face to face communication Face to face communication is the most intense and highest quality way of communicating as it allows you to see a persons body language, expression, tone of voice and observe his/her reactions. The main benefit is that in this way you can listen carefully to the other person and you have immediate interaction. This communication tool is of high importance for the International placement office since it is fundamental to know the students wishes, about where they would like to do their internship and what kind of internship they are looking for. It is important to use the face to face tool because not one students situation is the same as another students situation and in this way the office attendant can equip the student with the adequate information and recommendations. However, it takes a lot of time and effort to arrange an appointment, transport time and the actual time you spend together. At the same time, it compensates because students will have a lot of questions and during a face to face conversation, which is direct interaction, students and International placement office attendants get direct answers on all the questions. Imagine doing all this by email, sending many questions back and forward to understand the students situation, while you could do it in a ten-minute conversation. 2. E-mail Email is a popular communication tool, which is commonly used among students to reach teachers or HES management, because it is fast, cheap and easy to explain yourself in written words (see research). For the International placement office this could and is currently used to answer quick, simple questions that students have, but also to inform students about general information such as information sessions. However, the International placement office should take care with this communication tool as it does not eliminate the need for face to face communication, especially for sensitive subjects, performance reviews or bad news. Information such as news about approval or non-approval on a students placement company should be discussed face to face, as well as internship reports that are not sufficient graded because both situations need further explanation. An in-person meeting or a telephone or video conference (for example via Skype when students are abroad) will allow the kind of immediate interaction that prevents a problem from becoming even more serious and emotionally charged. 7 3. Information session An Information Session could be used in the form of a presentation given by an attendant of the International placement office to provide students with details about the various options for internships, the requirements for the placement companies and support offered by the HES. The benefits of an
7

http://rps.hva.nl:2488/docview/231414698/fulltextPDF/135E818BBEC21F57E0D/26?accountid=130632

Information Session are varied One of the advantages of information sessions is that it saves time. That may be hard to believe in a culture where people have come to think of meetings as a waste of time. An effective meeting or information session, however, is just the opposite. Just imagine how long it would take to get a group of, say, 30 students to inform about general information they need to know for their internship and resolve conflict or confusion if you had to approach each one separately. As wonderful as email is, it isn't a substitute for face-time when face-time is needed. 8 More benefits of an information session: Alignment: Rather than students spending hours reading through email chains and finding information on intranet and clarifying meaning, information sessions and meetings are often the most effective means to ensure alignment. Socializing: The brief socializing before or after the defined meeting or information session time can be an important factor in student engagement: students can share their experience and maybe even give each other advice. Awareness: Issues that are not formally relayed in written communications have a tendency be uncovered during meetings/information sessions. The back-and-forth dialogue may create awareness to risks and issues otherwise not defined. For example the International placement attendant can notice certain information that students want to know, or problems students run into during their search. Development: Professional development often occurs in meetings and information sessions, as students are challenged to speak up to the presenter and class mates to develop communication skills, character and quick thinking. Direct interaction: Students have the possibility to ask questions, these question could be helpful for other students as well, which decrease the questions via email to the attendant after worth. 9 A disadvantage of information session or meeting is that there is a possibility of information overload in a meeting/information session if there are items discussed that students already read on intranet, in the internship manual or heard by fellow students. Another problem is unnecessary repetition of old information from previous meetings/information sessions which makes meetings pointless. The nice thing about a meeting/information session is that every member sees the person they are interacting with. However, not every student is participative in meetings/information sessions because they think it is a waste of time and they might prefer information online so they can decide when they have time to read it and can read it back whenever they need to know something or when they forgot certain points. 10

8 9

http://www.ehow.com/list_6531505_benefits-effective-meetings.html http://modernservantleader.com/servant-leadership/5-tips-for-great-meetings-and-the-hidden-benefits/ 10 http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/meeting-management/disadvantages-of-meetings.html

