International Education Market Research Articles

An Investigation of Factors Affecting the Russia and Korea Student Satisfaction: The Cases of Language and Culture

Students’ satisfaction can be defined as a short-term attitude resulting from an evaluation of students’ educational experience, services and facilities. Earlier it was measured by common satisfaction frameworks but later higher education specify satisfaction models were developed. Furthermore, despite Russia and Koreaemerging as the new players in the international education market over the last decade, our knowledge of the extent of international students’ satisfaction studying in Russia and Koreauniversities is modest. After being freed from the Japanese occupation, the Korean peninsula saw the formation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (under the patronage of the USSR) and the Republic of Korea (with the support of the USA). In the last few decades of the XX century, the relations between Russian Federation and the DPRK have become more active. As a result, negotiations between Russia and South Korea and between Russia and North Korea started touching upon the prospects of tripartite Russia-ROK-DPRK cooperation in the economic and other areas. Koreans showed a special interest in the culture of Russia and the Russian language in the first years after the diplomatic relations were established. Modern Korean studies began to develop.

Teaching ‘tacit knowledge' in cultural and creative industries to international students

Universities in Australia – as in many other Anglophone countries – have benefited from an influx of full fee paying international students. Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) as an increasingly desirable career for these students and associated with rising state investment has given Anglophone universities the privilege in this international educational market. The disembeddedness of these students from very different urban context impact further their learning experiences. The unprecedented growth of ‘internationals’ has also put the curriculum at odds with its original intent based on tacit knowledge training targeting local professionals. The Master of Cultural and Creative Industries at Monash University is illustrative of this multiplicity of conflicts and tensions. Via the two field trip units designed based on ‘experiential learning', the model for tacit learning, we lay out how conflicts on fundamental cultural values have been important in our course design as part of acquiring ‘a special kind of city knowledge'.

Global linguistic capital, global cultural capital: International student migrants in China’s two-track international education market

While China is one of the major source countries of students abroad, it is increasingly also becoming an educational destination. China receives the largest share of international students in Asia, through the government’s strong initiative to bring international educational migrants into its own territory. This study aims to understand how and why international student migrants choose China as an educational destination. It is drawn from 45 qualitative interviews that the author conducted in both the source and target countries. This article comparatively explores international student migrants who enrolled in Chinese-language non-degree and degree programs, on the one hand, and international students who studied in English-language degree programs, on the other, in China. The theoretical component of this research is based on two interrelated concepts – global linguistic capital and global cultural capital – both of which are regarded as motivational bases for cultivating the experience of living in China as well as future career trajectories and prospects elsewhere. By looking at international student migrants’ understanding and undertaking of studies abroad, this article illuminates how the experience of international students as an educationally channeled migration, in the newly structured two-track educational system of the international education market, engages with these different forms of capital in various ways.

Reflections on a Finnish university of applied science’s branding strategy in the international education market

Finland is currently ranked in the top five education systems in the world. A position garnered through the careful fostering of a set of core societal values that have included free education for all. The Ministry of Education and Culture, however, elected to introduce university tuition fees for students originating from outside the European Union and European Economic Area in 2017. This paper investigates how this decision may affect international students’ perceptions and choices of where to study in the future. It also presents recommendations as to how Finnish universities of applied sciences may need to revise their international marketing strategy to compete in the global education market. From the interviews and focus groups that were conducted with staff and international students at a leading university of applied sciences, it is clear that the ministry’s emphasis on the already existing high quality of education and research may need to be supplemented with a focus on social and economic opportunities.

Internationalization of higher education of China as the factor of university competitiveness increase

In the modern world, the internationalization of higher education is a general trend of education and science development covering almost all countries of the world. The PRC is not an exception. Education is one of the most important priorities of China state policy. The Chinese government believes that the preparation of students abroad, especially in high-ranking universities of the world, is the means of education quality provision and improvement. After the performance of higher education reforms, its position has significantly strengthened on the international educational market. For a decade and a half, the number of Chinese students studying at foreign universities increased by 9.5 times, and the number of foreign students studying at Chinese universities increased by 27.3 times. The main tools for the internationalization of higher education in China are the following ones: the improvement of educational service quality, an active policy of Chinese university promotion at the world market, the change of the approach to teacher hiring and promotion, the transition to foreign textbooks, and the opening of joint educational programs.

