The Role of City and Host University Images on Students' Satisfaction with the Assigned Destination

• Published in: Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research 2017-01, Vol.6, p.250
• Main Author: Roostika, Ratna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cities; Colleges & universities; Decision making; Higher education; Influence; International education; Market positioning; Marketing; Students
• ISSN: 2414-6722; 2304-1013

Many cities have actively integrated higher education and local culture as part of city and university image building. Yogyakarta, known as cultural and student city in Indonesia hosts a large number of students from all over Indonesia. Yogyakarta not only offers academic facilities, but the social and cultural environments also offer valuable experiences. When choosing an university, the location of the institution plays an important role in student's decision making. Life outside university considered as important factor in influencing satisfaction with education experience. The purpose of this study is to investigate the city and university image relationship, and then to determine whether both city and university image could lead to students satisfaction with the assigned destination. Samples are students from five major islands in Indonesia who study in Yogyakarta. 164 valid respondents were tested using Partial Least Square analysis. University and city images are both predictors of students satisfaction with assigned destination. The local governments, place managers and university should strengthen their capacity for city images building synergies. The synergy will strengthen the city and university competitiveness over other places and other competing universities.