4. Online communication tools The last years the need for cheap, easy, quick and flexible communication tools has grown, as more students work from distant or different locations. The types of experiences made possible by online communication tools give not only professionals benefits but it is also very useful for students. It gives students opportunities to learn in non-traditional ways. Debate, dialog, demonstration, conversation, and other means for exploring the many sides of a topic, such as internship, are all natural ways to interact using online tools. Online communication tools may be direct interaction or not; based in text, audio or video; and enable one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many communications. Many may be used either from a computer or an Internet-enabled mobile phone, and some can be used from almost any mobile phone. 11 Using online tools to facilitate writing, collaboration, and discussion requires attention to the planning and structure of these activities in order for them to be successful. In addition, it is important to match the proper tool to these online activities. It is important that the International placement office identifies the necessary information students need and what online communication tool suits the best to that certain information. There are two online communication tools; asynchronous tools and synchronous tools. Asynchronous tools are the ones with no direct interaction, if a post is read and replied later, such as the general information the International placement department already has posted for students on Intranet. The most used asynchronous tool is e-mail, which I already mentioned before but others are bulletin boards, newsgroups, blogs and wikis. It can support several strategies such as; cooperative learning, shared tasks, peer review and comment, student led discussions and inquiry/problem based learning through using online discussion tools. Synchronous tools are tools that have direct interaction with one and other. It has become very popular over the past six years. For students to interact with faculty, chat tools are common used. It can be helpful to answer fast the questions students have, and it is easier for students to approach an International placement attendant through a chat because of the direct interaction. The tools can be created for existing groups or for example for classes. Chat forums can also be set up for students to be able to ask other students for online help or assistant. The disadvantages for these online tools are that it requires time for both students and employees of the International placement office to get used to the different systems. Besides, it needs to be kept up-

11

http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-2009/chapters/online-communication-tools/

to-dated at all times since the internet is a fast changing environment. 12

5. Social media Social media is the act of creating and posting content in the following environments; online, mobile or virtual. The words that best describes social media are; connecting, interacting, speaking, listening, collaborating, building, information sharing and learning. The success behind social media is creating easily a giant network with those that you can identify as friends or followers and the possibility of the content or information you want to share, thereby making it the act of being social online. Social media is also a medium, a communication tool; it is very possible to foster an exchange of information a give and take. The ease and speed with which social media enables individuals to create and distribute content make it one of the most powerful mediums of our time. Social media has substantially changed the way organizations, communities, and individuals communicate it is no longer only the process in which we consume but up and down communication. The International department could use this communication tool such as: Twitter, Facebook, Hyves to post the newest updates regarding internships, which could include country information, for example if a country gets negative travel advice, or when a country is discouraged due to political issues or high unemployment rates. As well it could be used for student interaction where students can find each other to share experience or give each other advice. The newest vacancies could be posted on the social media pages of the International placement office as well, in this way students could find immediately the newest vacancies. A specific Facebook communication tool that I would like to mention is BranchOut. BranchOut is a Facebook application designed for finding jobs, networking professionally, and recruiting employees. In this way companies can find the HES and post available vacancies on the HES Facebook page. The disadvantage of social media are that it is time consuming since it needs to stay up-dated to maintain your network and it takes a while to create a big network and awareness among students about the possibilities social media could have for professional objectives. Moreover, not all students might be positive about connecting through social media with their institute, worrying about their privacy. 13 Quality has its price. There are benefits and costs to all these communication tools. It is important to weight carefully both the benefit and the cost as you plan how you will employ all the available communication tools. Effective communication results in shared understanding of whats most important.

12 13

http://www.cites.illinois.edu/reference/pedagogy/communication/communication4.html Book: Perspectives on Social Media Marketing by B. Bonin Bough and Stephanie Agresta (2011) ISBN:9781435456525

Book; Becoming a Resonant Leader by Goleman and Boyatzis (2008, p. 138) provide six social qualities that exist within communication and what communication tool best can be used in several situations:

The Goleman and Boyatzis Social Qualities Imperatives With Best Communication Channel
1. Empathy

Knowing what motivates other people, even those from different backgrounds and having sensitivity to others needs. So for the International placement office to know what motivates students to search for an internship in a certain country or area, and to find out their needs, it should use face to face communication. Listening attentively, thinking about how others might feel, and being attuned with the moods of others. To get a clear picture of the situation where the students are in and to find their fears, doubts or uncertainties, the International placement should use face to face communication. Appreciating the culture and values of the department or organization and understanding the social networks. For the student to understand the HES culture, values and rules and especially the projects or improvements that 9

Use a Face-to-Face Channel.

2. Atonement

Use a Face-to-Face Channel

3. Organizational awareness

Use newsletters, flyers, and emails

4. Influence

the International placement department currently is working on, the International placement office should use newsletters or emails. This is also a good way to inform the students about the new social networks the department is using. Having the ability to persuade others by engaging them in discussions and appealing to their self-interests or gaining the support of key people For the International placement office to get the students to interact directly and to ask questions which answers on it might be interesting for other students as well, as well as sharing their experience. The International placement office should use information sessions. Investing time and energy in coaching, mentoring, and developing the skills of others and providing feedback that is helpful to their professional development. For the International department it is important to use face to face communication to give students recommendations on the progress of the search for an internship and to provide feedback after their internship on their internship report for 10

Use Small Groups, Meetings/information sessions and the Telephone.