Internationalization of higher education of China as the factor of university competitiveness increase

In the modern world, the internationalization of higher education is a general trend of education and science development covering almost all countries of the world. The PRC is not an exception. Education is one of the most important priorities of China state policy. The Chinese government believes that the preparation of students abroad, especially in high-ranking universities of the world, is the means of education quality provision and improvement. After the performance of higher education reforms, its position has significantly strengthened on the international educational market. For a decade and a half, the number of Chinese students studying at foreign universities increased by 9.5 times, and the number of foreign students studying at Chinese universities increased by 27.3 times. The main tools for the internationalization of higher education in China are the following ones: the improvement of educational service quality, an active policy of Chinese university promotion at the world market, the change of the approach to teacher hiring and promotion, the transition to foreign textbooks, and the opening of joint educational programs.

The International Educational Activity of Russian Universities

The article presents the results of a study of the international educational activities of Russian universities. The goals of the study were to identify groups of universities that have similar international educational activity indicators in a number of areas (based on a cluster analysis of the data) and to analyze the characteristics of universities in each of the identified clusters (the number of enrolled international students, the size of the university, specialization, geographical location, level of selectivity of the university, number of international research and teaching faculty members, and research activities). The study results may be of interest to university administrators, since they can help them to obtain a general idea of the current state and main directions of international educational activities at Russian universities. The proposed classification of universities can provide a basis for analyzing the university’s own position on the international educational market and adjusting strategic plans for expanding and strengthening the university’s position in various segments of this market.

International Student Success: A Multilevel Perspective on Factors That Contribute to the Success and Quality of the Experience Abroad

The international higher education market is currently witnessing a fast growth. As a vital component in the sector, international students aspire to be successful in their higher education endeavours. Within this context, student success, already a highly contested term in the field, takes a different outlook when discussed in relation to international students. This paper focuses on the meaning of international student success and the mechanisms through which this concept has been made functional by the higher education sector. Working with definitions of student success, the paper first looks at student success as it means to international students, in line with their distinctive circumstances. In the second half, factors that impact international student success are reviewed in relation to current policy instruments across leading international higher education markets. The paper concludes by pointing out important implications and quality assurance challenges in enhancing the international students’ experience abroad.

UNIVERSITIES’ COMPETITIVENESS MODELS IN ACADEMIC MANAGEMENT: A NATIONAL-LEVEL APPROACH

The developing international education market requires additional qualitative and detailed information on the comparative characteristics of universities. This study suggests a single synthetic model for describing and assessing universities’ competitiveness at the national level for advanced, emerging, and transitioning economies. The model is based on the same methodology as international university rankings, but employs different techniques for initial clustering and further analysis. We identified four different university clusters in the Russian Ministry of Education and Science database, distinguished by specific development goals. We argue that applying these clear and welldefined criteria as clustering attributes allows us to compare competitiveness in different settings, formulate academic management strategy and recommend policy guidelines tailored precisely for each university’s requirements.

