The  School  of  Business  and  Economics  

Marketing  plan  for  UArctic’s  north2north  

student  mobility  program  
 
University  of  the  Arctic  (UArctic)  
—  
Wasif  Jalal  
 
Master  thesis  in  Business  Creation  and  Entrepreneurship  –  August  2014  (30  credits)  

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CONTENT  
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................................................................................II  
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................................................ III  
1:  INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................... 4  
1.1:  ROLE  OF  A  UNIVERSITY ................................................................................................................................................................. 5  
1.2:  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  ARCTIC  (UARCTIC)........................................................................................................................... 5  
1.3:  RESEARCH  QUESTION .................................................................................................................................................................... 8  
1.4:  THEORETICAL  FRAMEWORK......................................................................................................................................................... 9  
1.5:  RESEARCH  METHODOLOGY .........................................................................................................................................................10  
1.6:  LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................................................................................11  
1.7:  REFLECTIONS................................................................................................................................................................................12  
2:  TECHNICAL  STUDY................................................................................................................................................... 13  
2.1:  INTERNET ......................................................................................................................................................................................13  
2.2:  SOCIAL  MEDIA ...............................................................................................................................................................................14  
3:  INNOVATION  STUDY ............................................................................................................................................... 17  
3.1:  UNDERSTANDING  INNOVATION .................................................................................................................................................17  
3.2:  TYPES  OF  INNOVATION................................................................................................................................................................18  
4:  MARKETING  PLAN.................................................................................................................................................... 29  
4.1:  EXECUTIVE  SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................................29  
4.2:  THE  CHALLENGE ..........................................................................................................................................................................30  
4.3:  MARKET  AND  SITUATION  ANALYSES .........................................................................................................................................30  
4.4:  COMPANY  ANALYSES ...................................................................................................................................................................35  
4.5:  CUSTOMER  ANALYSES .................................................................................................................................................................43  
4.6:  COMPETITOR  ANALYSES .............................................................................................................................................................44  
ERASMUS  EUROPEAN  EXCHANGE ......................................................................................................................................................45  
KILROY  EDUCATION ..........................................................................................................................................................................49  
4.7:  COLLABORATORS .........................................................................................................................................................................50  
4.8:  PEST  ANALYSES ..........................................................................................................................................................................51  
4.9:  SWOT  ANALYSES........................................................................................................................................................................56  
4.10:  MARKET  SEGMENTATION.........................................................................................................................................................58  
MARKET  SEGMENTATION  APPROACHES: ..........................................................................................................................................59  
4.11:  THE  MARKETING  STRATEGY.......................................................................................................................... 64  
REFERESNES: .................................................................................................................................................................. 70  
APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................................................................ 74  
1:  SURVEY  ABOUT  NORTH2NORTH  STUDENT  MOBILITY ...............................................................................................................74  
APPLICATION  FOR  GRANTS  FROM  THE...............................................................................................................................................92  
NORWEGIAN  MINISTRY  OF  FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  (MFA)  S51  –  F PPLICATION  FORM  FOR  PROJECT/PROGRAMME  SUPPORT92  

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Acknowledgement
 
I would like to thank Lene Foss and Elin Merete Oftedal for helping me throughout my
masters degree and specially with writing my master thesis. I would like to put forward my
special thanks to Ute Vogel, for her firm belief in my abilities in performing this task for
UArctic. Than I would like to say thank you to, Anna Maalø Jalal - my wife - for her non-stop
support and solid motivation.

I would also like to thank all of my classmates for very speacial time in Tromsø for the past 2
years. I wish you all a very pleasant life ahead.

Last but not the least my love and respect for my parents who have bee always there for
lending me a shoulder in every part of my life.
 

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Abstract
This thesis is a marketing plan for north2north student mobility program. north2north
program was initiated by the University of the Arctic UArctic) in 2001. UArctic is a network
of more than 170 universities, colleges and institutions with in and outside the Arctic region.
Through north2north exchange program the students of the Arctic Circle do a study exchange
in any of the partnering, Arctic institution. The main focus of the thesis is promotion of
north2north exchange program with the help of social media. The research question concisely
defines it as follows:

” How can social media be used to market north2north student mobility towards students at
UArctic member institutions.”

This program at present is a partnership among 55 member institutions. The Communication

advisor at the University of Arctic, Ute Vogel, put the idea of this thesis forward. This
north2north exchange program is innovative with a lot of growth potential. The thesis
discusses different types of innovation and explains that this exchange program is a service
innovation that encompasses sustaining and incremental development. Moreover, the study
defines the importance of social media and its importance in today’s life.

The thesis outlines the marketing plan with detailed explanation of the present market
analyses. This analyses leads the study to analyze the current market situation, north2north
exchange is doing business in. It further discusses the UArctic’s current situation and the way
they position themselves. The marketing plan than pinpoints the competitors in the market
and their strengths. As the final piece of the puzzle, marketing segmentation leads the thesis
into making a two-dimensional marketing strategy for north2north student mobility program.

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1: Introduction
 
The Arctic region is currently experiencing fast paced growth. However, abundant challenges
are also being faced. The Arctic struggles with remoteness and isolation from the rest of the
world and is spread over a vast area. Companies with intentions to grow are relocating and
under-utilizing the local talent. One of the reasons of this under-utilization is that a great deal
talent is never unearthed. Or even when it is found, it never reaches the destination where it
can be properly polished. Therefore, it is extremely important that there is a flexible system of
international mobility of students so that the abilities of individual talent can be optimized.
The profuse utilization of social media is probably the trend of the contemporary world. The
Internet facility has made huge masses of population reachable at a very personal level. This
is why it has become an excellent mode of advertisement and promulgation of ideas. The
integration of social media in increasing the mobility of students has become also very
significant. University of the Arctic (UArctic) is constantly striving to make the current
system of student mobility better. In this respect, they have introduced a program called
North2North student mobility program. This paper discusses and explores the prospects of
success of this program and also considers the role of social media, specifically Facebook in
this regard. UArctic envisions an educated and competent North to fulfill the rising needs of
the Arctic region. The Northern region itself is transforming through new development of the
natural resources and through competence accumulated over the years. As such, UArctic has
an important role in converting the resource rich north into an attractive place to live and for
business to flourish.

This chapter guides the reader as to the purpose of this research and the question that it
attempts to answer. The answer is sought with the help of careful selection of the right
theoretical concepts and the use of focused research methodology. This chapter highlights the
ever-growing importance of universities and higher education as the most important factor in
developing a society. Further, the higher education market is viewed and analyzed as the
marketing researchers see it from different angles. A brief introduction to the organization and
its operations provide a reader with a head start in understanding the organization and its
goals. The chapter presents a theoretical framework for higher educational marketing and
network based marketing to help develop an understanding of the whole theme.

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1.1: Role of a University

 
This section provides a brief introduction for the universities are and have been playing for
the society. In this relevance the role of UArctic has been defined as a core building block for
the Arctic development. Altbach (1987) defines the role of the universities as that the
“universities over the centuries, have become the most important stakeholders of modern
knowledge through basic research. The contemporary university stands at the centre of its
society as an institution, which is crucial. It is the most important institution in the complex
process of knowledge creation and distribution.” Universities and the higher education
institutions provide their students facilities through which they utilize their creativity
combined with learned knowledge. This combination than produces new and innovative ideas
that at times become leading products in the market. An example for this innovation is the
making of Facebook.com. A student used his IT skills and produced a networking site that is
visited every day by millions of people around the world.

In the present era universities are increasingly competing for international students in
response to trends of global student mobility, diminishing university funding and government-
backed university campaigns (Vrontis, Thrassou, Melanthiou, 2007). This trend has driven the
need for the UArctic to focus on clearly articulating and developing their brand elements such
as study portals and attractive study programs.

1.2: The University of the Arctic (UArctic)

 
UArctic acts like an umbrella organization with its foothold in the whole circum polar region,
combining over 160 institutions to strengthen the education based collaboration within the
North. This cooperative network of institutions is dedicated to empower the northern people
and to strengthen and develop the North as the favorite destination for students, researchers
and entrepreneurs. This is the largest educational and research network in the world that spans
through 24 time zones in eight Arctic countries. UArctic was launched on June 12, 2001,
endorsed by the Arctic Council. Fig 1 shows the UArctic logo.

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Fig 1. UArctic logo. Education.uarctic.org1

Mission:    

The mission of the University of the Arctic is to create a strong, sustainable

circumpolar region by empowering indigenous peoples and other northerners through
education, mobility and shared knowledge.

In order to achieve this mission, UArctic relies on 27 thematic networks that it has developed
through the past 13 years. This umbrella of themes provides with better circumstances for
collaboration between the networks. Different members of the UArtic network are responsible
for these thematic networks. The members are spread in the whole Arctic region and have
their own themes to work with.

UArctic focuses on facilitating its members through provision of services and structures. This
allows them to collaborate in the best manner and work in provision of higher education and
research in the Circumpolar North. Inaddition, UArctic develops strategies for the North to
enhance engagement with the non-Arctic world to expand its value network with a greater
engagement with the South. UArctic works to strengthen knowledge and capacity to meet the
needs of North and the world. UArctic believes that the sustainable future of the North and its
people lies in a competent northern population, a stronger northern knowledge base, and
partnerships with the non-Arctic world. The key elements this vision include is strengthening
the voice of the Arctic in the world as well as the world’s understanding of the Arctic, and to
cooperate across the borders in the north to leverage experience, knowledge, competence,
investment and influence.

Langlais and Snellman (1998) shed light on the importance of the University of the Arctic and
express that it has been a key in providing the proper basis for the Arctic region. UArctic has

                                                                                                               
1  Student study portal. uarctic .org. Website: http://education.uarctic.org/ Dated: 15.08.14  

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become a major player in the knowledge economy of the North. Several initiatives have
contributed in different ways to enable northern communities moving from almost non-
existent to participants in the global game of knowledge and information.

UArctics services
 
UArctic serves the Arctic region with its three service pillars - north2north, GoNorth and the
Thematic Networks. These pillars help UArctic in achieving its mission of strong Arctic
region, where education and knowledge are the main focal points. Through the north2north
student mobility program, opportunities are provided for students to acquire first-hand
experience from different northern regions, and to share experiences face-to-face by allowing
students to study at other UArctic institution. The program operates in close collaboration
with the faculty exchange program to build mutual cooperation that can sustain and support
student exchange. Promotion of north2north student mobility program is the focus of this
thesis.

Through GoNorth program has been able to promote learning opportunities to people living
outside the Arctic region, making the north the destination for higher education thereby
promoting northern institutions as the leaders of higher education in northern curricular
worldwide. It has enhanced the attractiveness and ensured the necessary encouragement of
highly qualified graduates and scholars to gain experience within Europe and throughout the
world.

By means of the UArctic Thematic Networks, institutional cooperation on subjects of shared

interest among UArctic members is encouraged. It has been open for cooperation, sharing of
resources, and development of stable relations among member institutions. This ensures both
better program offers and exchange of research and education experiences in themes crucial
for northern competencies. The networks enhance the roles of northern higher education
institutions’ as creators, holders and communicators of knowledge about northern issues and
regions.

These were the three main service pillars for UArctic. Now the challenges that UArctic has to
face in order to keep these pillars standing solid are discussed next.

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Challenges for UArctic as higher education provider

 
Information and knowledge society attempt to capture the fact that knowledge has become
crucial for the present development. But at the same time, they also emphasize the increasing
contemporary influences of information and communication technologies as a base of
knowledge generation and knowledge dissemination (Stehr, 1994). He further describe
knowledge as a key characteristic of the present era, basically influencing all aspects of
human lives, the way we do business, how and why we learn.

Lawton (1992) emphasizes on how higher education in this process is facing several major
crises. Some of them can be applied to the present situation in the North, and how northern
communities and education institutions are handling the challenges. The crisis encompasses
1) a crisis in the legitimacy and relevance of the knowledge. The challenge explains if the
university is providing the most relevant knowledge for pursuing the political and economic
developmental goals. 2) How well the organization responds if the there are any gaps in
relevance of the knowledge. For example a situation where the northern communities and
business development of north have shown a limited ability to respond to the change in
educational choices that youth makes. For example if the students of the North are more
interested in arts and music rather than mining, oil exploration, and other Arctic related
studies. Last but not the least 3) the maintained efficiency against the student dropout ratio,
multiple study shifts, and mismatch between candidates produced and jobs offered. For
example in Tromsø the private sector in the development phase and have not been able to
create many jobs. Social sector on the other hand is the only successful job creator in the
region.

1.3: Research question

 
This paper will be a blue print of the different segments in the higher educational market. It
will lead us to define the targeted audience, that in this case are the students looking for
higher education on the International arena, specifically in the North. The paper will explain
the market and will identify the most attractive segments in the market. Moreover, it will
explain the process of attracting those students to north2north mobility program. The research
question that will be addressed in this paper is as follows:

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“How can social media be used to market north2north mobility towards students at
UArctic member institutions?”

The question might provide with some complexities as it revolves around the channels and
means for spreading the word to the right audience in a vast area. Different regions or
societies prefer different ways to gain information, however in this modern era, Internet and
social media are the lead runners. Therefore, I will look into these techniques and will also
search for other effective means of spreading information. In addition, this question will be
addressed with the help of analyzing the student profile that we need to address and what
choice behavior they have. Evaluation of the existing online marketing portals and media will
also enhance the study i.e. study magazines online and social media communities. The
underlined concept of finding the profile that will be willing to study in the north is scarce. No
explicit research has been done for UArctic to find the perfect student, and thus hereby the
reader will be introduced with this new student profile.

1.4: Theoretical framework

 
Before introducing a service to the market it is essential that we understand the behavior,
perceptions, needs and wants of the market. Consequently, this information stresses on the
fact that the marketing strategy should address the above mentioned variables in the market.
As the question will address the marketing of UArctic in the Circumpolar region, therefore,
this paper will look into these variables while researching, because this information will help
identify the segments that UArctic needs to focus on.