5. Developing others

Use a Face-to-Face Channel.

6. Inspiration

professional development. Articulating a compelling vision to build group pride, foster a positive emotional tone, bringing out the best in people, soliciting input from everyone on the team, supporting all team members, and encouraging cooperation. To ensure that the mission and objectives set forth are carried out by the students in an effective and efficient way and to ensure encouraging cooperation of the International placement office, the International placement office should use all above mentioned channels to reach students.

Use all channels.

14

14

Book; Becoming a Resonant Leader by Goleman and Boyatzis (2008, p. 138) 11

4 Field research
4.1 Research methodology
In order to answer the secondary questions and to solve the research problem, there is a general strategy needed with an overall structure for the procedures. There has to be a description of how the information is conducted, and which methods to use. Firstly, there had to be thought of a problem. Since I am searching for an internship placement for next semester myself, I found that we were not informed well about our placement what left me with a lot of questions and insecurities. Therefore, I conducted the research problem to find out which communication tools the Placement office international could use or improve the communication with the students regarding internships. Secondly, through desk research secondary data is collected about internal and external communication and data about communication tools. A lot of questions arose, and out of this I made the sub questions. To answer the secondary questions, qualitative and quantitative research is used. Qualitative research is conducted at the HES through two interviews: The first one with Mr Bos, the Interim Placement Coordinator for students of international studies at the HES; and another interview with Mr van Louvezijn the internship coordinator for Dutch studies at the HES. Although the research is about the communication tools to reach the students of the international studies at the HES regarding internship, I have chosen to interview the coordinator of the Dutch studies as well to see how they reach students and to find out if their approach is effective. Both interviews were meant to get more depth insight in the communication system of the internship offices and to find out what communication tools are used, but also to find out their opinion about the current system and communication tools, if they are satisfied with the results, and if not, what they suggest to improve and which communication tools they think would be the most effective ones. Furthermore, I conducted a questionaire for students of the international studies at the HES who are supposed to start their internship next school year, to find out their opinion about the way that the internship department provide them of information and also to find out what communication tools they currently use the most and why they choose for those communication tools. However, during the interviews with the Placement coordinators for the international studies and the Dutch studies, it was found that students from the International studies have not or barely been informed about their internship yet because of reorganisation. Therefore, after I had interviewed 25 students, I have chosen to not continue the quantitative research, which was nevertheless very difficult to get 100 students of 12

an international study at the HES to fill in the questionaire that I had conducted. In addition, I conducted a focus group of students because I found out that indepth interviews with a focus group would give me more accurate information on what communication tools they use the most and why they chose for those communication tools. Apart from that, I wanted to know what information is important for students to receive regarding their internship to find out in this way which communication tools would be the most appropiate tool for that specific requiered information.

4.2 Research Results

Qualitative research: the Interviews In the research I wanted to analyse the communication system of the placement office for international students e.g.: what communication tools they currently use to reach students, how often, the reason why they chose those tools and when they start informing students. The same I wanted to know from the placement office for the Dutch studies to compare it with the placement office for international students and maybe even find suggestions on how to improve communication at the placement office for international students through the experience of the placement office of the Dutch studies. I organized two meetings to interview both departments. First I met with Mr Bos, the Interim Placement coordinator for students of international studies at the HES and secondly I met with the placement coordinator for Dutch studies, Mr van Leuvezijn. While I was trying to arrange a meeting with the right person for my research it was confusing what the right desk/department was to contact: International department, international office, bureau stage en afstuderen, or International Placement office. Therefore, I added an extra question to my questionnaire to start with. For the questionnaire and the complete outcome of both interviews, please see Appendix I. Conclusion of both interviews According to Mr Louvezijn, there is a good communication between Bureau stage en afstuderen and its students of Dutch studies through: face to face communication, intranet, handed out manuals and the most commonly used communication tool, email. In contrast there is only little communication between the International Placement office and its students, the little communication that took place was through email and the available internship manual had been posted on Intranet. This means that email and intranet are their currently used communication tools and according to Mr Bos, this is not sufficient enough, that is why students will be informed soon through an information session about their internship. In the near future they will unite with Bureau stage en afstuderen and the international office to become: the International Career Centre. That would be a good opportunity for the Placement office to follow the same communication structure as Bureau stages en afstuderen is already using right now. Mr Bos thinks that email is the most common used communication tool by students but also within their own department. Other communication tools that Mr Bos thinks that could be used to reach students within the International Career Centre (ICC) will be: face to face through information sessions 13

