How to increase the number of foreign students by using the Mind Mapping Tool

1. Challenge: Describe your challenge, including all relevant information.

I am Director of the International Relations Office of the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme.  The number of foreign students at the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme has significantly  decreased during the last year due to the global pandemic. My challenge is to identify and  suggest to the Dean possible solutions to this issue, in particular how to attract foreign  students to do their studies at the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme, despite the current  pandemic situation. The project scope incudes students of partner universities whom the  Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme concluded partnership agreements with, as well as any  other potential students worldwide and their parents. The project is limited to internal  resources, namely salaries and time of 11 employees of the International Relations Office,  as well as the Univesity staff and current foreign sudents. The project must be completed  within 30 days months (3 February -5 March 2016) and the outcome must be a feasible  step plan aimed at increasing the number of foreign students in 2009-2021 academic year. We will analyse concerns and issues that prevent foreign students from doing their studies abroad and propose effective solutions to such concerns and issues.

2. Selection: In your own words, briefly describe the tool you selected (e.g.,

what it is and why you selected it for your challenge -- including any  appropriate video lecture references).

Our department selected the Mind Mapping tool, since we already used it several times in  tackling similar issues and since it is a pivotal step in the design thinking process. As  highlighted by Ana Jensen, a marketing professor at Darton, Mind Mapping allows to  look for patterns and themes in your data, that lead to more creative solutions to your  design challenge. This tool permits to transform a large amount of data collcted during the  exploration of What Is into information and insights that can be easily communicated. The  aim is to establish criteria for the next What If generation phase in a more visual and  engaging way.

3. Application: Describe how you applied the tool you selected to you r

challenge (e.g., what you did and how the tool was applied effectively or  ineffectively).

We followed the Mind Mapping Steps described by Monika Ebrahim and Dinesh Davies in their  book “Designing for Growth”. Firstly, we held a yard sale by laying out data on reluctance  of foreign students to study at the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme that we represented as a poster. We gathered such data during 2 weeks by conducting ethnographic interviews  with current and potential foreign students and their parents, asking them to fill in  questionnaires and to provide reasons for not coming abroad and possible suggestions for improving this situations, as well as by gathering formal qualitative data on the number of  foreign students at the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme, as compared to other French and foreign universities.  Furthermore, we invited “shoppers” (a group of 5 University professors and 5 foreign  students) and asked them to tour the yard sale, or to critically access the representation of  data. We equipped shoppers with highlighters and stickers to facilitate their analysis. Then, each participant individually noted on a separate sticky note his/her learnings that, in  his/her opinion, should inform new ideas. After that, we invited participants to return to the workshop room and divided them in 2  mixed groups that both included professors and students and arranged them at the table.  The participants shared and then clustered “good stuff”, of feasible ideas that will help to  resolve the challenge.It became possible to identify the insights related to each clusters  and connections between clusters. Namely, we identified 5 main clusters (or issues) that

prevent foreign students from coming to the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme, namely:  financial issues caused by the global pandemic (unemployment, loss of  scolarship/income), family issues (illness, prohibition of parents), technical issues (lack of  transportation, difficultie with finding accomodation), personal issues (fear of getting sick,  depression) and academic issues (suspension of exchange programs, implementation of  distance learning).  Finally, we translated the identified insights into the design criteria that allowed us to make  a feasible step plan on how to increase the number of foreign students at the Campaign 29 that we further proposed to the Dean.

4. Insight: Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected

to your challenge (e.g., how an insight affected your thinking about the  challenge and about design thinking more broadly).

By applying the Mind Mapping tool, all the members of the International Relations  Department were able to summurise and represent the large amount of data gathered  from different sources, to acquire important insights and, based on such insights, to  translate them into the design criteria and to go from the What Is to What If Phase. It was  helpful to get support from invited students and professors, as we were able to look at the  problem from different perspectives and to draw up a more reasonable and workable  solution. We could analyse the issues of current foreign students and elaborate solutions  to prevent future foreign students from getting into similar troubles.

5. Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the

same tool you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s) why.

I believe that it the Mind Mapping tool was appropriate to solve the problem at hand.  However, what I have learn from this exersice, that while collecting data, conducting  interviews and analysing the results is very important, the opoortunity to represent your  research data and to obtain external opinion and important insights from experts is a  necessary step towards designing a feasible solution, espacially when it comes to social or educational issues. It allows a researcher to translate a raw amount of data into the  specific valuable insights that are shared by a group of experts working together. Together, such group can analyse the issue from various perspectives that enlarge the number of  potential insights that are more practical and feasible.  However, it would be better to extend the number and categories of “shoppers”, for  instance, by inviting professors and students from other universities and other university  staff, by gathering more data in advance and by reserving more time for discussions of  insights. Moreover, next time we will try to apply elements of other methodes that are  suitable for solving similar problems, such as storytelling, because this tool gives an  opportunity to share cases and practical experience of current foreign students.