MODERN UNIVERSITY AS A CORPORATION: A NEW ROLE FOR TRADITIONAL CORPORATISM

The article falls under conceptual category. On the basis of theoretical work by native and foreign researchers, philosophers and sociologists the authors clarify the questions related to the notion of university corporate culture, its content and function. The accent is made on modern classical university corporate culture. The aim of the article is to provide arguments for historical changes in the university corporate culture content and demonstrate their relevance to the challenges of respective time periods. The reason behind writing this article is that we witness dramatic changes in university corporate culture leading to changes of its Idea and Mission. Transformation is seen in the growing amount of commercial initiatives. This implies a potential threat of losing academic and educational status of the university, replacing it by economic corporation. Such situation requires an explanation. The main methods of research are comparative and historical ones. They help answer the question on the time of university emergence in Russia and demonstrate that having been initiated by Lomonosov it appeared long before classical Western universities. These methods allowed for comparing the given historical models of classical universities, identify their general and specific characteristics and compare them with the criteria of modern university and its corporate culture. The conclusion (and the novelty of the author’s interpretation of university corporate culture) of such a comparison is as follows: pre - classic (medieval) and classical (XVIII - end of XX centuries) universities had university corporate culture included into professorial culture, whereas modern universities do not have that feature. Modern university so-cio - cultural basis includes two cultures: professorial and corporate. Both cultures have different functions. Function of the corporate culture is to upgrade university competitiveness at the international educational market. This can be seen in changed university discourse, which now includes such As nowadays university corporate culture plays an important role in its life, it can be included into the list of classical university criteria (alongside with fundatmenalization and humanitarization of education, its autonomy, lecturer cult, etc.). Seen from purely economic point of view it runs counter with rational classical criteria and that is where the danger for the university lies. At the same time as a new university criteria corporate culture is an answer to the challenges of a modern globalizing society. This discrepancy is as problem that should be solved. One of the directions for the solution can be inclusion of attention to cultural - anthropological portrait of students and graduates into the corporate culture content. We must pay attention to formation of such personal characteristics as trust, cooperation, support, etc. These traits can help mitigate emerging individualism, intolerance, depersonalization and the crash of multicultural attitude. The conclusions made in this article can be of importance for professors and students in their joint work, as well as for university administration.

Entrepreneurial behaviour and the role of transformational leadership in higher education institutions

Over the last quarter of the 20th century, higher education institutions (HEIs) were affected by social and economic policy changes. These changes encouraged HEIs to adopt entrepreneurial behaviour and act as a business. This paper is a review, critique, and discussion of literature on the new shape of higher education institutions and the need for transformational leadership in entrepreneurial universities. This review shows that academic leaders are needed to build and maintain the competitiveness of their institutions to succeed in the international education market. It also shows that there is a need for transformational leaders who are able to craft and implement the desired plans and have the vision to make HEIs more efficient while maintaining the core values of academia.

ENGINEERING EDUCATION QUALITY ASSURANCE IN THE EUROPEAN EDUCATIONAL AREA

The article covers the main principles of the engineers education and ensuring the connection of the proposed educational material with their future engineering activities, the prospects of technical, technological, economic and social development of society. Issues on the quality of educational programs in higher education institutions are briefly outlined. Among the requirements for future engineering activities are considered requirements for the formation of the content of engineering education, its humanization, fundamentalization and professionalization.It is concluded that the most anticipated in the international educational services market are educational and professional programs for training specialists in the scientific and technical field, formed by a list of specialties traditionally for European, African and American countries, whose content and structure corresponds to accepted international requirements. For the formation of a modern domestic engineers' corps it is necessary: to substantially raise the prestige of engineering professions; to ensure the introduction of qualitative changes in the training of engineers, focusing it on the current advances in science and technology, in-depth study of fundamental disciplines, the development of creative and organizational skills of future engineers, their ability to work in conditions of fierce competition; to carry out qualitative improvement of the teaching staff and re-equipment of the training laboratory base; to provide an opportunity to increase the participation of industrial enterprises, research and design institutions in the training of specialists in engineering; create the legal framework for corporate training of engineers in higher education institutions. In order to coordinate the activities of higher education institutions that train engineers, it would be expedient to broaden the experience of public accreditation of engineering education programs and certification of engineering qualifications and professional engineering activities.