and internship fairs at the HES. Those two communication tools are important according to Mr Bos since many students just do not read the manual and in this way the students can directly ask questions which might be interesting for other students to hear as well. The ICC will keep on using email as their most important communication tool because he thinks email will stay one of the most important communication tools in professional life for a long time: it is a quick, efficient and cheap way of communication. Moreover, the ICC does not want to stay behind in the modern society and therefore will start using blogs and social media to reach students. Both Placement Coordinators believe it will be a good idea to communicate with students through social media because it is an immense popular communication tool among students.

The Quantitative research: questionnaire with students I conducted a questionnaire to find out which communication tools students at the HES use the most in their professional career, if they think the placement office is using the right communication tools and what they would suggest to be the best communication tool to reach students. The outcomes on this questionnaire showed, as Mr Bos already mentioned, that there have been little communication with students as only a few students said they received information regarding their internship and when I asked them to describe the communication between them and the placement office, all surveyed students answered with: very bad. Through the focus group I want to find out what information they received and what information the students would like to receive. Besides, I would like to know through what communication tool they have been informed since almost all of the students answered that the placement office used the right communication tool. Interesting was that all of the students mentioned that email is their most frequently used communication tool in their professional career. The HES account is frequently used, almost all of the questioned students said they check their HES email account daily, and another quite significant part of the students receive their HES email directly on their mobile phone and only a few of the students read their email on the HES account once a week. Face to face also seemed highly valued among students: when I asked through which communication tools students preferred to be informed about their internship, almost half of the students answered that they wanted to be informed through email. Slightly less students preferred to be informed face to face. The answers on the questionnaire can be found in frequency tables in Appendix III. During the quantitative research I found out that the most important information I needed was not to be found in the answers on the questionnaire questions but a focus group would be necessary. I wanted to find out which communication tool they use the most and especially WHY they choose this tool. You could use several different kinds of communication tools for different types of information you want to pass on. Therefore, it is important to find out what specific information students need and want to know to be able to start their search for an internship, to find out which communication tools it requires. For this reason I chose to conduct a focus group of 9 students of an international study at the HES.

14

The Qualitative research: Focus group of nine IBL students (age 21-25 years) After I interviewed this focus group, some generally found results became clear. First of all, it could be concluded that the overall communication between the Placement office and the students is not as it ought to be. Secondly, students prefer a combination of communication tools, but which ones that depends on the kind of information it concerns. However, they prefer the basic communication tools HES is working with already, because students are familiar with the system. They also think it will not be a good idea to use too many communication tools, neither social media, to prevent the communication system from becoming to unclear and confusing. I have chosen for a focus group to create interaction between the students to gather as much information as possible in that way. In order to easily explain all the results thoroughly of the focus group, every question is discussed shortly in Appendix IV. The conclusion of the focus group outcome will be explained in the following paragraph. All students, except for one, are supposed to start their internship the next semester, in September 2012. Two out of nine students said they had been informed, but they were a little hesitant with their answer so I asked why. They explained the reason was because they only received some information: one student found the internship manual on Intranet by himself; and the other student had been to the company fair at the HES. The manual that the one student had found was on the Intranet. The other students received an email from Ms. Hazelhof that there was a company fair and on that fair one of the students received face to face information. Little shocking was the fact that none of the questioned students knew where to go for questions about their internship or where to find information. None of the students know who their internship coordinator is, while in three months their internship should be arranged and papers should be signed, according to Mr Bos. The students were very disappointed as well about this fact. One student even thought that the desk at the international office on the fourth floor would be the place where he would go if they have questions, the same office where they went for questions about their exchange. The HVA email is found to be used most frequently. When the students have questions regarding their internship the students explained that they would use email first for main questions such as finding out about the requirements her placement company should meet according to the guidelines of the HES. However, as soon as there are several options with different companies they prefer to make an appointment with the placement coordinator to discuss it. The students mentioned: E-mail, social media, Intranet, internship manual, information lectures in class and face to face appointment with the internship department as tools that would be helpful to provide them of information. It depends on the kind of information to decide what communication tool would be the best tool. Nevertheless, email and face to face meetings with the placement coordinator would 15