How to increase the number of foreign students by using the Mind Mapping Tool 1 . Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . I am Director of the International Relations Office of the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme . The number of foreign students at the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme has significantly decreased during the last year due to the global pandemic . My challenge is to identify and suggest to the Dean possible solutions to this issue , in particular how to attract foreign students to do their studies at the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme , despite the current pandemic situation . The project scope incudes students of partner universities whom the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme concluded partnership agreements with , as well as any other potential students worldwide and their parents . The project is limited to internal resources , namely salaries and time of 11 employees of the International Relations Office , as well as the Univesity staff and current foreign sudents . The project must be completed within 30 days months ( 3 February -5 March 2016 ) and the outcome must be a feasible step plan aimed at increasing the number of foreign students in 2009 - 2021 academic year . We will analyse concerns and issues that prevent foreign students from doing their studies abroad and propose effective solutions to such concerns and issues . 2 . Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references ) . Our department selected the Mind Mapping tool , since we already used it several times in tackling similar issues and since it is a pivotal step in the design thinking process . As highlighted by Ana Jensen , a marketing professor at Darton , Mind Mapping allows to look for patterns and themes in your data , that lead to more creative solutions to your design challenge . This tool permits to transform a large amount of data collcted during the exploration of What Is into information and insights that can be easily communicated . The aim is to establish criteria for the next What If generation phase in a more visual and engaging way . 3 . Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to you r challenge ( e.g. , what you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . We followed the Mind Mapping Steps described by Monika Ebrahim and Dinesh Davies in their book “ Designing for Growth ” . Firstly , we held a yard sale by laying out data on reluctance of foreign students to study at the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme that we represented as a poster . We gathered such data during 2 weeks by conducting ethnographic interviews with current and potential foreign students and their parents , asking them to fill in questionnaires and to provide reasons for not coming abroad and possible suggestions for improving this situations , as well as by gathering formal qualitative data on the number of foreign students at the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme , as compared to other French and foreign universities . Furthermore , we invited “ shoppers ” ( a group of 5 University professors and 5 foreign students ) and asked them to tour the yard sale , or to critically access the representation of data . We equipped shoppers with highlighters and stickers to facilitate their analysis . Then , each participant individually noted on a separate sticky note his / her learnings that , in his / her opinion , should inform new ideas . After that , we invited participants to return to the workshop room and divided them in 2 mixed groups that both included professors and students and arranged them at the table . The participants shared and then clustered “ good stuff ” , of feasible ideas that will help to resolve the challenge . It became possible to identify the insights related to each clusters and connections between clusters . Namely , we identified 5 main clusters ( or issues ) that prevent foreign students from coming to the Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme , namely : financial issues caused by the global pandemic ( unemployment , loss of scolarship / income ) , family issues ( illness , prohibition of parents ) , technical issues ( lack of transportation , difficultie with finding accomodation ) , personal issues ( fear of getting sick , depression ) and academic issues ( suspension of exchange programs , implementation of distance learning ) . Finally , we translated the identified insights into the design criteria that allowed us to make a feasible step plan on how to increase the number of foreign students at the Campaign 29 that we further proposed to the Dean . 4 . Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . By applying the Mind Mapping tool , all the members of the International Relations Department were able to summurise and represent the large amount of data gathered from different sources , to acquire important insights and , based on such insights , to translate them into the design criteria and to go from the What Is to What If Phase . It was helpful to get support from invited students and professors , as we were able to look at the problem from different perspectives and to draw up a more reasonable and workable solution . We could analyse the issues of current foreign students and elaborate solutions to prevent future foreign students from getting into similar troubles . 5 . Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . I believe that it the Mind Mapping tool was appropriate to solve the problem at hand . However , what I have learn from this exersice , that while collecting data , conducting interviews and analysing the results is very important , the opoortunity to represent your research data and to obtain external opinion and important insights from experts is a necessary step towards designing a feasible solution , espacially when it comes to social or educational issues . It allows a researcher to translate a raw amount of data into the specific valuable insights that are shared by a group of experts working together . Together , such group can analyse the issue from various perspectives that enlarge the number of potential insights that are more practical and feasible . However , it would be better to extend the number and categories of “ shoppers ” , for instance , by inviting professors and students from other universities and other university staff , by gathering more data in advance and by reserving more time for discussions of insights . Moreover , next time we will try to apply elements of other methodes that are suitable for solving similar problems , such as storytelling , because this tool gives an opportunity to share cases and practical experience of current foreign students .