Market study:
 
Without innovation and continuous development is crucial if some organization wants to
survive in the market today. Therefore, while addressing these research questions I need to
make a thorough analysis of the market where our potential segments are? Competitor
identification is a key task for scanning competitive terrain, shoring up their defenses against
likely competitive incursions, and planning competitive attack and response strategies.
Consequently, it is extremely important to analyze the organization from the inside to
generate good results. These results are than backed by the careful analyzing of the external

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factors, such as the competitors, market trends, and government policies etc. A detailed
discussion has been made for market situation and analyses with the help of PEST Analyses
to understand the market UArctic is doing business in.

SWOT Analysis:
 
SWOT analysis came from the research conducted at SRI from 1960-1970. The research was
funded by the Fortune 500 companies to find out what had gone wrong with corporate
planning and to create a new system for managing change (Fair, 2005). SWOT is a tool that
almost every organization uses to scan its environment in which it is operating. SWOT
analysis stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The first half i.e. “SW”
defines the internal factors that are impacting the organizational operations and the second
half “OT” scans the external environment. This tool also assists the organizations in defining
the market strategy. The SWOT analyses for
 

Strengths   Weaknesses  

SWOT  
Analyses  

Opportunities   Threats  

Fig2: SWOT Analyses.

1.5: Research methodology

 
There are two basic types of market data: secondary data, which is gathered from already
published sources, like an industry association study or census reports, and primary data,
which is collected specifically for a particular purpose through surveys, focus groups, or

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experiments. I will collect a great deal of market information from secondary resources. Since
secondary research requires less time and money than primary research. However, my
primary information will be collected through a survey (see appendix 1) and a focus group. I
might also have to travel to different countries for collecting the most relevant and legit
information. Moreover, I am also aware of the possible inaccuracy and limitations of such
data, such as lack of statistical insignificance.

Marketing of a network-based organization that spans over 160 institutions placed in scattered
regions of the North can be considered as quiet a complex task. In addition, the novelty of
such a network adds more complexity into the process and it is hard to look for such examples
out in the market. Therefore, to overcome this complexity it is important that research is
focused and involves only the most important variables connected to the study. Such as which
countries are the main source countries for exchange students with in the Arctic Circle and
what are the choice behaviors of the students. However, one can find many different
examples of Higher education Institutions, that how do they administer their marketing
efforts. In order to be successful, it is advisable to learn from the practices and strategies,
these institutions are adapting.

The question is of an exploratory nature. To address this question the reports from World
Education Service (WES) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) will be followed. These reports provide a thorough overview on the education
market and its trends. However, the underlined questions require a more detailed analysis of
the service offered. Depending on the analysis this thesis will include recommendations for
implementing the course of most effective channels for promoting the UArctic’s north2north
student mobility program.

1.6: Limitations
 
As an individual researcher conclusion of the whole study might give a reflection of
subjective thinking. The process of writing and collecting data for such a vast organization
scattered on different continents provides with a vast challenge, thus, affecting the legitimacy
of the findings.

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Time constraint and the accessibility to all the potential markets for UArctic also impose a
great degree of challenge. Carrying out a thorough market research might not be possible as
the resources (time, finances and HR) are scarce. This will also affect the information from
the potential audience for the north2north student mobility program.

Lack of secondary data for educational networks also adds up the limitation in carrying out a
thorough study for this thesis. Primary information in this case will be the best alternative;
however, as mentioned above it has its own limitations.
 
1.7: Reflections
 
The thesis introduction links all the parts of the thesis and depicts the relationship between
them. The thesis describes the way north2north should be promoted with the help of social
media and the student ambassadors. It was really exciting to learn that how organizations can
have a positive influence on the whole region.

The objectives of market study were specified and during the process a lot of information was
gathered through survey and the interviews. This information gathering really helped me in
making a sound marketing strategy that will deliver results for the organization. I used
different types of innovations to understand which type of innovation north2north student
mobility program has. north2north program proved to be incremental and sustainable
innovation. The implementation of service quality model in the study also highlighted the
core marketing concepts that can really make a difference for the organization when
implementing the strategic plan.

The study had its own limitation with the amount of data received from the survey and
interviews. The information was not sufficient enough to make realistic assumptions.
However, the findings were compared with the well-established competitors and there were
many similarities, like the demographics of the segmented market. On the personal level this
thesis has been a great learning process and challenged me both intellectually and
motivationally.

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2: Technical study
 
This thesis is solemnly dedicated for spreading the word for UArctic through Internet.
Therefore keeping this in mind social media seems to be the most logical tool in order to
reach to the targeted audience at present. This idea has been derived through the effectiveness
of social media in the recent past in spreading the word. In this chapter Internet has been
defined as the technology used in the study. In addition, social media has also been given
special attention to.

2.1: Internet
 
According to the oxford dictionary Internet is defined as “A global computer network
providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected
networks using standardized communication protocols.” 2
 
In the present era the Universities are restructuring themselves as service providers
(Tsichritzis, 1999). Universities and businesses a-like view the Internet’s far-reaching
capabilities, as a way of competing globally (Tsichritzis, 1999). And these new information
technology (IT) dimensions pressure academics to respond to IT developments (Denning,
1997) (Gomez & Murphy, 2003). “An exploratory study of marketing education online”, by
Gomez and Murphy (2003) has led this thesis to base the research on the building blocks of
using internet as the main source of spreading the word about UArctic. Their research
explores how educational institutions use internet technologies – Web sites and E-mail – to
market to perspective students, as well as how prospective students use these technologies in
their decision making process. Individual adoption of Internet includes using the web for
gathering information as well as directly e-mailing educational institutions (Gomez &
Murphy, 2003). However, in the case of north2north student mobility the focus will remain
with social media and specifically Facebook.com.

A lot has changed in less than a decade with respect to the Internet. The World Wide Web,
relatively new in 1996, did hold potential for multimedia in new ways, and with the coming of

                                                                                                               
2  Define Internet. Dictionery.com Website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/internet Dated: 15.08.14.  

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greater bandwidth, wirelessness, enhanced email, picture-taking cell phones, palm-sized

computers displaying movies, and the Web too, multimediation has exploded.
 
The web was originally remarkable for its ability to display graphics along side text, to run
sound and video embedded in a document or linked through internet connections. Multimedia
and the internet pertains to the convergence of media i.e., the capacity of computing networks
and devices to transmit and display television signals, movies, music and other sound formats
and because of the digitization of these signals, to facilitate their storage and alteration. In
addition, multimedia pertains to efforts, and resistance to imbue long-distance or text based
communication systems with greater capacity to transmit the physical elements of human
speech, that is, voice and body message in addition to text. Therefore the use of web for
UArctic is a necessity in spreading its word out in the market and enhancing the
communication process with the help of web based socializing. Web based socializing has
been able to create a personal feel to it. All the stakeholders of an organization feel close to it
if they are engaged in its social media presence on the web. The web based socializing has
given the freedom to people to express themselves in various ways and thus creating a visual
contact without being there physically. Utilizing this opportunity of virtual presence UArctic
well-managed social media can create massive amount of value for the biggest educational
network.

2.2: Social media

“Social media is the interaction among people and businesses for exchanging, creating and
sharing ideas and information in virtual communities and networks” (Ahlqvist, Bäck,
Halonen & Heinonen. 2008). In the present era Social media became the main source of
communication and socializing with others. This medium is not only limited to individuals,
but also most of the companies find a lot of value in integrating their customers and
employees through social media.
 
“Social networking is the grouping of individuals and organizations that have common
objectives, interests, and or activities. Social networking exists as personal and direct social
ties that link individuals who share similar values or beliefs. Social networking also exists in
impersonal, formal and instrumental form” (Yadav, 2010). Now a days, a number of

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organizations are running and implementing social media campaigns as one of the most
effective and economical medium in spreading the word.
 
In recent years, social media has become a huge and integral component of how people spend
their time online. Between wikis, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and many others, people are
spending enormous amounts of time on websites used to share information and connect with
people (Acar, 2008). Not surprisingly, people are easily connecting with others and sharing
information more than ever before. Many people get their news, gossip, and friendship
updates via social network sites, sometimes even before breakfast from the convenience of
their mobile phone or laptop.

Social media can be defined as a website or Internet service that allows users to interact with
each other and create content instantaneously. Examples include Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube, Flicker, Twitter, etc. These online media facilitate “conversation as opposed to
traditional media, which delivers content but doesn't allow readers/viewers/listeners to
participate in the creation or development of the content” (Ward, 2010, p. 1). Social media
allow people to share content such as life updates, pictures, videos, quotes, or anything the
user creates or finds interesting and wants to share. This flow of data has given the
user/consumer tremendous amount of information. The consumer uses this information to
increase their knowledge about anything they might be interested in. By joining social
network sites, which address the same interest, provides the user comfort and the sense of
belonging.
 
Facebook is currently the most popular social media website in the world with over 500
million users. In 2010, 47% of adults who access the Internet used social media sites (Lenhart,
Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010). Social media use also accounted for 23% of Internet users’
time online (Mui & Whoriskey, 2010). Therefore, the use of Internet has changed
tremendously during the last decade. People are spending a lot more time on socializing on
the Internet rather than checking e-mails. Internet from its beginning has been one of the main
sources in collecting information but, social websites like Facebook and Twitter has brought
innovation in the way people interact and socialize.

Social networking has both, advantages and disadvantages. One can either consider it a waste
of time or consider it a great opportunity to socialize and leave the rest for later. Man is a
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social animal and it is tough to live life without friends/bosses/workmates etc. In life we are
often subjected to good and bad choices and it is only we, ourselves, who can decide what we
want, and it is us who also have to reap benefits or loss. The same goes with social
networking. There is always the middle path and only we can choose how to find that path or
how to utilize that path in the best possible way. We have all the time in the world to be
careful in choosing whom to trust and whom not to trust, especially when it comes to
socializing on Internet.

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3: Innovation study
 
UArcti is one of the most innovative networks in the Arctic region. The innovation study for
this thesis will help analyzing the innovative processes that the network has established in the
organizational culture. The technology that is enabling this innovation is discussed in detail in
the next chapter. It is important to mention the technology in this thesis as north2north
mobility program is dependent on Internet based communication because of the scattered
institutions throughout the Arctic. This chapter will in addition, discuss how innovation will
help UArctic improve their communication processes and core strategies for being even more
effective in approaching their goals. Moreover, This chapter will discuss thoroughly,
innovation and its different types. On the bases of this study UArctic’s north2north student
mobility program will be evaluated to determine the type of innovation it encompasses.

3.1: Understanding innovation

 
Innovation is change that happens in either a planned or an unplanned manner; new processes
new procedures or new ways of organizing; from the tiniest improvement to radical
rethinking. It is a specific action that is identified, discussed and agreed, which begins with an
idea and ends with that idea being put into practice (Bellon and Whittington, 1996).
Innovation is a process that happens over time and needs considerable hard work. Companies
are spending millions of dollars for new product design, research and development.
north2north student mobility program has a lot of potential to grow, which they can achieve if
they will innovate. However, they need to be strategic in deciding, which element of the
organization they need to innovate the most for achieving more students willing for their
exchange program.
 
Bellon and Whittington (1996) further explain innovation as “the successful application of
knowledge and techniques in new ways or for new purposes”. Innovation is for all businesses,
whether they use high-technology or not. For a long time innovation was felt to be limited to
the period of the company’s creation, or to the introduction of the new piece of equipment.
But innovation now has become one of the key bits within a business. Its influence cuts across
the whole business.

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The administration of north2north student mobility program has understood at last that they
need to innovate their process of communicating with the student community. The program is
planning to spend more time and effort on new ways of interaction with the student; most
prominently increasing the use of social media a channel of interaction.

3.2: Types of innovation

 
This heading will lead the thesis in defining all different kinds of innovations that we learnt
through the BCE program. Each innovation type is explained separately with examples. The
section is divided in two parts; the first part defines the 4 types of innovation. These
innovations are incremental and radical, sustaining and disruptive. The second section
comprises of product, service and process innovation.  

The research on innovation has progressed along a variety of courses rather than a single one.
It encompasses diverse types that vary in scope, depth and objective. Among the different
types of innovations defined by researches are incremental and radical innovations (Chiesa et.
al., 1996).

Section 1

(Incremental and Radical, Sustaining and disruptive)

Incremental innovation
 
“Incremental innovations provide new features, benefits or improvements to the prior art
technology in the existing market” (Garcia and Calantone, 2002). These incremental
innovations accumulate almost continuously throughout the course of the production of any
goods or service. Obviously these improvements do not appear by chance; they occur at
different rhythms depending on the period, the industry or the individual business. Although
the effects of incremental innovation have an extremely important impact on productivity
improvements and thus on the economy as a whole, none of them on its own has a decisive
effect. This argument is further supported by Rosenberg (1982). He explains that incremental
innovations do not require high-level investments. By following the path of incremental
innovation a company can effectively adapt to the changing demands of their customers and
keep a positive cash flow. In addition, it provides with a window to get the valuable feedback

  18  
 
  

from the customers and implement the improvements that were suggested. According to the
scholars almost 95% of the innovation in the present world are incremental.  

GPS systems implemented in the cars are a very good example of incremental innovation.
The GPS systems were in existence before they were used in the cars and were regularly used
by hikers and explorers. GPS systems were reconfigured to be used in the cars thus,
innovating the use of a technology.

Radical innovation
 
A radical innovation delivers a unique and original product, system or business model. This
innovation leads to make other existing products obsolete or unnecessary. It with holds a high
degree of success because of the newness and ambiguity of the needed design effort,
technology, knowledge and market (Groenewegen, 2012).
 
An innovation to be considered as radical should have either new set of performance feature,
5 to 100 or greater improvements in the prior art features (Rice, 2002). The replacement of
cotton by nylon or polyethylene, the introduction of the pneumatic wheels, an organizational
change, or the purchase of a machine all involves such kind of substantial break with the past.
These breaks have an immediate impact not only on their immediate surroundings but also on
the different elements, which make up the production process.
 
A short and concise comparison of the above mentioned innovations could be seen in Table 1.  

 
Table 1. Isabel Gaupman (2012) What is Radical innovation anyway.