work the best for the questioned students. What seemed to be the most important information students would like to know, is what requirements companies must meet to be approved as a valid internship by the HES or what positions students could occupy, this would make searching for an internship a lot easier. They think the best communication tool for this would be in a document on Intranet or handed out in a manual. The students agreed that it would be the best if they would be informed first about the basic information such as: who their placement coordinator is; where the office of the placement coordinator is; and how to reach him, but also; before what date their internship should be arranged at least, and the exact duration of an internship. All students agreed that this basic information should be given first and the best communication tool for that, according to the students, would be face to face, by an information session in class for example. As the students already mentioned, for more detailed information that applies to their personal situation, they prefer a face to face meeting with the placement coordinator. Students chose for an information session in class because in this way there is direct interaction and they are able to get answers to their questions directly. This is obviously not necessary to do this one by one since the basic information students need to know is similar for all students and the answers to the questions students have, might be interesting to know for others as well. The reason for choosing the Intranet or a manual as a communication tool for the requirements and positions students may choose to occupy, is that they can read it whenever they want and both are good ways to pass on detailed information. They chose for a face to face meeting with their placement coordinator to be the right communication tool at the moment they would have questions about the companies they have found, because they will need specific information at that moment on their own personal situation and they prefer direct interaction over email. They chose email as the appropriate tool for the moments they will have small or a few questions, because making a face to face appointment would take too much time. Although the students think social media is so important nowadays and although they use it a lot and daily, they still think it would not be the right communication tool to communicate with students regarding internships. They prefer the communication tools mentioned before which are the best know communication tools at the HES in general, because they are afraid that if too many different communication tools are adapted, students will lose overview of where to find what information. All the answers of the focus group questions answered the sub questions and give a good indication of what the students expect of the placement office, what information they need and which communication tool they prefer, most use and why they choose these. The Recommendations and the answer to the main question will be given in the next chapter.

16

5 Conclusion and recommendations

Which communication tools should the Placement office international use to improve communication with students regarding internships? At the beginning of the research it became clear that the communication between the International placement office and the students is very weak, students are not informed about the internship procedure and do not know where to go for their questions or doubts. The current communication tools used in the International offices is email, intranet and the International office planned to provide students with an information session soon. Email is the most commonly used communication tool among students because it is fast, cheap and easy to explain yourself in written words. Therefore, it is recommended to use email as the main communication tool to reach students and as a communication tool for students to reach the International office attendants in case students have doubts or questions. First of all, it is important to introduce students to the International Placement office and equip the students with the basic information regarding internships. An Information Session could be used in the form of a presentation given by an attendant of the International placement office to provide students with details about the various options for internships, the requirements for the placement companies and support offered by the HES. In this way the basic information reaches a large audience in once and students are able to ask questions after or during an information session, which might be interesting for other students as well. Besides, information sessions are often the most effective means to ensure alignment, rather than students spending a lot of time reading through the manual, emails or spending time on figuring out the available information on intranet. The information session is good opportunity to hand out a hard copy of the placement manual, so that students could read back information that is discussed during the session at any time. During the information session the attendant should explain the students that several vacancies are to be found on the intranet but as well the office hours in which students can make an appointment with their coordinator in case they have questions or when they would like to arrange the paperwork for their placement etc. This personal face to face meeting should not be eliminated since it is the most intense and highest quality way of communicating and it allows the attendant to picture perfectly the students situation and wishes regarding their internship and provide the student with direct support and advice. Although students are adapting to the fast changing environment and the new way of communicating via internet and social media, they prefer to keep the basic communication tools instead of too many new communication tools. Therefore, students are not enthusiastic about the International placement office using social media. Due to the fact that the International placement office is reorganizing and in the near future it will unite with Bureau stage en afstuderen and the international office to become: the International Career Centre, it is recommended to implement the above mentioned basic communication tools to create first a clear and simple communication basis until the communication structure is smooth and improved before starting to explore and use social media.

17

I believe that the implementations of the above mentioned recommendations and the use of the above mentioned communication tools will enable the International placement office to improve the communication with students regarding internships. Through the use of effective communication and communication tools, particularly, understanding the far-reaching changes in communication through development of technology, internet and social media, and knowing which communication tools students use the most and prefer for school issues, the International placement office will be able to provide students of good support during their search for an internship.

18