Enseñanza de la Historia:

Research interests regarding international students in higher education have gathered momentum since 2006 as HEIs are increasingly dependent on international student enrolment to boost revenue, as well as help to compensate the progressive decline in

public funding for higher education over the years (Abdullahet al., 2013). Most of the

research on international students has focused upon developed countries. Abdullah et al. (2013), in their review of 497 journal papers on research studies conducted over the span of 30 years in higher education, found that 77.2% of studies published between 2006 to 2013 focused on developed countries, predominantly the US, Australia, UK, New Zealand and Canada, while only 10.9% of these studies focused on countries in the Asia region. With the escalating demand for higher education in Asia, more research attention to explore the Asia context is required. It is also apparent that most studies focused on the institutional level with an emphasis on the national level. Similarly, the use of samples from single institutions also leads to a debate that research outcomes cannot be generalised to a population of students from different HEIs (Kusumawati, 2013). Studies that are based on convenience samples from one subject discipline in one university further exacerbate the problem as the findings may turn out to be biased towards the specific strengths of the institution where the study is carried out. It can be argued that the results reveal more about that single institution and hence researchers should be cautious about the claims made (Hemsley-Brown & Oplatka, 2015).

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The increasing view of regarding students as primary customers of HEIs (Kanji & Tambi, 1999; Eagle & Brennan, 2007, Brochado, 2009; Nicolescu, 2009; de Jager & Gbadamosi, 2013) has made students (mainly undergraduate and postgraduate students) the most popular subject investigated among the higher education studies. The research focus is, however, primarily on the motivational factors influencing the HEI’s choice (Briggs & Wilson, 2007) with the influence of the choice of country often disregarded

(Cubillo et al., 2006). Furthermore, prior research studies in this area have been

selective in the coverage of key influencing factors for different countries, and the findings from these studies cannot be generalised to the Malaysia context (Oliveira- Brochado & Marques, 2007). International students come from different backgrounds and may not necessarily be influenced by the same set of key factors in their selection of Malaysia and its HEI for their overseas education over other countries (Cubillo et

al., 2006; Bodycott, 2009; Roberts et al., 2010; Ahmad & Buchanan, 2016). Thus from

the international students’ perspective, existing literature leaves a research gap to continually update and search for a set of comprehensive influencing factors used, taking both country choice and HEI choice into consideration.

Student satisfaction, on the other hand, is another popular theme in international higher education research. These studies are usually carried out to exemplify the post consumption behaviour of students that is in relation to students’ expectations and their perceived service performance of the HEI. The importance of understanding the satisfaction level cannot be undermined as evidence that when students are satisfied with the HEI’s services, they become loyal to their institution. Arambewela and Hall (2003) identified a significantly strong relationship between satisfied students with positive word-of-mouth (WOM) and student retention. With positive WOM students are likely to recommend family members and friends to pursue higher education at the particular university that they are satisfied with (Slethaug & Manjula, 2012). Positive WOM not only improves students’ retention but also leads to better branding for the university (Arambewela & Hall, 2003). This may improve the credibility and prestige of the HEI, which eventually grows the number of students (Marzo-Navarro et al., 2006).

The majority of student satisfaction studies in the past are conducted independently from research on motivational factors. These studies focus mainly on the students’ in-

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campus and academic experience; very little attention has been paid to the influence of

the external environment on student satisfaction (Cubillo et al., 2006). Some

researchers argue that international students’ study experience is determined not only by their education experience but also other experiences, including their home life, jobs, relationships, security and meaningful community engagement, all of which are integral to students’ wellbeing (Council of Australian Governments, 2010). An extensive survey on international student satisfaction conducted by the UK Council for International Education (UKCOSA) in 2006 concluded that whilst the large majority of international students seemed content with the quality of their course, they were less satisfied in relation to their overall student experience. This revealed that although the quality of education undoubtedly plays an important role in students’ satisfaction (Mavondo et

al., 2004), international students’ satisfaction was not limited to merely academic needs

but the entire living and learning experience (Chong, 2015).

The discussion above exhibits that despite a wide range of international student choice and decision-making research having been conducted, there are still gaps for further research. To better examine international student experiences, this study adopts a more holistic approach by looking into students’ entire study, living and social lives within the academic and host country context. This includes investigating key influencing factors that international students rely upon for their choice of HEI to pursue their overseas education. This study then expands to measure international students’ satisfaction towards the decision that they have made based on the key influencing factors. The relationship between satisfaction and future word-of-mouth behaviour in consumer referral is also being investigated in this thesis.