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Sustaining innovation
 
Sustaining innovations are innovations that can be incorporated in to the existing practices of
organizations. In simple words it is an improvement of an already existing product in a way
that customer expects and desires that it will satisfy their needs. Most new technologies are
sustaining. They improve the performance of current products along dimensions that the
market already values (Olsen, 2010)3. north2north student mobility is sustaining innovation
and does not pose any threats to the dynamics of the present market. This program is new to
the Arctic and provides with a unique opportunity for students to make exchange in the Arctic
region. No, other networks or organizations are providing such an innovative service.
Erasmus on other hand, does provide study exchange but it is assisting only in the European
region. However, they are also starting with an exchange program outside Europe as well.
Erasmus exchange is discussed in detail under competitor analysis. One of the biggest
competitors is the Erasmus exchange program. Example of sustaining innovation is the
increase in the data storage capacity in computers and laptops.

Disruptive innovation
 
Disruptive innovation serves as a base for creation of entirely new markets by introducing
new kind of products or services with new attributes. It is mostly small innovative companies
that introduce such innovations. They are able to do it because they are flexible in resource
allocation, company values and ability to accommodate low margins in heir cost structure
(Christensen and Overdorf, 2000).
 
Christensen (1997) further explains that these innovations are inferior in performance as
compared to the existing products available in the market. The market niches that are
currently underserved or are not served at all adopts these innovations. According to him the
disruptive innovation at times have very inclined pathway towards improvements so that in
the late stage it can meet needs of the initial market as well. As they are not forced to compete
on the basic resources and processes of their competitors, the disruptive innovation is mostly
cheaper, smaller and requires less human resources. Innovations such as Wearables- an
incredible range of new products that collect information about you and your body -
                                                                                                               
3  Sustaining, Disruptive innovations. FutureBlind. Website: http://www.futureblind.com/2010/03/sustaining-disruptive-innovations/
Published. 17.03.2010. Dated 06.08.2014.  

  20  
 
  

are becoming really popular in the market. The article on Forbes.com states:

“ Accenture’s Digital Consumer Tech Survey 2014,4 released at CES, reveals

significant market opportunities in wearable technologies. More than half of consumers are
interested in buying wearables, including fitness products, smart watches, and connected
eyeglasses.” 5
Forbes.com
 
Furthermore, the performance of the disruptive innovation is highly valued by the niche
market as the needs are unfulfilled of an emerging market. However, the situation changes
gradually and adoption of the niche market creates opportunity to invest in new products and
later on expansion. Increasing awareness has influence on the mainstream market and
perceptions of what is the value of this innovation. As a result the innovation disrupts and
replaces existing mainstream products, services and business models (Thomomd and Lettice,
2002).  Mobile phone is one of the greatest examples of disruptive innovation as it was
developed for a niche market, however, with the passage of time it began to rocket and there
are approximately 6 billion people around the world with access to a mobile phone.

Section 2

(product, service and process innovation)

Successful innovation is the creation and application of new processes, products, services and
methods of delivery, which result in momentous improvements in outcomes, efficiency, or
quality. The categorization is based on the idea of applications or fields where innovations are
used. Product, service and process innovations are the three categories that an organization
can choose to implement in its operations (Wheelwright and clark, 1992). This section will
describe the above-mentioned types of innovation and will conclude, which innovation
north2north mobility program is?  

                                                                                                               
4  Digital Consumer Tech Survey. Accenture. Website: http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-digital-consumer-tech-survey-
2014.aspx published: 03.01.2014. Dated: 15.08.14.
5  The Five Most Desruptive Innovations at CES 2014. Forbes.com. Website:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bigbangdisruption/2014/01/10/the-five-most-disruptive-innovations-at-ces-2014/. Published 10.01.2014. Dated:
15.08.14

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Before describing product, service and process innovation this section will also look at the
interaction of customers with the product or service, derived from these innovations. The two
variables namely, the degree of tangibility and the degree of customer contact will help in
analyzing the three different innovations graphically in Fig 3. Figure 3 shows us the
relationship between the types of innovation based on the degrees of tangibility and customer
contact. Tangibility of a product is its capability to be touched.  

 
Fig 3: O’ Sullivan (2008) Degree of tangibility and Customer contact.

Now these three different innovations are presented one by one as follows:

Product innovation
 
Product innovation is usually perceived as an invention. Invention is the act of inventing
something new. In simple words product innovation is about making changes to physical
products. However, the degree of the change may vary and include incremental, additions to
product families, next generation products and new core products. Established organizations
often have a set of products that must be incrementally improved or adjusted as problems are
identified in service or as new requirements emerge. It is important that they also work on
additions to the product families (Wheelwright and Clark, 1992). Innovation is a continuous
process and therefore the consumer feedback should be followed to make it even more
innovative. Gijs Van Wulfen (2013) describes certain criteria for a product to be considered
as a product innovation. “The criteria accompanies relevance of the customer, recognizing the

  22  
 
  

product’s uniqueness, trial process lenience, its adaptability, possible changes to the
production process and last but not the least the investment size.”  
 
The role of product development/design team cannot be ignored in this case. Their main
responsibility among others is to work on the up-coming products or new models of a
product. These teams often work with designing radial new products that in hold radical new
processes for creating them; as a result this expands the portfolio of an organization.
Consequently, providing the organization with the possibility of notable increase in revenue
and growth, which can also provide the organization with a competitive advantage over its
rivals. The product development process for next-generation and new core products follows a
familiar cycle in most organizations (Cooper 2000).

Service innovation
 
Just as product innovation, service innovation is about making changes to the services. In
other words, making changes to intangible products such as north2north student mobility
program. Services have a high degree of interaction with customers and are usually activated
on demand by customer. Services are often associated with work, play and recreation. Such as
banking, entertainment, government, hospitals, retail stores and education. Sometimes they
even take a shape of entirely new concept, like Western Union money transfer6. This service
allows the customers to send money anywhere in the world with in seconds.
 
Service innovation is in fact a driver of growth and structural change across the whole
economy. It helps to make the entire economy more productive and provides fuel for
innovation in other industries. It even has the potential to create new growth poles and lead
markets that have a macro-economic impact. Service innovation thus can bring about
structural and economic change in our societies by transforming the way we live, do business
and interact with each other (European commission: The smart guide to service innovation
2012).

Service innovation quality

 

                                                                                                               
6  Western Union Money Transfer. Western Union Bank. Website: http://www.westernunion.no/no/Home.page Dated:
15.08.14.

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It is important to mention here the service quality of the innovation. north2north exchange
program is a service innovation as it is the only exchange program dedicated to the Arctic
Circle. The marketing and promotional efforts that north2north make, generates an image in
front of the potential consumers i.e. the students. Based on that image the students generate
certain perceptions towards the program. This way of responding can also be described as
brand awareness. Brand awareness is the extent to which a brand is recognized by potential
customers and is correctly associated with a particular product Based on these associations the
customer generates perception of quality, at times without even testing the brand. Brand
awareness thus contributes in perceiving the service quality of a service innovation.
Therefore, it is vital that we understand the concept and implement it in the marketing
strategy and make conclusion after analyzing the service quality model (Fig 4).

In order to achieve success in today’s competitive market the service innovation needs to be
the reflection of service quality. Service quality could be defined as “whatever, the customer
perceives it to be” (Grönroos, 2000, p.63). Oliver (1993, p.67) describes it as “one form of
value consumers receives in consumptions of events.” Both definitions emphasize on
customers’ role in quality assessment as a focal point. There are also indications that services’
characteristics (inseparability, perishability, intangibility and heterogeneity) make quality of
the service unique to the customer (Grönroos, 2000). In turn, this means that all the customers
experience service differently and all have different expectations on services’ outcomes.

Service Quality model

 
The quality that customer perceives consists of technical and functional quality. Technical
quality is “what” the customer receives in the interaction with the service provider and
functional quality is “how” the customer receives the service (Magnusson and Sundin, 2005).
These two dimensions are claimed to affect experienced service quality. The company’s
image is acting like a filter between these two dimensions i.e. the technical and functional
quality, and the experienced quality. As a result affect the perception of quality. Grönroos
(2000) means, on the one hand, if a company makes for example a minor mistake, its
favorable image can lessen the damage. On the other hand, if the image is negative, the
mistake may have a greater impact on the experienced quality than it otherwise would have.
Moreover, an organization that is competing on the technical bases is only successful if
technical solution is kept as a secret. Hence, every organization should focus that how the

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service is delivered. By developing a service’s functional quality, the organization adds extra
value to the customer, which increases its competitive edge (Grönroos, 2000). This is exactly
the case with north2north exchange. As they have the similar product but they need to be
more tangible while delivering their service to the customers. They can do this with the help
of social media in addition to their already existing methods.
 
In addition to Grönroos’s (2000) notion of perceived service quality, Santos (2002) findings
also prove that the degree of tangibility is influencing perceptions of customers towards
service quality. In turn this would mean that by making service more tangible, service
providers could make an impact on the expected or experienced service quality. For example,
be aware of how technical and functional quality can appear more tangible. This might have
an impact on customers’ service evaluation. Fig 4 demonstrates the service quality model that
how technical and functional quality leads consumers’ perceptions towards drawing an image
of the organization.  

 
Fig 4: Grönroos’s (2000), Service Quality Model

The model also highlights that the expected quality that is driven by the marketing efforts
goes parallel with the experienced quality. Thus, these two qualities also need to be adjacent
  25  
 
  

meaning; the message should reflect the real service. If the experienced quality is not up to
the expectations it can cause negative image building. As in the case of north2north student
mobility the presence of this exchange program is not very good in most of the member
institutions. Therefore, the students are not able to perceive the quality and the whole image
depends on experienced quality. In order to increase the quality of image in front of students,
north2north student mobility program needs to implement a marketing strategy for every
member institution. However, development of a marketing strategy for every institution is a
time consuming job. The best alternative in this case would be the implementation of a
student ambassador in every partner institution. This will increase the presence and will result
in positive image building of the service. The marketing strategies that can enhance the
north2north student mobility image are discussed in detail under marketing strategy.

Process innovation
 
Process innovation can be viewed as the introduction of new or significantly improved
method of production or delivery of output that adds value to the organization. The term
process refers to an interrelated set of activities designed to transform inputs onto a specified
output for the customer. It implies a strong emphases on how work is done with in an
organization rather than what an organization does (Davenport, 1992). After few informal
interviews and talks with the employees and in my own work experience from UArctic, it can
be concluded that UArctic might need to consider the way their decision process undertakes.
For taking even a small step that concerns a middle manager, needs to be approved by the top
management. This top to bottom decision making consumes massive amount of time. In
addition, the middle management does not feel any ownership towards the decision-making.
Consequently, loosing the interest in the organization, which results in in-efficiency.
 
Processes relates to all activities by which value is offered to the end customer. There are a lot
of known and well-implemented process innovations and the most common of them are just-
in-time, total management, lean manufacturing and supply chain management. Ford, 3M,
Wal-Mart are a few of the well know companies that successfully implemented process
innovation in their activities.
 
Graphical representation of the types of innovation
 
  26  
 
  

In my discussion of innovation and its types, I have mentioned north2north mobility as an

innovative service for the Arctic students, which is not going to impact the market on a big
scale. This section presents the graphical representation of what type north2north student
mobility is. According to the first section of innovation study, north2north student mobility is
defined as sustaining and incremental innovation Fig 5.
 

                         
Fig 5: Presentation of north2north on Christensens innovation map

 
The second section describes the exchange program as service and as well as process
innovation. The north2north exchange program will be promoted through new channels in the
coming time, thus, fulfilling the criteria for process innovation.
 

  27  
 
  

 
Fig 6: Visual explanation of north2norht (green oval figure) innovation type. According to O’ Sullivan (2008)

 
 

  28  
 
  

4: Marketing plan

A marketing plan describes activities involved in achieving specific marketing objectives with
in a set time frame. A market plan begins with the identification through market research of
specific customer needs and how the firm intends to fulfill them while generating an
acceptable level of return. A detailed marketing plan about UArctic’s north2north student
mobility is crafted in this thesis. The marketing plan will first describe the market analyses for
the education sector. Under the light of market analyses, UArctic and its operations are
explained in detail. End of this plan consists a strategic plan that UArctic is advised to
implement for achieving its goals.

4.1: Executive summary

The purpose of this marketing plan is to draw a strategy, which will lead north2north student
mobility program to increase the number of exchanges through the use of social media. The
study shown that the international student mobility throughout the globe is on a rise. The
students are willing to travel abroad for study purposes and learn new languages cultures and
to meet new people.
north2north is planning to expand and making effort to be successful in it. This marketing
plan is just another peace of the effort. The study shows that the students decide to choose an
institution where they want to travel and experience that particular country. Their decision
making process may depend on other factors as well such as political situation in the country,
quality of education and language of tuition etc.

UArctic positions itself as the expert of the Arctic region and projects interesting propositions
to the student world like its un tempered landscape, extreme weather condition and bio
diversity of the Arctic. The competitors like Erasmus, have very strong hold in the European
region. Competitors have been in the business for more than two decades and are well
established among the student community as compared to north2north exchange program.

The marketing strategy is focused on how to use Facebook page and or Facebook group for
promoting north2north exchange program in the partner institutions. The strategy is structured
as two components one is the managing of the Facebook page by an expert another is the
practical promotion of the Facebook page and group.

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4.2: The challenge

 
The service that needs to be promoted strategically is a student mobility program initiated by
UArctic in 2001. This exchange program is known as north2north student mobility program.
This program supports the students with scholarship and thus is among the most favorite ones.
One of the only drawbacks with this exchange program is its presence in the social media.
The program is also not very well known in many of the partner institutions.

Goal of this program has not been put down in numbers by the administration of the exchange
program. Consequently, the exchange program has not been measured for its success or
failure rate. Therefore, it is not possible to make any projections on the growth. However, on
the more general bases the program aims to generate more exchanges with the partner
institutions.

One of the current strategic goals is to increase their presence on the social media, especially
through Facebook.com. The plan describes how it should be done.

4.3: Market and situation analyses

 
One can find a lot of research done on mobility in higher education sector. However, it is still
a challenge to find detailed information about student mobility among institutions that are
above the Arctic Circle. This part of the study will focus in finding the possible market that
can be exploited to increase the student mobility with in the UArctic member institutions.
 
