Lubberts, assistant vice president for Institutional Marketing, said until now, Japanese students were essentially bound for a certain university based on their test scores and Japanese universities didn't have to distinguish themselves to prospective students. She said next year, however, because of the declining population, there will be as many 18-year-olds in Japan as there are seats in Japanese universities.
"As a result of this competition, Japanese universities must rely on marketing their distinctions to obtain the students they need," she said.
Because ICU hasn't had much experience doing this, Lubberts acted as a consultant to them, helping them to identify marketing goals, messages, and tactics based on research she conducted while there.
Lubberts spent a week at ICU in late May. As a result of her visit, Yoshikazu Sakogawa, who works in fund development at ICU, will visit Grand Valley in August. Sakogawa told Lubberts he wants "to learn about how Grand Valley raises friends and funds."
"By experiencing the Japanese university culture at ICU, I can now better understand why Japanese students choose ICU and can translate that knowledge to aspects of our marketing communications for Grand Valley," she said.
During her trip, Lubberts also visited other institutions with connections to Grand Valley, including East China Normal University, China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Japan Center for Michigan Universities.
Rhonda Lubberts, center, is pictured with International Christian University students and Peter McCagg, dean of International Affairs / Photo courtesy of Rhonda Lubberts
