What are the influencing factors for chinese students in choosing a british higher education institution? : from a consumer behavior perspective

Abstract

In recent years, there is an increasing number of Chinese students who plan to pursue higher education abroad. Among their preferable overseas study destinations, the UK is definitely one of the most popular options. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the influencing factors considered by Chinese students in the process of choosing UK universities as well as degree programs from a consumer behavior perspective. Meanwhile, the study also aims to contribute to the limited number of literature that has attempted to develop a further study of why and how Chinese students decide to study in the UK and to provide managerial implications for education marketers. In order to achieve these objectives, both primary and secondary data were collected in this research and a quantitative study was conducted by means of questionnaire. A sample of 100 respondents was asked questions pertaining to the study. The results of this study show that Chinese students select UK over other countries as their study abroad destination mainly due to its short duration. Secondly, Chinese students would mostly take into account such predictors as university ranking, location and graduate prospects in the choice of UK university and course ranking, graduate prospects, and professional staff and well-recognized lecturers in the decision of a specific course while ranking is perceived as the most influential factor when choosing both a British university and course. In addition, Internet followed by previous UK Chinese students and education agencies, is regarded as the most informative information source for Chinese students. Moreover, there also some demographic differences in the perception of studying in the UK discovered in this study. Based on these findings as well as the literature, some recommendations were drawn thereafter.