National economies are becoming more interconnected than ever before. Consequently, the
participation in education is expanding at a very high rate. The studies from OECD reports
show that the market for student mobility is growing continuously. The most popular region
for students outside their home countries is Europe. “It comprises of 41% of all international
students as compared to the 38% in 2009. Out of all international enrolments in EU, 76% of
them are from other EU countries. North America provides with 21% of all the mobility
students and stands at second place.” (Education at a glance 2013: OECD Indicators)
 

  30  
 
  

At present, governments and individuals are looking for higher education outside their home
country. Students and individuals broaden their horizons by studying in international
institutions and this helps them to understand and experience other cultures, business methods
and languages.

Trends in higher education market

 
As mentioned before, the mobility in the education market is on a high increase than ever
before. The number of international students enrolled worldwide doubled during the term
2000 till 2011. Fig 7 illustrates the increase of international student enrolled in countries
abroad. This growth was accumulated at an almost 7% growth rate annually.  
 

 
Fig 7: Long-term growth for International students. 7

 
Europe and North America are the leading hosts. More than 50% of all the foreign students
throughout the world are received by these countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany the
United Kingdom and the United States. However, since 2000 Oceania region has tripled the
number of students hosting. This comprises less than 10 % of the whole student mobility
market worldwide. Asia, Latin America and The Caribbean are also seeing the increase of
international students, therefore reflecting the increase of student mobility on a global scale.  

                                                                                                               
7  Education at a glance: OECD Indicators. OECD. Website: (http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag2013%20(eng)--
FINAL%2020%20June%202013.pdf). Dated. 10.04.2014

  31  
 
  

 
8
Table 8: Education at a glance: OECD 2013.

Choice of a country for studying

 
There might be a lot of different factors that determine the choice of a student for the
destination country. This part will mention some of these factors and will determine the few
important findings.

Language of instruction
 
The language that is used or spoken during the teaching may determine the choice of a
country that a student might make. The popular destinations for international students are the
countries in which the language of instruction is widely spoken and read: languages such as
English, French, Spanish, German and Russian.  

                                                                                                               
8  Education at a glance: OECD Indicators. OECD. Website:  http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag2013%20(eng)--
FINAL%2020%20June%202013.pdf Dated: 10.04.2014.  

  32  
 
  

 
9
Fig 9: Education at a glance: OECD 2013.  

From Fig 9 it can be concluded that the destinations with the English speaking instruction are
dominant, such as United States and the United Kingdom, reflecting the adoption of English
abroad are expected to learn English in their home country. This pattern is also reinforced due
to the fact that English is official language in a large number of countries. Moreover, in some
countries the school syllabus is in English. “On average across all OECD countries in 2011,
around one in four foreign students came from the country with the same official or widely-
spoken language as the country of destination.” (Education at a glance: OECD 2013).

Tuition fees
 
“Tuition costs do not necessary discourage international students, as long as the quality of
education provided is high and its potential returns make the investment worthwhile.”
(Education at a glance: OECD 2013). For students considering the costs is an important
factor. Therefore, the students might select the options that offer opportunities at lower cost.

                                                                                                               
9  Education at a glance: OECD Indicators. Website: http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag2013%20(eng)--FINAL%2020%20June%202013.pdf
Dated: 10.04.2014    

  33  
 
  

However, this might not represent the whole picture as high prices might also define, high
quality.  

Quality of Education
 
A number of higher education programs are available in this global era. The quality of these
programs can be determined by the information and rankings available online and through
other means. Consequently, the students are selecting the study destinations after considering
the available information and thus selecting the best possible programs that reflect their
education background.  

Socio-economic policies
 
To increase the labor force in a country, a lot of nations have implemented such immigration
policies that allow the international students to migrate from their home countries. Therefore,
providing the students with more options to choose from and one more factor that affect their
choice of destination.
 
Afore mentioned are a few of the factors that effect student choice or behavior while selecting
the destination country or institution. However, there might be many more factors such as
parents will, transfer of credits between the institutions, academic reputation of the institution,
just to name a few of many. Thus, providing countries and institutions an opportunity to
consider these factors and improve on it, and providing the students more choice options and
increased higher education quality. Consequently, increasing and improving the inter-cultural
education experience; and increased student mobility options.  

  34  
 
  

Main countries of origin

Fig 10 t: Education at a glance: OECD 2013. 10  

 
Asia is the biggest supplier for international students worldwide. More than 50% of all the
international students are supplied by this region only. The figure mentioned below gives an
overview of the percentage of international students by the region of origin.

4.4: Company analyses

 
Company analysis can be done with the help of model shown in Fig 5. The six different
factors that outline and define the company are its goals, focus area, the company culture,
Strength and weaknesses and part of market it holds as its share. All these facts about UArctic
are being introduced as follows:  

                                                                                                               
10  
ducation at a glance: OECD economic indicators. Website:http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag2013%20(eng)--
FINAL%2020%20June%202013.pdf  

  35  
 
  

Culture  

Market  
Focus    
share  

Company  
Analyses  

Goals   Weaknesses  

Strengths  

 
Fig 11: Company analyses model

Goals
 
Last year in the month of November the Board of Governors approved the new long-term
strategic plan for UArctic, establishing its role as membership organization that serves the
North. The upcoming goals for UArctic are that the students in the North should have access
to the best and most relevant instructional and training resources. UArctic also needs to make
sure that all the members of the network participate as key participants in the Arctic research.
Moreover, by 2020 UArctic should be the leader in expanding knowledge about the North.
Last but not the least, the member institutions of the network gain value by participating in
the organization. (UArctic magazine: Shared Voices 2014)  

These goals are the reflection of the UArctic performance in the past years. The students in
the North feel that they need to travel south for attaining the knowledge they are interested in.
Even if that knowledge in available in the Arctic region it might not reflect the world-class
standards. However, id does not mean that all the institutions are of low standards in the
North. In addition, UArctic has not shown its full potential up-till now and that’s why the
member institutions are skeptic towards the value o being part of this network.  

Focus
 

  36  
 
  

UArctic bases its focus on a three level classification. First, UArctic is focusing on presenting
a platform for cooperation between international partners at the administrative level. It
provides access to interaction with intercontinental-Arctic institutions and organizations,
public authorities, business partners and non-profit organizations of the region. UArctic
Rector Forum is one of the examples, where important issues are discussed and agreed upon
at the highest administrative level. In addition, UArctic is trying to spotlight the importance of
giving its members an opportunity to get involved with education and research policy
evolution in the North through collaborative activities and projects. (Marina Kallnina 2014)
 
Secondly, focal point of UArctic is to provide the North a platform for establishing strong
research and academic relations, particularly through assistance with in the Thematic
Networks. Thematic Networks present UArctic members with a great potential for evolving
joint projects and educational programs. For example the UArctic research office anchored by
NArFU (Northern Arctic Federal University) is designed to play a link between Russia and
Western scientists in the Arctic and to boost collaborative interdisciplinary research in the
Arctic. (Marina Kallnina 2014)
 
Last but not the least, UArctic is striving in becoming a tool for students’ absorption in
international assistance through various educational programs, mobility programs such as
north2north mobility, educational projects and student forum. (Marina Kallnina 2014)
 
Culture

Ravasi and Schultz (2006) stated that organizational culture is a set of shared mental
assumptions that guide interpretation and action in organizations by defining appropriate
behavior for various situations. Although a company may have its own unique culture, in
larger organizations there are sometimes conflicting cultures that co-exist owing to the
characteristics of different management teams. Organizational culture may affect employees'
identification with an organization (Schrodt 2002).  
As Wal-Mart grew into the world's largest retailer, its staff was subjected to a long list of dos
and don'ts covering every aspect of their work. Now the firm has decided that its culture
based on rules is too inflexible to cope with the challenges of globalization and technological
change, and is trying to diffuse a “values-based” culture, in which employees can be trusted to
do the right thing because they know what the firm stands for.
  37  
 
  

A new study suggests there is less to this than it says on the label. Commissioned by Dov
Seidman, boss of LRN, a firm that advises on corporate culture, and author of “How”, a book
arguing that the way firms do business matters as much as what they do, and conducted by the
Boston Research Group, the “National Governance, Culture and Leadership Assessment” is
based on a survey of thousands of American employees, from every level of the corporate
ladder.
 
It found that 43% of those surveyed described their company's culture as based on command-
and-control, top-down management. Mr Seidman calls it “blind obedience” (The Economist:
Hunting the rich, 24.09.2011). The corporate culture of UArctic is similar to this. Every single
decision needs to be approved by the board of certain division. Consequently increasing the
loss of time and decreasing the degree of innovation. Thus, setteling the whole organization as
non-innovtive and static. The leadership of UArctic should at least make the management of
north2north an indipendent decision making body. This program adresses the young students
who are dynamic in their approach and are used to new ideas and thoughts. UArctic can learn
from the example of Wal-Mart and bring innovation in their processes but still believing in
their core values and beliefs.
 
Weaknesses
 
Almost every organization on the surface of Earth does this analysis of analyzing the internal
threats and external opportunities they have to face while being in the market. Unveiling these
facts will help any organization in expanding their business and attracting more
customers/consumers. Companies tend to analyze their weaknesses in order focus on a
business area that needs attention and not to damage their character. Few of the weaknesses of
UArctic are as follows:  

Online presence
 
One of the most prominent weaknesses of UArctic lies in its out dated presence on the web
and online in general.  

  38  
 
  

Fig 12: Main page for the UArctic website.11  

For any successful online marketing campaign it is very important to have an attractive home
page for the organization. However, as one can see in the figure above that the main page for
UArctic is outdated and the visitor of this page needs an effort to find relevant information.
 
Consumer of the present era are increasingly using Internet to research organizations, find
their contact information and browse what they have to offer. Consequently, a presentable
presence online may be the pivotal for achieving success in the endless competition in today’s
market. north2north student mobility is present on Facebook but with almost null activity
from both sides i.e. the students and the administration.  

Branding and Reputation

Companies with better brand identification and well-established reputation are thought to
have a higher market share. In addition the consumers tend to believe in the quality of
product/service of a brand with established reputation. From the survey, north2north mobility
it was established that all the subjects participating, knew or had heard about the brand
UArctic However, it is still not established that how well the brand “UArctic” is known
among the students at the member institutions.  

                                                                                                               
11  Main page. UArctic. Website: http://www.Uarctic.org Dated: 15.05.2014

  39  
 
  

Moreover, on the personal account, none of the students responded in a Yes, on being asked if
they knew about UArctic. This suggests that UArctic as a brand of unique opportunities is
unknown among many students and therefore, many of them are unaware of the opportunities
that they have at their door-step. Thus, UArctic needs to portray them selves as a mature and
vibrant brand among the students and should be physically present in the member campuses.
This will help increase their brand recognition that will hopefully translate into more
exchanges per year.
 
The new webpage for education web-portal for students is just one of the steps towards
increasing the interest of students in north2north student mobility program. This page also
increases the level of being dynamic and attractiveness. This web portal is new to the student
and it is much easier to navigate for the right choice of study and destination. Individuals
exclaimed that this new web-portal looks promising and gives perception of a good exchange
program Fig (3).  

 
Fig 13: Main page for UArctic’s study portal.  

Strengths
 
  40  
 
  

In a competitive market, the features that make your company better or more effective than
your competitors are translated as the strengths of the company. For example strength could
be competent and skilled work force in an organization. Below, few of the strengths are
mentioned that UArctic possesses:  

Geography
 
The feature that makes UArctic more interesting than its competitors is the region it is
situated in. Arctic possesses the wilderness and the right appeal for many researchers and
students. As mentioned in the above chapters that UArctic is becoming the focal point of the
whole world. This is happening because of the UArctic’s focus on the People and the region
of the Arctic, melting ice opening up new sea-routes, ever increasing research in the un-
explored vast land of UArctic with bundles of minerals, and last but not the least, oil explorers
are eager to jump in the Arctic region for finding more oil reserves. This situation provides
UArctic with more firmness as compared to its competitors in the region. Therefore,
providing UArctic with the unique selling preposition, “explore the unexplored”.
 
Partners
 
UArctic as an organization has extremely valuable and influential partners that have
distinguished reputation in the market. The Arctic Council, Nordic Council, the governments
of all 8 Arctic countries are few of the allies that are helping UArctic in achieving its goals. In
addition, to the 150 institutions in and outside the Arctic region. Some of these institutions
specialise in the corses related to the Arctic region. Thus providing its stakeholders the value
that they might not achieve in other parts of the globe.  

Market share
 
“Market share is the percentage of an industry or market's total sales that is earned by a
particular company over a specified time period. Taking the company’s sales over the period
and dividing it by the total sales of the industry over the same period calculate market share.
This metric is used to give a general idea of the size of a company to its market and its
competitors”12. In terms of market share the numbers for north2north mobility will be in
decimals as compared to established exchange programs like ERASMUS. 163 students have

                                                                                                               
12  Definition of Market Share. Investopedia US. Website: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketshare.asp Date: 10.08.14.  

  41  
 
  

been on exchange with north2north mobility, while ERASMUS has managed 252, 827
students in 2012 i.e. the difference is almost uncountable. ERASMUS possesses a high The
customer analysis is arguably the most important part of any marketing plan. This analysis
provides the pivotal information for designing the marketing strategy. In order to recruit more
students for north2north mobility program UArctic needs to demonstrate which students they
are looking for. It identifies target customers, determine the needs of these customers, and
then stipulate how the product or service satisfies these needs. There are two main aspects to
any customer analysis, a demographic profiling and a behavioral analysis. Demographic
profiling breaks down customers into age, income, and geographic and other easily
identifiable categories. A behavioral analysis in its simplest form describe the reasons
customers choose to buy a product rather than of the alternatives. This analysis you will find
in detail under chapter Market Segmentation.  

In addition to being a critical component of a company's marketing plan, a customer analysis

is also an excellent tool to use when initiating or upgrading an Internet marketing campaign.
The behavior analysis will aide the development of customer focused content for the Website
and email marketing by identifying precisely what customers want to hear. The customer
demographic profile will help identify the best marketing channels by comparing the
demographics for each of the potential channels (Thorn 2009).
 
If we see the data from the Survey about north2north student mobility and compare it with the
data taken from ERASMUS, see fig (14) exchange one can find many similarities in the
findings. Although our survey is not comprehensive in relative terms. The similarities in the
demographic findings are quite consistent and they are the level of education, the age group
and the gender i.e. bachelor, 20-24 years of age and female respectively.
 
