THE STUDENT AS A RESOURCE FOR THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF A UNIVERSITY

The attractiveness of the university lies in the synergistic interaction of its internal and external resources, including the physical capital (e. g. the buildings, equipment, site location of the university), the financial capital (e. g. the student fees, government money, research funding, charity), network capital (organizations and individuals in the environment of the university), and the human capital consisting of the academic staff, administrative staff, and students. The latter is regarded to be an important resource of the university that can influence the other resources of the university, thus improving its capacity. The lecture room becomes a true learning facility, where both the students and the teachers develop. The student is also a resource while doing research and working on a master thesis with good supervisors and converting the results into a scientific journal article or presenting them at conferences, in newspapers, or media, thus creating attractiveness through the reputation process. The students will always be a resource for the university by being its ambassador either while studying or having an internship in an organization, or after getting the diploma and making a career. If the student or a former student makes a very positive impression, the organization would probably support the university with other resources, it could be prone to look for other students from the university, thus improving the demand of the university’s students and increasing the attractiveness of the university for both the students and the organizations. However, it should be noted that the student as a resource is a factor in a causal spiral, where good and satisfied students will be part of a positive spiral attracting and creating more resources, while bad and negative students will be part of a negative spiral. A university has reasons to attract good students, and develop them during the study period, so they become satisfied and well-performing students which becomes a positive part of the reputation production, thus increasing the attractiveness of the university