Students’ perceptions of an internationalised learning environment

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore student perceptions of the internationalised learning environment across a particular university's home and offshore campuses. It addresses three research questions namely: what constitutes the internationalised learning environment for students? Can a university offer an internationalised learning environment that is equitable for students across its home and offshore campuses? And what differences exist in the internationalised learning environment for students in a university's home and offshore campuses? Design/methodology/approach – In total, 484 completed responses were collected from the university's six campuses in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Findings – Findings suggested significant differences in the way students perceived of teaching reputation, context-specific curriculum, resources, student-support staff interaction and their attitude towards their university. Practical implications – These insights could help a university's teaching staff and administrators to focus on specific attributes in marketing the internationalised learning environments of each of its campuses. This could give the university better opportunity for improving the learning process and its outcomes for students. Originality/value – This paper sets out to define the parameters of the internationalised learning environment and conducts an audit of this environment from the student perspective. Findings suggested significant differences in the way students perceived of teaching reputation, context-specific curriculum, resources, student-support staff interaction and their attitude towards their university. In the market of fierce competition for international students, it is crucial that these positive attributes be part of the marketing messages in any promotion campaigns for universities.

Comparing Student Loyalty Behavioural Intentions across Multi Entry Mode Deliveries: An Australian Perspective

“…Mazzarol and Soutar (2002) have observed that image is rated highly in determining international students' university choice. More specifically, image acts as a precursor of the internationalised learning environment in Malaysia (Fares et al, 2013) and Singapore (Quintal and Phau, 2014) for international students who have no initial direct experience with their university prior to commencing study.…”

“…Technology also functions as a support to the core services of teaching and learning (Sinkovics et al, 2009), indirectly contributing to students’ overall impressions of a university. However, Quintal and Phau's (2014) study of offshore campuses in Malaysia and Singapore have observed that funds and commitment towards developing facilities in these campuses often are limited, resulting in crowding and over-extended resources. This has the potential of generating unfavourable attitude and loyalty behavioural intention towards the university and its campus.…”

“…In the bid to internationalise, universities must make critical decisions about their choice of an entry mode strategy. A university must take into account how students will perceive of its push/pull attributes (Alexander et al, 2009) and risk associated with international study (Beneke, 2011) for their impacts on students’ attitude (Quintal and Phau, 2014) and loyalty behavioural intention (Quintal et al, 2012) towards their university and campus. A university that does not address the unique needs of its international student population in each campus runs the risk of leaving students “feeling disappointed, unfulfilled, and even exploited” (Sherry et al, 2010, p. 34).…”

American experience : an interpretative phenomenological analysis of how African international students make meaning of their experiences in the US Universities

“…According to Bakhshialiabad et al (2015), the students' perception about their learning and social environment is crucial since it plays a major role in their academic performance and learning. In addition, understanding the meaning that students attach to their learning and social environment helps the teaching staff to identify areas of emphasis, market the school, provide assurance during the recruitment programs, and for resource allocation and training of both teaching and support staff (Quintal & Phau, 2014). Today, US universities/colleges are 11 experiencing a high growth in student populations from all over the world due to the various advantages attached to diversity.…”

“…According to Quintal & Phau (2014), identifying the challenges which students face in their learning environment is crucial since it helps the teaching staff to identify areas of emphasis, it helps in marketing the education institutions and providing assurance during recruitment programs, and helps in resource allocation and training of teaching and support staff (Quintal & Phau, 2014). Today, US universities are experiencing a growth in students from all over the world due to the various advantages attached to diversity, and it has been noted that competition among universities/colleges is largely determined by which institutions are capable of providing a quality education for minority students (Gordon, 1990).…”