The strategy at present for reaching out to the students is not innovative and exciting. There is
no specific plan for how north2north should reach out to the students rather than just the
lecture talks that north2north administration delivers at the campus. Students are given the
information about north2north exchange program without much feedback, and is expected
that reasonable results will appear. In the last year there were 163 exchanges. This number has
a huge potential to grow if the marketing efforts of north2north mobility increases
tremendously among all the member institutions.
 

  42  
 
  

The students of the north are becoming more dynamic as they are getting more opportunities
at their door-steps. UArctic, is currently promoting the north2north program by only lecture
talks and recently through a newly designed website. This new web site is designed according
to the latest trends. According to UArctic, students have really appreciated this new website
(www.education.uarctic.org). The current strategy of UArctic is to engage the current students
and the alumni through the means of social media. As the need of the time, a well established
social media platform can turn results in-favor of UArctic in terms of increased mobility and
it’s branding. In addition the social media will provide the students an opportunity to share
their stories from their exchange experience with others.

4.5: Customer analyses

 
The customer analysis is arguably the most important part of any marketing plan. This
analysis provides the pivotal information for designing the marketing strategy. In order to
recruit more students for north2north mobility program UArctic needs to demonstrate which
students they are looking for. It identifies target customers, determine the needs of these
customers, and then stipulate how the product or service satisfies these needs. There are two
main aspects to any customer analysis, a demographic profiling and a behavioral analysis.
Demographic profiling breaks down customers into age, income, geographic and other easily
identifiable categories. A behavioral analysis in its simplest form describe the reasons
customers choose to buy a product rather than of the alternatives. This analysis you will find
in detail under chapter Market Segmentation.  

In addition to being a critical component of a company's marketing plan, a customer analysis

is also an excellent tool to use when initiating or upgrading an Internet marketing campaign.
The behavior analysis will aide the development of customer focused content for the Website
and email marketing by identifying precisely what customers want to hear. The customer
demographic profile will help identify the best marketing channels by comparing the
demographics for each of the potential channels (Thorn 2009).  

If we see the data from the Survey about north2north student mobility and compare it with the
data taken from ERASMUS, see fig (14) exchange one can find many similarities in the
findings. Although our survey is not comprehensive in relative terms. The similarities in the
demographic findings are quite consistent and they are the level of education, the age group
and the gender i.e. bachelor, 20-24 years of age and female respectively.  
  43  
 
  

The strategy at present for reaching out to the students is not innovative and exciting. There is
no specific plan for how north2north should reach out to the students rather than just the
lecture talks that north2north administration delivers at the campus. Students are given the
information about north2north exchange program without much feedback, and is expected
that reasonable results will appear. In the last year there were 163 exchanges. This number has
a huge potential to grow if the marketing efforts of north2north mobility increases
tremendously among all the member institutions.  

The students of the north are becoming more dynamic as they are getting more opportunities
at their door-steps. UArctic, is currently promoting the north2north program by only lecture
talks and recently through a newly designed website. This new web site is designed according
to the latest trends. According to UArctic, students have really appreciated this new website
(www.education.uarctic.org). The current strategy of UArctic is to engage the current students
and the alumni through the means of social media. As the need of the time, a well established
social media platform can turn results in-favor of UArctic in terms of increased mobility and
it’s branding. In addition the social media will provide the students an opportunity to share
their stories from their exchange experience with others.

4.6: Competitor Analyses

 
Accessing a lot of customer information in today’s competitive market will not give an edge
to a company if they do not consider the competitive companies. Every company needs
utmost attention towards finding out the plans and strategies of its competitors. Ignoring or
underestimating the threat posed by potential competitors and focusing only on current
competitors is often referred to as “Competitor Myopia”. This term was coined by Theodore
Levitt to describe situations in which firms fail to recognize the full scope of their businesses.
Competitor Myopia can drive firms out of business (Cuellar-Healey & Gomez 2013).  

Competitor analysis provides both an offensive and a defensive strategic context for
identifying opportunities and threats. The offensive strategy context allows firms to more
quickly exploit opportunities and capitalize on strengths. Conversely, the defensive strategy
context allows them to more effectively counter the threat posed by rival firms seeking to
exploit the firm’s own weaknesses. Through competitor analysis, firms identify who their key
competitors are, develop a profile for each of them, identify their objectives and strategies,
assess their strengths and weaknesses, gauge the threat they pose, and anticipate their reaction
  44  
 
  

to competitive moves. Firms that develop systematic and advanced competitor profiling have
a significant competitive advantage. (Cuellar-Healey & Gomez 2013).  

An organization can have multiple competitors direct or indirect. Where as direct competitors
are those that have virtually identical goods or services to sell in the same market, and indirect
competitors are firms selling un-identical goods and services in the same market but, fulfilling
the same needs. This section describes one of the main competitors, among others i.e.
Erasmus student exchange program that is organized and supported by the EU. In addition,
there are other opportunities for students for studying abroad through Kilroy
(http://www.education.kilroy.no) and some other sources.

Market positioning
 
Market positioning is an effort to influence consumer perception of a brand or product,
relative to the perception of competing brands or products. Its objective is to occupy a clear,
unique, and advantageous position in the consumer’s mind.

With more than 150 member institutions in the eight Arctic countries and beyond, UArctic is
the North’s only truly circumpolar higher education institution and one of the world’s largest
education and research networks. Moreover, north2north student mobility program offers
exchange among 55 member institutions of the UArctic network. This program is the only of
its kind and covers the whole Arctic region i.e. all eight. The opportunities that UArctic
provides to the students and the region are high standard education and mutual development
“for the Arctic, by the Arctic”. north2north exchange program has a very strategic importance
in this scenario. As students from the Arctic region travel within the Arctic and gain valuable
knowledge and skills for the sound development of the region. UArctic also positions itself as
keeper of perfect knowledge about the Arctic region whether it is about its people, resources
cultures or landscape.

Erasmus on the other hand positions itself as the biggest exchange provider in the European
region and planning to extend the exchanges with other continents. They also position
themselves as the core in sound development of the communities of Europe through study and
skill exchanges.

Erasmus European Exchange

  45  
 
  

UArctic works with many other organizations and networks in the Circumpolar North and
beyond to promote cooperation in higher education in the region. Below is a list of UArctic’s
partners with which it has formal working relationships. Moreover, the governments of all the
countries in the Arctic Circle have a stake in UArctic’s growth. These governments are
actively funding UArctic’s projects. Canadian government on the other hand, recently stepped
back in funding more projects from UArctic. They argued that the network is not worth of
spending money. However, Norwegian foreign affairs invested Kr 942,000/- in developing its
latest project known as “north2north+”. See appendix (2)

The Arctic Council Northern Forum

United Nations Teachers’

Environmental program Enhancement
institution

Arctic Frontiers Interract

Association of International Arctic

Polar Early Career Scientists Social Science
Association
 
Erasmus is part of the EU’s Lifelong Learning Program, with a budget of EUR 3 .1 billion for
the period 2007-13. During the academic year 2011- 12, 33 countries took part in the Erasmus
Program i.e. the 27 EU Member States, Croatia, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland
and Turkey. On its inauguration year, 3244 students from 11 countries spent a study period
abroad under the Erasmus Program. In 2011-12 the number of Erasmus students exceeded
250,000. In addition, more than 46000 staff from 33 European countries spent time abroad.

Erasmus mobility, with its strategic focus on skills development, is a central element of the
European Commission’s strategy to combat youth unemployment, featuring prominently in
the Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs. It is very interesting to see that UArctic and
Erasmus’s strategy are very similar and is focused for regional development through skill
improvement with the help of student exchange. This provides the students of the region in
the Arctic a choice between two alternative exchange programs. Thus UArctic needs to
improve their communication and presence on the social media. Fig (14) gives a birds-eye
view of the whole ERASMUS exchange program.

  46  
 
  

ERASMUS Strengths

Erasmus study exchange is a well-known exchange program among all European students. It
might not be an exaggeration to say that this exchange program is the first choice for studying
abroad for most of the European students. The organization is well established for just under
30 years now with very promising results. The European Commission directly funds Erasmus
exchange program. Moreover, Erasmus Exchange program is a prominent feature in the future
planning of the European Commission. Its social media presence is admirable and is followed
by the students and the administration for effective and fast communication. Such social
media presence enhances the Student-Student and student-administration integration, which
builds trust. Presence of Erasmus program on social media is discussed in detail in the next
chapter.  

 
13
Fig (14): European Commission: Erasmus student mobility

                                                                                                               
13  Student Mobility in figures. European Commission. Website:
http://www.cimo.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/cimo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/31957_Erasmus_Facts_Figures_Trends_11_12_e
n.pdf. Published 2011-12. Dated 10.08.2014  

  47  
 
  

ERASMUS Social Media presence

 
As mentioned in the theoretical discussion that social media at present holds a lot of power in
terms of creating and improving image among the consumers. A social media page empowers
the consumer to share and interact with people of similar interests and values. Erasmus has
given this very opportunity to its stakeholders, specially the Erasmus students to share their
stories and feel themselves as part of a huge network. Unlike UArctic, Erasmus has integrated
its administration and students through social media. One example of such integration is their
Facebook page known as “Erasmus Student Network” see Fig (14). On this network there are
a lot of stories of different students and sharing their priceless experiences with the network.
At present they have a campaign “#Erasmus Tips” in which the new Erasmus students are
helped with their queries and question about anything.  

 
Fig (15): Erasmus presence on social media. Erasmus student network.14  
 

                                                                                                               
14  Erasmus Student Network. Erasmus European Exchange. Website: https://www.facebook.com/esn?fref=ts Dated 10.08.2014.      

  48  
 
  

Erasmus exchange as part of European culture

 
For many European students, the Erasmus Program is their first time opportunity for living
and studying in another country. Hence, it has become a cultural phenomenon and is very
popular among European students, going on to become the subject of movies such as the
French film L'Auberge Espanola, the documentary Erasmus 24 7 and guidebook Erasmus,
Here I Come!.
 
The Program cherishes not only learning and understanding of the host country, but also a
sense of community among students from different countries. The Erasmus experience is
considered both a time for learning as well as a chance to socialize.
 
Some academics have speculated that former Erasmus students will prove to be a powerful
force in creating a pan-European identity. The political scientist Stefan Wolff, for example,
has argued that "Give it 15, 20 or 25 years, and Europe will be run by leaders with a
completely different socialization from those of today", referring to the so-called 'Erasmus
generation'.15  
 
KILROY Education
 
KILROY is an international organization based in traveling education and is not a direct
competitor for north2north student mobility. This educational program provides an
opportunity for students to travel to different countries for education purposes. KILROY’s
Annual Report 2013 states ”The KILROY brand is strong in the student market, also in terms
of education abroad. KILROY offers counseling service for students seeking overseas study
and internship opportunities. The current portfolio provides a range of destinations, fields of
study and experience via highly-ranked universities and other education partners throughout
the world.”

A merger between Nordic student travel organizations and the Scandinavian Student Travel
Service (SSTS) created Kilroy International AS. The idea around establishing these
organizations was to provide the youth in the Scandinavian countries with affordable travel
opportunities. It is interesting that what started off as an initiative to promote youth’s mobility
                                                                                                               
15  Erasmus Programme. Erasmus European Exchange. Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_Programme Dated 10.08.2014    

  49  
 
  

and their wellbeing was transformed in to a brand that became a common brand signifying
affordable travel opportunities for its customers. The key success factor that has given Kilroy
the edge lies with the fact that the group consists of travel organizations that have partnered
together in order to achieve the common goal of acquiring affordable travel options for their
customers.

Strengths

The main strength behind the success of the Kilroy lies with the way the group has been able
to utilize the economies of scale to their advantage; where bulk purchase has an important
role in influencing the affordability of travel plans for its customers. The other main strength
that Kilroy focuses on is that it believes in creation of strong brands and their dedication
towards the understanding of the markets need and adjusting accordingly. In addition to this,
Kilroy as a group has several business area and all of which have their own profit –and-loss
responsibility, which enables the group to operate most efficiently and effectively, being able
to recognize the weaknesses within the group and addressing it accordingly.

4.7: Collaborators
 
UArctic works with many other organizations and networks in the Circumpolar North and
beyond to promote cooperation in higher education in the region. Below is a list of UArctic’s
partners with which it has formal working relationships. Moreover, the governments of all the
countries in the Arctic Circle have a stake in UArctic’s growth. These governments are
actively funding UArctic’s projects. Canadian government on the other hand, recently stepped
back in funding more projects from UArctic. They argued that the network is not worth of
spending money. However, Norwegian foreign affairs invested Kr 942,000/- in developing its
latest project known as “north2north+”. See appendix ( )

The Arctic Council Northern Forum

United Nations Teachers’

Environmental program Enhancement
institution

  50  
 
  

Arctic Frontiers Interract

Association of International Arctic

Polar Early Career Scientists Social Science
Association

4.8: PEST Analyses

PEST analysis describes a framework of macro-environmental factors used in environmental

scanning. It is a part of the external analysis when doing market research and gives a certain
overview of the different macro-environmental factors that the company has to take into
consideration. PEST analyses for UArctic will include all the 8 Arctic countries. The thesis
will analyze the whole region as one entity. The discussion will include the similarities and
the differences among the 8 Arctic countries under each variable i.e. political, economical,
social and technological.

Political
 
Political factors are basically to what degree the government intervenes in the economy.
Specifically, political factors include areas such as tax policy, labor law, environmental
law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability. Political factors may also include goods
and services which the government wants to provide or be provided and those that the
government does not want to be provided. Furthermore, governments have great influence on
the health, education, and infrastructure of a nation.16

All Arctic countries are very similar in terms of political and economic stability, technological
advancements and societal values on the macro level. But, Russia on the other hand, is unique
in its own way. Communism prevails in Russia. In other 7 Arctic countries Democracy is the
way of rule. However, Capitalism dominates these countries. The political situation in the
Scandinavian and North America is very stable. Parliamentarianism, democracy, a high
proportion of women in the national parliaments and a well-developed welfare model are all

                                                                                                               
16  PESTEL Analyses. CIPD. Website: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/pestle-analysis.aspx Published: October 2013 Dated.
12.08.14

  51  
 
  

characteristic of politics in the Nordic Region17. In addition, Scandinavian and North

American are considered to be the best for living standards.

