DOES THE REBRANDING OF BRITISH UNIVERSITIES REDUCE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS TO ECONOMIC RESOURCES? A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

With less government funding, British Universities have identified international students as a critical source of financial income and are using marketing strategies to attract them to the university. This small-scale study will utilize a Critical Discourse Analysis methodological framework to examine the marketing strategies utilized in The University of Manchester International Student web-pages – and will see if this represents a reduction of the international student to a mere economic resource. The examination does highlight an identity construction of the university and the international student that considers the international student an economic resource. However, the university’s effort to offer the broadest possible ‘product’ to its ‘client’ suggests the university is struggling to put together a product that will satisfy a particularly demanding client. Thus, the construction of the international student as an economic resource cannot be considered a reduction.