Expectation as a key determinant of international students’ satisfaction

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore international postgraduate students’ expectations of UK university education, covering various aspects of student expectation at a leading business school in Scotland. The authors present in this paper the findings from the qualitative stage of this study, offering a fresh insight into the factors that influence students’ expectations of postgraduate university education and the impact this has on the students’ satisfaction with their courses. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative inquiry was adopted, collecting primary data by means of semi-structured interviews of business school international students enroled in different taught 12-month MSc courses. Findings International students are found to have high expectations of improved job prospects after graduating from their chosen UK university, underlined mainly by the university’s reputation for improving student employability. The most significant a priori factors that form students’ expectations are word of mouth, recommendations and the students’ belief in the calibre of lecturers and the quality of the facilities. Research limitations/implications The students are universities’ most important customers in an increasingly competitive and financially constrained UK higher education environment. Theoretically, the study contributes to the growing literature in this challenging environment not only by identifying the components of international postgraduate students’ expectations but also by exploring how the expectations can be met or exceeded to improve students’ satisfaction. Future research can also replicate this study to other subject areas and draw the similarities and differences that may exist in the expectations of non-business international MSc students. Practical implications Practically, this study’s findings should help university students’ recruitment and engagement services develop tailored marketing strategies to better manage international students’ expectations, for example, by being more proactive in embedding employability into postgraduate education provision. Moreover, the findings can also be drawn upon to improve the design and delivery of taught MSc courses in order to meet and exceed the expectations of prospective international postgraduate students. Originality/value This research offers a fresh insight and contributes to the understanding of international students’ expectations and their satisfaction of university education services.

Factors influencing satisfaction and revisit intention among international exchange students in Malaysia

“…The literature revealed that the factors such as physical environment, tuition fees, living costs, personal safety, immigration prospects, ranking of institutions and career prospects are factors that attract intentional students to study at foreign destinations (Bodycott, 2009;Roberts et al, 2010;Gatfield and Chen, 2006;Murray Brux and Fry, 2010;Curtis and Ledgerwood, 2018;Janda, 2016;Chavan et al, 2014). The literature in the context of satisfaction of international students also explored the individual factors such as fluency in English, number of friends, perceived discrimination, social connectedness, homesickness, job prospects and identity gap (Yeh and Inose, 2003;Sam, 2001;Hendrickson et al, 2011;Tompson and Tompson, 1996;Wadsworth et al, 2008;Beloucif et al, 2018). However, literature exploring the satisfaction of international students is still not rich, as very few studies (Arambewela, 2003;Lapina et al, 2016) examined (Martin and Cullen, 2006) the role of physical factors such as fee, academic reputation, safety, accessibility, location and logistics on international students' satisfaction.…”

Bank service quality

“…Generally, expectations can be defined as the tendencies, demands, and needs of consumers (Parasuraman et al, 1988;Lewis, 1991), or their predictions about the relatively close transactions or exchanges and also as the standards for quality assessment (Zeithaml et al, 1993). On the other words, customers' expectations and behavior were influenced by some factors such as personal needs, values and past experiences (Beloucif et al, 2018;Tucker and Jubb 2018). That is why Pasha and Razashah (2018) believe that expectation and perception of customer are two pivotal components of service quality.…”

Satisfiers and Dissatisfiers for International Vocational Education Students

“…Also important is the interaction between domestic and international students, both inside and outside of the class. Students report valuing inclusiveness practices and friendship building (Ammigan, 2019;Beloucif, Mehafdi, & Komey, 2018;Zhang & Brunton, 2007).…”

“…The category of tangibles may be especially important, including features such as the quality of buildings, library services, and technology (e.g. Arambewela & Hall, 2006;Ammigan, 2019;Beloucif, Mehafdi, & Komey, 2018). Indeed, Arambewela and Hall's (2006) comparative study of Thai, Indonesian, Chinese, and Indian students found tangibles to be the most important influence on institutional satisfaction overall.…”