The situation in Russia is a bit different. The living standards are not the best you can find and
due to the recent developments between Ukraine and Russia the political stability is under
pressure. Due to the political situation in Russia a lot of students are willing to travel outside
the country for education and finding a job. Russian students are the main supply for
north2north student mobility. The north2north administration is now planning to work
strategically to get students from other countries to choose their program for study exchanges.

Economical

Economical factors include economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates, and the inflation
rate.18 Although there are some significant differences among the Nordic countries, they all
share some common traits. These include support for a "universalist" welfare state relative to
other welfare states, which is aimed specifically at enhancing individual autonomy,
promoting social mobility and ensuring the universal provision of basic human rights, as well
as for stabilizing the economy, alongside a commitment to free trade (Pontusson, 2011). The
economic situation of the Nordic countries is stable as compared to south or European
countries. Oil and Gas are the main source of income for Norway. Sweden is known for its
automotive and green gas generation. Denmark’s income sources are exports of agriculture,
farm and dairy products and oil and gas19. Electronics, machinery and other engineered goods
are the main produce and exports of Finland’s economy20. Iceland's economy depended
heavily on fishing, which still provides 40% of export earnings and employs 7% of the work
force. However, its importance is diminishing from an export share of 90% in the 1960s to
40% in 200621.
 
Canada’s manufacturing, mining, and service sectors have transformed the nation from a
largely rural economy to an urbanized, industrial one. Like many other developed nations, the
Canadian economy is dominated by the service industry, which employs about three-quarters
                                                                                                               
17  Politics. Norden. Website: http://www.norden.org/en/the-nordic-region/politics 12.08.14
18  PESTEL Analyses. CIPD. Website: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/pestle-analysis.aspx Published: October 2013 Dated.
12.08.14
19  Denmark. GlobalEdge. Website: http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/denmark/economy. Dated: 12.08.2014.
20  Finland. International Monetary Fund. Website:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2013/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=65&pr.y=7&sy=2009&ey=2012&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=count
ry&ds=.&br=1&c=172&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a= Retrieved 17 April 2013. Dated:
15.08.14  
21  Energy Data. Askja Energy. Website: http://askjaenergy.org/iceland-introduction/energy-data/ Dated: 12.08.14.

  52  
 
  

of the country's workforce. However, Canada is unusual among developed countries in the
importance of its primary sector, in which the logging and petroleum industries are two of the
most prominent components22. The United States is the largest importer of goods and second
largest exporter. In 2010, the total U.S. trade deficit was $635 billion. Canada, China, Mexico,
Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners. In 2010, oil was the largest import
commodity, while transportation equipment was the country's largest export. Chemical
products are the leading manufacturing field. The United States is the third largest producer of
oil in the world, as well as its largest importer. It is the world's number one producer of
electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt.
While agriculture accounts for just less than 1% of GDP, the United States is the world's top
producer of corn and soybeans.23
Russia has an economy with enormous natural resources, particularly oil and natural gas. It
has the 9th largest economy in the world by nominal GDP. Since the turn of the 21st century,
higher domestic consumption and greater political stability have bolstered economic growth
in Russia. The country ended 2008 with its ninth straight year of growth, averaging 7%
annually between 2000 and 2008. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than
80% of Russian exports abroad.24

Social
 
Social factors include the cultural aspects and include health consciousness, population
growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes and emphasis on safety. Trends in social factors
affect the demand for a company's products and how that company operates. For example, an
aging population may imply a smaller and less-willing workforce thus increasing the cost of
labor.25 Nordic countries have historically been one of the most socially progressive cultures
in the world and culture is one of the main components of co-operation between the Nordic
countries. The policies of the Nordic countries with respect to cultural life, mass media and
religion have many shared values and features in common. However, some differences may
be pointed out; for instance, cultural institutions arising from historical circumstances. In both

                                                                                                               
22  Canada.  Statistics  Canada.  Website:  http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-­‐tableaux/sum-­‐som/l01/cst01/gblec02a-­‐eng.htm  November  
16,  2009.  Dated:  12.08.2014.  
23  USA trade statistics. Greyhill Advisors. Website: http://greyhill.com/trade-statistics Dated. 12.08.14.
24  Russia. World Development indicator. Website: http://databank.worldbank.org/data/home.aspx last updated: 09.04.2014. Dated:
12.08.14.
25  PESTEL Analyses. CIPD. Website: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/pestle-analysis.aspx Published: October 2013 Dated.
12.08.14  

  53  
 
  

Denmark and Sweden, there are cultural institutions with roots in the traditions of the royal
courts. In these countries, national institutions formed the foundation of cultural life at an
early stage while, in Norway cultural institutions began to form later.26

Canada's culture draws influences from its broad range of constituent nationalities, and
policies that promote multiculturalism are constitutionally protected. In Quebec, cultural
identity is strong, and many French-speaking commentators speak of a culture of Quebec that
is distinct from English Canadian culture. However, as a whole, Canada is in theory a cultural
mosaic – a collection of several regional, aboriginal, and ethnic subcultures. Government
policies such as publicly funded health care, higher taxation to redistribute wealth, the
outlawing of capital punishment, strong efforts to eliminate poverty, strict gun control, and
the legalization of same-sex marriage are further social indicators of Canada's political and
cultural values (Bricker and Wright, 2005). The United States is home to many cultures and a
wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values. Mainstream American culture is a
western culture largely derived from the traditions of European immigrants with influences
from many other sources, such as traditions brought by slaves from Africa. More recent
immigration from Asia and especially Latin America has added to a cultural mix that has been
described as both a homogenizing melting point, and a heterogeneous salad bowl in which
immigrants and their descendants retain distinctive cultural characteristics.27

Among all of the Arctic countries, Russia is most diverse in their culture. There are over 160
different ethnic groups and indigenous peoples in Russia. Ethnic Russians with their Slavic
Orthodox traditions, Tatars and Bashkirs with their Turkic Muslim
culture, Buddhist nomadic Buryats and Kalmyks, Shamanistic peoples of the Extreme
North and Siberia, highlanders of the Northern Caucasus, Finno-Ugric peoples of the Russian
North West and Volga region all contribute to the cultural diversity of the country.28

Technological
 

                                                                                                               
26  Top 10 best selling Scandinavian artists of all time. All Scandinavian. Peter Krogholm and Thomas Brundstom. Website:
http://allscandinavian.com/591/top-1010-best-selling-scandinavian-artists-of-all-time/ Published 10.03.2014  
Dated 12.08.14
27  USA. Americans give record $295B to Charity. Website: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-25-
charitable_N.htm?POE=click-refer Published. 25.06.2007. Dated. 12.08.14.  
28  The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Website: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html
Dated: 12.08.14.  

  54  
 
  

Technological factors include technological aspects such as R&D activity, automation,

technology incentives and the rate of technological change.29 All Scandinavian countries are
technically advanced and are contributing actively to the development of new innovations
across different industries. In the 20th century, Danes have been innovative in several fields
of the technology sector. Danish companies have been influential in the shipping industry
with the design of the largest and most energy efficient container ships in the world. Danish
engineers have contributed to the design of MAN Diesel engines. In the software and
electronic field, Denmark contributed to design and manufacturing of Nordic Mobile
Telephones, and the now-defunct Danish company DanCall was among the first to
develop GSM mobile phones.30 The traditional engineering industry is still a major source of
Swedish inventions, but pharmaceuticals, electronics and other high-tech industries are
gaining ground. Tetra Pak was an invention for storing liquid foods, invented by Erik
Wallenberg. Losec, an ulcer medicine, was the world's best-selling drug in the 1990s and was
developed by AstraZenica. More recently Håkan Lans invented the Automatic Identification
System, a worldwide standard for shipping and civil aviation navigation. A large portion of
the Swedish economy is to this day based on the export of technical inventions, and many
large multinational corporations from Sweden have their origins in the ingenuity of Swedish
inventors. Swedish inventors held 41,735 patents in the United States in 2012, according to
the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As a nation, only ten other countries hold
more patents than Sweden. 31

In 2011, Canada spent approximately C$29.9 billion on domestic research and

development. As of 2012, the country has produced fourteen Nobel Laureates
in physics, chemistry and medicine and was ranked fourth worldwide for scientific research
quality in a major 2012 survey of international scientists. It is additionally home to a number
of global technology firms. Canada ranks seventeenth in the world for Internet users as a
proportion of the population, with over 28.4 million users, equivalent to around 83 percent of
its total 2012 population.32 The United States has been a leader in scientific research and
technological innovation since the late 19th century. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was

                                                                                                               
29  PESTEL Analyses. CIPD. Website: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/pestle-analysis.aspx Published: October 2013 Dated.
12.08.14  
30  Denmark. GlobalEdge . Website: http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/denmark/economy. Dated: 12.08.2014  
31  Fact Sheet FS 4. Sweden.se Website: Sweden.se. Published: February 2010. Dated:12.08.14
32  Top 250 Canadian Technological companies. Branham Group Inc. Website:
http://www.branham300.com/index.php?year=2011&listing=1 Dated. 12.08.14.

  55  
 
  

awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone. Thomas Edison’s laboratory developed the
phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera. In the early
20th century, the automobile companies of Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford popularized
the assembly line. The Wright brothers, in 1903, made the first sustained and controlled
heavier-than-air powered flight.33

Science and technology in Russia blossomed since the age of Enlightenment– emphesiz on
reason and individualism- when Peter the Great founded the Russian academy of
Science and Saint Petersburg State University, and plymath Mikael Lumonosov established
the Moscow State University, paving the way for a strong native tradition in learning and
innovation. In the 19th and 20th centuries the country produced a large number of notable
scientists and inventors.34

4.9: SWOT Analyses

A tool of situation analysis, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) is used
in the preliminary stage of strategic decision-making (Johnson et al 1989) where it provides
the basic framework for strategic analysis. SWOT generates lists, or inventories, of strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Organizations use these inventories to generate
strategies that fit their particular anticipated situation. One of the main purposes of these
analyses is to convert the weaknesses and threats of an organization into strengths and
opportunities. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a product, place, industry or person. It
involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the
internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective.35
The objective of north2north student mobility at present is to increase their awareness, and
recruit more students through social media. Identification of SWOTs is important because
they can inform later steps in planning to achieve the objective.

The discussion will continue by describing internal and external aspects of the company by
expounding strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats. During this section I will focus
only on the north2north project.

                                                                                                               
33  Edison’s Story. Lemelson Center. Website: http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/edison/000_story_02.asp Dated. 12.08.14.
34  Panzerkampfwagen T-34George Parada (n.d.) Achtung Panzer!. Website: http://www.achtungpanzer.com/panzerkampfwagen-t-34r-
soviet-t-34-in-german-service.htm Dated: 12.08.14.
35  SWOT Analyses. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis Dated: 12.08.2014.

  56  
 
  

Strengths
 
Strengths are the characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over
others. 55 member institutions of the UArctic network are currently part of the north2north
program and are reported to grow over period. The north2north program is supported by
National Agencies in some of the 8 Arctic countries and by an international network of
member institution contacts. north2north student mobility is funded by Norwegian Ministry of
Education together with an in kind contribution from Finnmark University College. The
International as well as the Norwegian National office are supported by the UArctic
Secretariat hosted by the University of Lapland with consistent year-to-year funding. The
administration of the program as well as the mobility operations are supported through
additional funding from the Governments of Sweden and Finland and each participating
UArctic institutions. Last year the program supported 326 students, which is good as
compared to the low awareness this program has in the member institutions.

Weaknesses
 
Weaknesses are the characteristics that place the business or project at a disadvantage relative
to others. The promotion efforts for norrth2north program are consistent in all the
participating institutions. For example at University of Tromsø the program is promoted by
only one channel and that is an information meeting with the students. There is no active
participation on social media or visual presence at the university campus. Very little activity
on the social media is one of the biggest weaknesses of the program. The administration
should learn from examples like Erasmus’s presence on social media, i.e. being active and
engaging students throughout Europe. One of the organizational weaknesses in the structure
of the organization is top to bottom structure. We learnt in the PEST Analysis that Nordic
countries are used to work in flat structure environment, which totally contradicts with the
UArctic’s organizational structure that consists of 5 out of 8 countries.

Opportunities
 
Opportunities can be defined as the external elements that a project could exploit to its
advantage. north2north student mobility program can extensively increase the number of
exchanges by including more member institution. The north2north program administration is

  57  
 
  

looking into the opportunity of expanding their horizon to non-Arctic countries under the new
initiative known as “north2north+”. This opportunity will open new grounds for the program
and will generate more awareness of the brand. north2north should look into the promotional
opportunities in the member organization by implementing new ideas like student
ambassadors and student fairs. There is a huge opportunity for this program to create
awareness around it at the campuses of member institutions.

Threats

Threats are the elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or
project. One example of such threats that can put a negative influence on the project is that,
the government of Canada has stopped funding the north2north project. Therefore, it is a
threatening situation as other countries might take the same lead and stop funding the project.
Another threat to this program is the strong competitors in the market like Erasmus and
Kilroy. Students form the Arctic region can choose any of these opportunities for studying
abroad. New entrants in the market like Erasmus+ create an environment where the students
from all over Europe and outside Europe can apply for exchange. This threatens the position
of north2north and might push it down.

North2north exchange program has a lot of potential to grow and assist UArctic in achieving
their mission of educated and skilled Arctic. By believing in their strengths of secure funding
they can utilize their assets in an effective way by strategic market planning. North2north in
itself is a threat to other exchange programs as its unique for the Arctic region with credibility
of all 8 Arctic countries. They should focus on their weaknesses and try to implement a flat
organizational structure for effective administration and innovative process development.

4.10: Market segmentation

 
Smith introduced an integral part of market planning known as market segmentation, in 1956.
A market segment is a group within a market that is clearly identifiable based on convinced
criteria. Consumers within such a sub-market are pretended to be quite identical in their
demands, characteristics and behaviors (Lin 2002). In other words, acknowledging that all the
customers are not the same and are thus divided into non-homogeneous markets leads to an
important strategic maneuver known as market segmentation.  