Critical examination of internationalisation: a case study of a collaboration between an Australian and a Chinese university

ABSTRACTIn this paper, a case study of an international partnership between two universities, one in Australia and the other in China, is presented. The internationalisation of early childhood degree programmes in Australia is reasonably new and there is limited literature on the subject. This study evaluates a Sino- Australian partnership of a joint undergraduate early childhood programme which is the first of its kind to gain formal accreditation in both Australia and China. The aim of the research was to investigate the challenges of international education initiatives, this model in particular and draw implications for sustainability. A political economy view has framed the research.The study focuses on the perspectives of key players in the joint partnership and in this paper we report from the perspective of senior university staff. The research was designed as a single case study to gain an understanding of the vested interests, intentions and challenges faced in this collaboration. The interplay of the international context, market-forces and transnational activities of internationalised teacher education are highlighted. Findings suggest that the present political environment and changing rules within the international education market makes responsive and collaborative planning difficult to sustain.

Factors influencing international student satisfaction in Korean universities

Despite South Korea emerging as one of the new players in the international education market over the last decade, our knowledge of the extent of international students’ satisfaction studying in South Korean universities is modest. To fill this research gap, our study used 873 valid survey responses from international students originating from 69 countries studying at 62 Korean universities. An exploratory factor analysis was first used to extract a set of important factors from a number of variables. Then an ordered-logistic regression was conducted to identify factors influencing international students’ overall satisfaction. A number of recommendations and areas of intervention have been identified ranging from learning experience to living and support services. Equally important, this study confirms the validity of the hypothesis that international students from the East Asian cultural sphere attain more satisfaction than other international students who are more culturally dissimilar from members of the host population. The findings of this study contribute to the overall effort of raising student satisfaction and thereby supporting the enrollment of additional students and managing attrition and retention problems through continuous improvement.

Teachers’ evaluation of the project ”Little Physician” by the Polish Academy of Kids run at the Poznań University of Medical Sciences

Introduction. The project “Little Physician” has been run for over four years as a joint project of the Poznań University of Medical Sciences and the Polish Academy of Kids. It is an innovative undertaking in the international educational market, where young ‘scientists’ aged from 6 to 12 contribute to the classes and pursue their research interest in the broadly understood field of natural science. Aim. The aim of this research was to probe the opinions of the teachers participating in the “Little Physician” initiative. Material and Methods. The research was conducted on the population of 32 teachers. The applied technique was an interview based on an original questionnaire consisted of respondent`s particulars and 7 questions evaluating the usefulness, quality and thematic range of the classes, as well as the lecturers’ competencies and organisation of the classes. Results. The usefulness of the project was positively evaluated by all the interviewees (81% rated it as “very good”, 19% thought it was “good”). As many as 75% of the respondents decided that the thematic range of the lectures was “very good”. An even higher percentage assessed very positively the competencies of the adults giving lectures, the coordinators of the classes, the lecture halls and the manner in which classes were conducted. Conclusions. The project is very highly evaluated by the teachers supervising the participating children. The high assessment stems from the high competencies of the coordinators and lecturers participating in the classes, an accurate choice of issue or subjects discussed.

Financing Activities of Modern Universities - Approaches, Challenges, Problems

The article examined the main approaches to the funding of universities and possible mechanisms for their subsequent efficient financial management. The main sources of funding for modern universities, are usually a mix of state funding other targeted grants, tuition fees and revenues from economic activity. The declining targeted budgetary resources for the financing of universities, and linking it to performance (quality, rating realization), forcing universities to seek alternative sources of financing, incl. and through the expansion of the international education market. The growing need for effective management of university assets and financial resources available has led many universities to seek expert management, both from the financial manager and through various elements of proven practices for effective corporate governance.

Transnational secondary schooling and im/mobile international students

Schools and school education systems within nations are vying to increase international student enrolments in secondary schools. This analysis of the change over a decade in the enrolment of international secondary students in Victoria, Australia, indicates how the processes of internationalisation and commercialisation of education have affected both public and private school sectors. Four factors have impacted on international senior student enrolments over a decade: global economic fluctuations; the growth of international schools globally targeting home country students; the emergence of overseas campuses for elite private schools and policies encouraging internationalisation. We propose that these forces, among others, are working in concert to reshape the nature of international student populations and international schooling in both home and host countries. These factors, together with an overarching instrumentalist policy approach underpinning the engagement of Australian schools with the international education market, provide new opportunities for less socio-economically advantaged schools to enter the international education market. It argues that the common idea of international students attending only elite schools no longer captures the phenomenon and raises questions as to how we understand what it means to be an ‘international’ school or student.