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The process of splitting of customers or potential customers with in a market into different
groups or segments is known as market segmentation. For the companies that are competing
in the today’s competitive market, the final say is always with the customer. The today’s
customer is living in the knowledge era and has a lot of options present at its disposal to
choose from. Based on .the assessments and perceptions, the customers make their choices
and choose the prepositions that they believe provide them with the best value of their money.
(McDonald & Dunbar, 2004). Therefore, the companies have to understand the customers’
perceptions of what those prepositions are and in what way they can be profitable for the
company.  

Market Segmentation approaches:

 
Market segmentation process is highly adaptable framework. In addition to student
recruitment, it can be used to segment and classify: donors relative to fund raising; employers
relative to student placement; participants relative to trainings; and alumni relative to
involvement (Lewison & Hawes 2007). This thesis uses the following approaches for
determining the market segmentation. These approaches will in addition, include the results
and findings from the survey conducted among north2north mobility students from different
universities and colleges in the UArctic network. See appendix 1. This section will also
include the findings that are specific for the Arctic region.  

  59  
 
  

Fig 16: Olga Filonchuk. Market Segmentation Approaches36.  

Geographical
 
Geographic boundaries might be considered as the pinnacle to determine for carrying out a
market segmentation project. Geographic analysis helps in analyzing the size of the market,
enables the project to understand the localities in order to develop related plans and strategies
and last but not the least identifying the opportunities that different localities withhold.
Figuring out the geographic scope is as important for any organization regardless of its size or
even if it is local or global (McDonald & Dunbar 2004). However, in case of UArctic the
geographic boundaries are spread over eight Arctic countries and above 150 institutions, thus
fueling the amount of challenges for finding the right market segments. On the other hand, it
also limits the number of possible segments as the market is quantifiable and can be reached
with the already present communication network, UArctic.  

The idea of conducting a survey was to find out the most attractive institutions and arctic
countries for north2north mobility program. The survey got very little response therefore it is
very difficult to determine specific results. The study will include the assumptions based on
the information gathered from the survey. Geographical data is shown with the help of figure
7. Out of these countries there were 15 different universities that were represented in the
survey.  

International companies and networks would love to map out a single global segmentation
model that can be applied to every single country. However, these companies have
experienced over the years that while entering a new market they might have to act local.
Moreover, this does not necessarily mean that every country is solitary in terms of the
segments found in it. Russia on the other hand might be considered as a very different market
as compared to other five shown in the figure (McDonald & Dunbar 2004). Social media in
Russia is different when it comes to the use of social media channels e.g. in the rest of the
countries Facebook might be considered as a standard tool for promoting education with the
students and with in students but, in Russia the mostly used social network is VKontakte.
However, the information gathered from the focus group it was mentioned that VKontakte is

                                                                                                               

36
How To Build Customer Profiles For Your Social Media and Content Strategy. SteamFeed. Website:
 http://www.steamfeed.com/customer-profile-social-media-content-strategy/  Published: 26.11.13. Dated: 08.08.2014  
  60  
 
  

not used for promoting education. This could also translate for UArctic to exploit one more
channel in a different geographic boundary.  

                                       Canada                          USA                          Russia                            Norway                          Finland  

Fig. 17: Countries of the respondents from the “Survey about north2north student mobility.”  

Demographical
The segmentation based on demographics consists of these variables: age, sex and lifestyle
etc. These variables are combined to create a demographic profile that is used to determine
the data about an exemplary group in order to develop a mental picture for the assumption
(McDonald & Dunbar 2004). Demographics tell us something about the person but not
enough to know the person and do not tell a great deal about consumer’s life or their lifestyle
(Lin 2002).  

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1: Bachelor, 2: Masters, 3: PhD, 4: others.  

Fig: 18. The education level of the respondents from the “Survey about north2north student mobility.”  

Fig. 5 and 6 are taken from the internally conducted survey for north2north student mobility
showing that more than 65% of the respondents were between the age 21-24 and half of the
whole surveyed population is studying at bachelor level. The students that answered the
survey are a mix of 67.4% Female and 32.6% male. However, this does not suggest that the
female students are most likely to go on exchange.  

1: 17-20, 2: 21-24, 3: 25-28, 4: 29-32, 5: 33-35.  

Fig 18: The age group of the respondents from the “Survey about north2north student mobility.”  

The information gathered from the survey may not be comprehensive, however it does
provide with a head start in recognizing some of the traits of the students that need to be
considered while mapping out a marketing strategy. Moreover, these traits are quite similar to
the findings of our competitors. Demographics have an important role to play in market
segmentation however; it does not define the proposition of the segment requirements. These
attributes of the customers are used in identifying the particular characteristics of individuals
in different segments of the market (McDonald & Dunbar 2004).  

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Psychographical
Another very important insight of individuals in a segment that cannot define the customers’
entire proposition but plays an important role in identifying different emotional and value
based perspectives. In other words, psychographics are lifestyle and personality descriptors. It
not only assists in targeting the right market, it also becomes a critical source for gaining the
attention of the marked segment. By identifying internal drivers of customer behavior that can
be associated with specific segments, psychographics can help define the most appropriate
emotional stance to take. (McDonald & Dunbar, 2004).  

There is a relationship between lifestyle and consumer behavior (Fullerton 2007) so people
with similar lifestyle buy similar products/services.
 
Behavioral
 
Behavioral segmentation is based on the variables such as usage patterns, price/cost
sensitivity, brand loyalty and benefits sought. Benefit sought is an important form of
behavioral segmentation. Benefit segmentation requires marketers to understand and find the
main benefits customers look for in a product/service. Behavioral analysis also helps in
finding out how the consumers make their decisions or what influences their decision-making.
As it became clear from the survey that one of the biggest benefits for the students is the
scholarship program as explained graphically in fig 10. The students were asked; why did
they choose the north2north exchange program?

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                                         1 2 3 4 5 6

1   It has a good reputation  

2   My friends have done it  
3   It provides a scholarship  
4   I could choose many different institutions  
5   Because I wanted to stay in the North.  
6   Other  
Fig. 19: Why did the students choose this program? “Survey about north2north student mobility.”  

Conclusion
Economic stability and security are one of the main concerns for the students. Most students
that come to Tromsø for an exchange are actively looking for some source of income during
their stay. Same practices are followed in other countries as well. However, due to the
economic support of north2north student mobility the students feel much comfortable and
secure with the economic situation.

The students that are most likely to do exchange through north2north student mobility are
bachelor students with an average age of 21-24 (see figures 18 &19). The countries that are
most active in this exchange program are Norway, Finland, Russia, USA and Canada.

4.11: The Marketing strategy

 
Marketing strategy is the explanation of how an organization is going to achieve its marketing
goals. Marketing strategy is solemnly based on the marketing goals that are set by the
organization. Organizational goal in this case is spreading the word about north2north student
mobility through social media, specifically through Facebook. The strategy for spreading the
word through Facebook will be dependent on two parts. One part will focus on managing the
content and the other will be marketing of the Facebook page and the Facebook group. A
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strategic linear model has been developed for understanding the process through which
Facebook page will be managed and promoted fig (16).

Management
The real challenge for north2north right now is their active use of social media by the staff.
The traffic on their Facebook page is almost none. See (16)

Fig (16): north2north’s Facebook page. North2north.37

One of the main reasons for this low traffic is the lack of centralized accountability. None of
the staff is directly responsible for posting the content on behalf of north2north program.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the Facebook page should be organized by one full-
time employed social media professional working from the main office i.e. Arctic University
of Norway, campus Alta. If the hiring of a full-time professional is not cost efficient,
north2north can hire an individual with experience for internship for example through
AIESEC at UiT.38 A dedicated hiring for social media will ensure an active presence of the
program and its content. This facebook page can include the recommendations that we
received from the survey.

                                                                                                               
37  north2north. Facebook official page. Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/north2north/10150089098885074?fref=ts. Dated:
14.08.14  
38  AIESEC for companies. AIESEC. Website: http://aiesec.no/companies/ Dated: 14.08.14

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Name   Percent  
Information  about  study  options  (programs,  field  work,  courses)   82.6%  
Student  stories  and  experiences   78.3%  
Information  about  institutions   58.7%  
Information  about  study  destinations  (City,  region,  country)   56.5%  
Practical  information  about  scholarship  programmes  and  application  process   65.2%  
Invitation  to  webinars  and  moocs   23.9%  
Information  about  conferences  and  workshops   28.3%  
Activities  of  UArctic  thematic  networks   26.1%  
Other   4.3%  
N   46  
Table (2)): What content and features should a North2North facebook group provide?

Promotion
 
The second part will deal with the promotion of facebook page. At present the staff at every
member institution is promoting the program by lecture talks and it has seemed to work just
fine. The students feel more credibility of the information coming from an official. After the
proper management of the facebook page the staff can also promote the facebook page to the
students. However, the main contribution here will be the student ambassadors. UArctic is
planning to hire a student ambassador in all 55 member institutions that are part of
north2north mobility. These student ambassadors along side the promotion of the mobility
program should also highlight the facebook community that can help the students with
valuable information. This facebook community will act like a support mechanism for the
new prospective students that are willing to go on an exchange.

The student ambassador will play a very important role, as he/she is the link between UArctic
and the students at campus. A student ambassadors is selected to positively represent a
college or university as they help prospective students by answering questions and giving
campus tours. However, the duties that the UArctic’s student ambassador may perform are to
encourage the prospective students to choose north2north student program as their exchange
program choice through student fairs and stands. He/she will assist the prospective students in
gathering information from the Facebook page. Last but not the least, he/she will be trained in
a way that he/she can answer any kind of questions related to exchange from their institution
or UArctic related questions. The student ambassador will be trained with the help of weekly
manuals with all the instructions on how to promote, which he/she will follow. Every week

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will have designated tasks for promoting north2north program on the campus. In addition the
student ambassador can promote the facebook page. The model underneath shows the flow of
information on Facebook and also which, elements are active at what stage. The beginning
phase is the proper employment of an individual. This is important, as the staff at the partner
institutions should be active only in administrative job. And it has been experienced that the
staff responsible for north2north at the partner institutions are not active in publishing any
information on the official Facebook page.

“The staffs at the partner institutions responsible for north2north exchange program
have other administrative work in addition to north2north administration. Moreover, the staff
does not have proper training in managing the facebook page.”
Ute Vogel.

This leads to zero participation of the administration on the page, thus the students do not
have any motivation to visit the page. By having a dedicated person the information flow will
be high and will result in more traffic on the page. When the page is set up it can be promoted
with the help of student ambassadors at partner institutions. As mentioned above the student
ambassadors in every partner institution will be promoting north2north exchange through
student fairs, presentation and marketing material, Facebook page and group should also be
promoted by the ambassador. The facebook page should also be mentioned on the marketing
material and the PowerPoint presentations. This act of promoting the Facebook page will
increase brand awareness for the exchange program and will positively affect the Facebook
page traffic.

The last step in the information chain will be the north2north administrative staff and the
potential students who are willing to go for an exchange. At present one of the most affective
ways for the students in gathering information is joining a Facebook page or a group. In my
own experience with the university administrative work almost all the international students
joined the Facebook page of the University of Tromsø before arriving in the city. The
north2north staff can navigate the prospect student to the Facebook page for gather more
information about the formalities around exchange program.

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north2north  Admin.  

Facebook  

Student  Ambassador  

Member  institutions  
Social  Media   north2north   Promotional   The  
Responsible   ofdicial  page   activities  of   north2north  
and   north2north   staff  members  
north2north   exchange   integrate  their  
Student   program  and   lecture  talks  
Network  group     its  social  media       with  social  
media  
information.      

Fig ( 17 ): Processed communication flow through Facebook.

It is recommended to north2north mobility with the help of Student ambassadors that they
should create a facebook group aswell. This Facebook page will allow all the students of
north2north exchange their stories and other relevant information that might be helpful for
any other prospect student. The group will also give the students the comfort and informality
to freely express their feelings and feedback. north2north program requests its exchange
students to write down a feedback note (Appendix 3) for further improvements. The
Facebook group can also provide opportunity to give their feedback in an informal way. This
will help north2north mobility program in receiving honest and quick feedback. In order to
make it innovative and exciting the students can be given a free hand to choose their feedback
method. For example a student can make a video or write a poem about the Arctic and post it
on the group. This will enhance the creativity and innovative thinking in the students.

In this way north2north can keep the formality through their Facebook page where they share
information about the administrative matters like deadlines and admission dates etc. In
addition, this action will let the students open up and share what they have in their hearts
through videos and other creative means.

A successful way of increasing the traffic for the page or a group could be creating a contest
related to the mobility program. One example could be “Creative feedback contest”. The

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students are given the opportunity to give their feedback in the most creative and innovative
way. The most creative feedback post on the group or page will be awarded.