FINANCING ACTIVITIES OF MODERN UNIVERSITIES - APPROACHES, CHALLENGES, PROBLEMS

The article examined the main approaches to the funding of universities and possible mechanisms for their subsequent efficient financial management. The main sources of funding for modern universities, are usually a mix of state funding other targeted grants, tuition fees and revenues from economic activity. The declining targeted budgetary resources for the financing of universities, and linking it to performance (quality, rating realization), forcing universities to seek alternative sources of financing, incl. and through the expansion of the international education market. The growing need for effective management of university assets and financial resources available has led many universities to seek expert management, both from the financial manager and through various elements of proven practices for effective corporate governance.

International Educational Activities of Russian Universities

He article represents the results of a research into international educational activities of Russian Universities. The aims of the research were to identify university groups with similar international educational Activities indicators in certain areas (based on data cluster analysis) and analyze university characteristics for each cluster (foreign students characteristics, university size, specialization, territorial position, university selectivity, teaching and research staff internationalization, international research). The research included 301 universities from all regions of the Russian Federation. We conducted hierarchical agglomeration cluster analysis on the following indicators: student internationalization, development of incoming academic mobility, teaching programs internationalization, internationalization of university income from educational activities, amount of fees paid by foreign students and commercialization of foreign students training. Cluster analysis identified five groups with similar characteristics that got the following names: «internationalization leaders», «leaders», «recruiters», «newcomers», «outsiders». The research demonstrated that most universities diversify the content of foreign students implementing both basic and supplementary teaching programs, offering different formats of training for the students from different countries. The size of the university does not predetermine the scope of its international activities. Each cluster includes universities with less than 1000 students and large universities with several thousand students. High performance clusters usually include multi - profile universities offering a broad spectrum of educational services for foreign consumers. Moscow and Saint Petersburg universities lead in terms of international educational activities. Universities from high performance clusters are the most selective in choosing students, have a large number of foreign teaching and research staff, high international quotation rating of academic publications by university researchers. Obtained results of the research are of interest to university administration as they form an overall picture of the current state and main trends of international educational activities at the Russian universities. Suggested university classification can serve as the basis for analyzing the position of a university in an international educational market and altering strategic plans on obtaining and strengthening positions at different segments of this market. The classification presented in the article does not reflect all the diverse ways Russian universities take to develop and broaden their international educational activities. At the same time research results allow for identifying several general models of the Russian universities’ behavior at the international educational market. Further research in the field of international educational activities of the Russian universities is required that would allow for a more detailed analysis of its current state and its main development trends for the recent years.

Changing Facets of International Student Mobility

Student Mobility is the most visible and dynamic manifestation of internationalization of higher education. The recent years have noted a considerable increase in the volume of international mobile students and patterns have changed significantly. Now the traditional destinations are facing competition with the new emerging destinations in the international education market. The dynamics of host and source countries have changed significantly. The nature of flow of student mobility has been changed from unidirectional to multidirectional. In the changing facets of internationalization of higher education, the overall context of global mobility has changed significantly in terms of both who is going where, and the mix of host and sending countries. Mobility of programs and institutions from one country to another in the form of branch campus, franchised degree programs, distance education are growing at a fast pace and thus posed serious challenge. Diversification of destination countries as a new change in international student mobility is making the scenario more complex. With the emergence of new trends, international higher education is changing the choice for international students and thus influencing the trends of international student mobility. In this context, the focus of the present paper is to revisit the trends of international student mobility across the globe. The present paper will highlight the complexities which are arising as a result of the changing nature and new developments which are taking place in developed and developing countries in the area of international student mobility.