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

  69  
 
  

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  73  
 
  

 
Appendix
1: Survey about North2North student mobility
1.  Gender  

  Name  
1   Male  
2   Female  
 

Name   Percent  
Male   32.6%  
Female   67.4%  
N   46  
   

   

  74  
 
  

2.  Your  age  group?  

  Name  
1   17  -­‐    20  
2   21  -­‐  24  
3   25  -­‐  28  
4   29  -­‐  32  
5   33  -­‐  36  
 

Name   Percent  
17  -­‐    20   4.3%  
21  -­‐  24   65.2%  
25  -­‐  28   26.1%  
29  -­‐  32   2.2%  
33  -­‐  36   2.2%  
N   46  
   

   

  75  
 
  

3.  Which  country  are  you  from?  

  Name  
1   Canada  
2   USA  
3   Russia  
4   Norway  
5   Finland  
6   Sweden  
7   Denmark  
8   Greenland  
9   Iceland  
10   Other  
 

Name   Percent  
Canada   15.2%  
USA   10.9%  
Russia   26.1%  
Norway   19.6%  
Finland   28.3%  
Sweden   0.0%  
Denmark   0.0%  
Greenland   0.0%  
Iceland   0.0%  
Other   0.0%  
N   46  
   

   

  76  
 
  

4.  Your  level  of  education?  

  Name  
1   Bachelors  
2   Masters  
3   Ph.D  
4   Other  
 

Name   Percent  
Bachelors   50.0%  
Masters   34.8%  
Ph.D   2.2%  
Other   13.0%  
N   46  
   

   

  77  
 
  

5.  What  kind  of  mobility  or  scholarship  programme  have  you  participated/are  
participating  in?  

  Name  
1   North2North  
2   High  North  Scholarship  Programme  
3   Nordplus  /  Nordlys  
4   None  
5   I  don't  know  
6   Other  
 

Name   Percent  
North2North   89.1%  
High  North  Scholarship  Programme   6.5%  
Nordplus  /  Nordlys   0.0%  
None   2.2%  
I  don't  know   0.0%  
Other   2.2%  
N   46  
   

   

  78  
 
  

6.  How  good  are  you  familiar  with  the  University  of  the  Arctic  (UArctic)?  

  Name  
1   Yes,  I  know  what  it  is.  
2   I  have  heard  of  it.  
3   Never  heard  of  it.  
4   Did  you  mean  The  Arctic  University  of  Norway?  
5   I  would  like  to  know  more  about  it.  
6   I  don't  know  
 

Name   Percent  
Yes,  I  know  what  it  is.   56.5%  
I  have  heard  of  it.   23.9%  
Never  heard  of  it.   8.7%  
Did  you  mean  The  Arctic  University  of  Norway?   6.5%  
I  would  like  to  know  more  about  it.   4.3%  
I  don't  know   0.0%  
N   46  
   

   

  79  
 
  

7.  What  is  the  name  of  your  home  institution?  

Arctic  State  Institute  of  Art  and  Culture  =  1  response  

Memorial  University  of  Newfoundland  =  2  responses  

Murmansk  State  Humanities  University  =  3  responses  

North-­‐Eastern  Federal  University  =  3  responses  

Northern  Arctic  Federal  University  =  2  responses  

Nunavut  Arctic  College  =  1  response  

State  Polar  Academy  =  1  response  

UiT  =  10  responses  

Ukhta  State  Technical  University  =  2  responses  

University  of  Alaska  Fairbanks  =  4  responses  

University  of  Lapland  =  5  responses  

University  of  Northern  British  Columbia  =  2  responses  

University  of  Saskatchewan  =  1  response  

University  of  Turku  =  8  responses  

Vancouver  Island  University  =  1  response  

8.  Does  your  home  institution  belong  to  the  UArctic  network?  

  80  
 
  

  Name  
1   Yes  
2   No  
3   I  don't  know  
 

Name   Percent  
Yes   73.9%  
No   0.0%  
I  don't  know   26.1%  
N   46  
   

   

  81  
 
  

9.  What  made  you  choose  your  host  institution?  

  Name  
1   My  institution  recommended  it  
2   I  follow  the  institutions  on  Social  media  
3   My  friends  are  there  
4   Its  adventurous  there  
5   The  right  course  for  me  
6   The  geographical  location  
7   The  reputation  of  the  institution  
8   The  country  it  is  located  in  
9   I  don't  know  
10   Other  
 

Name   Percent  
My  institution  recommended  it   32.6%  
I  follow  the  institutions  on  Social  media   2.2%  
My  friends  are  there   10.9%  
Its  adventurous  there   28.3%  
The  right  course  for  me   39.1%  
The  geographical  location   41.3%  
The  reputation  of  the  institution   17.4%  
The  country  it  is  located  in   54.3%  
I  don't  know   0.0%  
Other   15.2%  
N   46  
   

   

  82  
 
  

10.  How  did  you  learn  about  the  North2North  mobility  programme?  

  Name  
1   From  a  friend  
2   University  staff  
3   Social  media  (Facebook/Twitter)  
4   Internet/Websites  
5   Brochure/Flyers  
6   Student  fair  
7   Newsletter/e-­‐mail  
8   Other  
 

Name   Percent  
From  a  friend   19.6%  
University  staff   78.3%  
Social  media  (Facebook/Twitter)   0.0%  
Internet/Websites   23.9%  
Brochure/Flyers   13.0%  
Student  fair   2.2%  
Newsletter/e-­‐mail   2.2%  
Other   0.0%  
N   46  
   

   

  83  
 
  

11.  Why  did  you  choose  this  program?  

  Name  
1   It  has  a  good  reputation  
2   My  friends  have  done  it  
3   It  provides  a  scholarship  
4   I  could  choose  many  different  institutions  
5   Because  I  wanted  to  stay  in  the  North.  
6   Other  
 

Name   Percent  
It  has  a  good  reputation   4.3%  
My  friends  have  done  it   4.3%  
It  provides  a  scholarship   47.8%  
I  could  choose  many  different  institutions   4.3%  
Because  I  wanted  to  stay  in  the  North.   26.1%  
Other   13.0%  
N   46  
   

   

  84  
 
  

12.  Would  you  like  to  be  the  part  of  a  North2North  Facebook  community?      

  Name  
1   Yes  
2   No  
3   Why  bother  
4   I  don't  know  
 

Name   Percent  
Yes   52.2%  
No   19.6%  
Why  bother   2.2%  
I  don't  know   26.1%  
N   46  

   

   

  85  
 
  

13.  Do  you  think  a  Facebook  community  could  help  other  students  to  choose  North2North  
mobility?  

  Name  

1   Yes  
2   Definitely  yes  
3   Probably  
4   No  
5   Of  course  not  

Name   Percent  
Yes   21.7%  
Definitely  yes   15.2%  
Probably   58.7%  
No   4.3%  
Of  course  not   0.0%  
N   46  

   

   

  86  
 
  

14.  How  can  North2North  mobility  become  more  popular?  

  Name  

1   Through  student  ambassadors  

2   Through  social  media  
3   Through  student  fairs  
4   Through  newspaper  articles  
5   Through  Websites  
6   Through  E-­‐mails/Newsletters  
7   Other  

Name   Percent  
Through  student  ambassadors   39.1%  
Through  social  media   19.6%  
Through  student  fairs   26.1%  
Through  newspaper  articles   6.5%  
Through  Websites   4.3%  
Through  E-­‐mails/Newsletters   2.2%  
Other   2.2%  
N   46  

   

  87  
 
  

   

15.  What  content  and  features  should  a  North2North  facebook  group  provide?  

  Name  

1   Information  about  study  options  (programmes,  field  work,  courses)  

2   Student  stories  and  experiences  
3   Information  about  institutions  
4   Information  about  study  destinations  (City,  region,  country)  
5   Practical  information  about  scholarship  programmes  and  application  process  
6   Invitation  to  webinars  and  moocs  
7   Information  about  conferences  and  workshops  
8   Activities  of  UArctic  thematic  networks  
9   Other  

  88  
 
  

Name   Percent  
Information  about  study  options  (programmes,  field  work,  courses)   82.6%  
Student  stories  and  experiences   78.3%  
Information  about  institutions   58.7%  
Information  about  study  destinations  (City,  region,  country)   56.5%  
Practical  information  about  scholarship  programmes  and  application  process   65.2%  
Invitation  to  webinars  and  moocs   23.9%  
Information  about  conferences  and  workshops   28.3%  
Activities  of  UArctic  thematic  networks   26.1%  
Other   4.3%  
N   46  

   

   

16.  Would  you  recommend  a  North2North  exchange  to  your  fellow  students?    

  Name  

1   Yes  
2   No  
3   I  don't  know  

  89  
 
  

Name   Percent  
Yes   97.8%  
No   2.2%  
I  don't  know   0.0%  
N   46  

   

   

17.  How  satisfied  are  you  with  the  North2North  exchange  experience?  

  Name  

1   Very  Dissatisfied  
2   Dissatisfied  
3   Indifferent  
4   Satisfied  
5   Very  Satisfied  

Question   N   Mean   Standard  deviation   Median  

How  satisfied  are  you  with  the  North2North  exchange  experience?   46   4.61   0.53   5.00  

   

  90  
 
  

Name   Percent  
Very  Dissatisfied   0.0%  
Dissatisfied   0.0%  
Indifferent   2.2%  
Satisfied   34.8%  
Very  Satisfied   63.0%  
N   46  

   

   

  91  
 
  

 
Application for grants from the

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)

S51 – Application form for project/programme support
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
PO box 8114 Dep. The application should be sent by email to post@mfa.no, with a copy to the responsible unit for
N-0032 Oslo the grant scheme. Please consult the Guide to grant application at www.regjeringen.no/ud for
Norway more information.

post@mfa.no
1. Project information (only one project per application)
Name of the grant scheme Responsible unit for the grant scheme (unit in MFA or Embassy)

Project title

Where will the project take place (area/country)? Total amount applied for (NOK) Project duration (mm/yyyy – mm/yyyy)

Sector/ priority area

New project Continuation of previous grant, project no:

Brief project description for statistical purposes, maximum 255 characters

2. About the applicant

2.1 Contact information
Name and abbreviation

Address Postal code City Country

Telephone Fax Email Website

Contact person Email Telephone/mobile phone

2.2 Type of organisation (tick one box on each line below)

Norwegian, org. no: Non-Norwegian Multilateral
Private sector Governmental/Public sector NGO

Other, please specify:

2.3 About the organisation

Brief description of the organisation (size/number of employees, number of years in operation, affiliation to larger networks, etc.)

Brief description of the organisation’s financial situation

2.4 Internal routines

Does the organisation have anticorruption routines? Does the organisation have procurement routines?
Yes No Yes No
If yes, documentation of the routines should be made available upon request.

2.5 Has the applicant received grants from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (including embassies), Norad or
Fredskorpset (FK)?
No Yes, once Under this grant scheme Under other grant schemes
Last project/agreement no.: Last project/agreement no.:
S51 Approved 04.2010 Yes, several times Page 1

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3. About the project

3.1 Cooperating partner (if more than one partner, use attachment)
Name Contact person

Address Postal code City Country

Telephone Email Website

Type of organisation (tick one box on each line below)

Norwegian, org. no: Non-Norwegian Multilateral
Private sector Governmental/Public sector NGO
Other, please specify:
Applicant’s previous experience with this partner

3.2 Applicant’s and partner’s/partners’ respective roles in the project

Applicant’s competence and qualifications in relation to the project’s theme, experience from the geographical area concerned, and any other relevant
experience

Cooperating partner’s/partners’ competence and qualifications in relation to the project

Division of roles and description of what the applicant and cooperating partner(s), respectively, can contribute to the project

3.3. Project description

Brief description of the present situation and the need/justification for the project (baseline). Please also describe the project’s position in relation to overall
strategic plans, if relevant.

S51 Page 2

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Brief description of the project

S51 Page 3

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Describe the target group of the project, and to what extent the target group participates in the project implementation

If relevant, status from earlier phase(s) of the project, including status for reporting to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

4. Implementation plan
The implementation plan should provide an overview of the project activities, if relevant with an indication of milestones for important events/results. The
implementation plan may be provided in a separate attachment to the application. Milestones are to be marked with Mxx in the number column, and given a
planned end date (dd/mm/yy).
Number Milestones, activities Responsible party Planned start Planned end date
(abbreviation) date

S51 Page 4

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5. Goal hierarchy
Use short sentences/lists of bullet points when filling out the table, if relevant with reference to other parts of the application. See Guide to grant application
for more information. The goal hierarchy may be provided in a separate attachment to the application.
5. Development goal/intended impact on society. One goal only.
Long-term desired effect

4. Project goal (purpose/intended outcome). One goal only.

The positive effect the project seeks to achieve for the target group
Description Indicators of goal achievement

Prerequisites/risk factors

3. Expected results/services/products (output)

Measurable services/products of the project’s activities
Description Indicators of goal achievement

Prerequisites/risk factors

2. Planned activities
Planned concrete activities in order to obtain the desired results, cf. implementation plan
Description Resources

Prerequisites/risk factors

1. Present situation (baseline)

Description of the present situation as a basis for assessing the project’s outcome
Description

Indicators (to be linked to indicators specified under 3 Expected results/output or, if possible, under 4 Project goal/intended outcome)

Comments to the table, if any

S51 Page 5

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6. The project’s sustainability and risk factors

6.1 Give an assessment of the project’s sustainability:
The project’s local/institutional foundation

Participation by different stakeholders and coordination with other actors/donors

Other relevant sustainability elements (environmental, technological, economic, socio-economic and cultural aspects, etc.)

Has an Environmental Impact Assessment been carried out?

Yes No Comments:

Has a Conflict Sensitivity Assessment been carried out?

Yes No Comments:

6.2 Risk factors

Identification of risk factors, including corruption Management of identified risks, including corruption

6.3 Follow up/exit strategy

Describe the exit strategy/follow-up efforts after completion of the project

6.4 Gender and equal rights

Describe how gender and equal rights are taken into consideration in the project, and ensured in recruitment and training.

S51 Page 6

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7. Budget and financing plan

A detailed breakdown of the expenditures must be provided in a separate attachment. See Guide to grant application for more
information.
Tick if amounts are given in 1000s Currency:
Second year Following years Percentage of
Total
total
First year (yyyy) (yyyy)-
(yyyy)
Project expenses – grant recipient (yyyy)
Costs directly related to the implementation of the project
Project expenses – cooperating partner(s)
Costs directly related to the implementation of the project
Overheads
The organisation’s indirect administrative costs related to the
implementation of the project
Total expenses

- Applicant’s own financial contribution (mark all

contributions with minus signs)

- Financial contributions from other sources

(specify which, and mark all contributions with minus
signs)

= Amount applied for from the MFA

Status of applications/grants from other sources

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8. Additional information
Any other information of relevance for the application

9. Bank details
Grant recipients should open a separate, joint account for all grants received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (not applicable to governmental
organisations).

If the applicant has not received a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (including embassies/Norad) previously, or the applicant’s bank
details have been changed, a confirmation of the bank details should be provided, using the organisation’s official headed paper, bank statements
or other written confirmation from the bank, before payment can take place.
Name and address of bank

Name of account holder Account number/IBAN number Swift code

Account currency Other information

10. Attachments
Tick the boxes below if attached, and give each attachment a number. Any other attachments should also be listed.

Attached Number Attachment

Detailed budget breakdown (mandatory)

Additional cooperating partners

Implementation plan

Goal hierarchy

Confirmation of bank details

11. Date and confirmation

I am authorised to sign legally binding agreements on behalf of the applicant, and confirm that the information contained in this application is correct to the
best of my knowledge.
Place and date Name/signature

S51
 
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