Study Abroad in Support of Higher Education Sustainability: An Application of Service Trade Strategies

• Published in: Sustainability 2020-03, Vol.12 (6), p.2556
• Main Authors: Oh, Eunji, Shin, M. Minsuk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Consumers; Criteria; Customer services; Decision making; Developed countries; Developing countries; Education; Enrollments; Environmental education; Foreign students; Geopolitics; Higher education; Industrialized nations; LDCs; Orientation; Polls & surveys; Questionnaires; Students; Study abroad; Sustainability; Tourism; Tuition
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su12062556

The objective of this study is to foster the sustainability of the higher education enrollment system in developed countries, where declining student enrollment is eminent, by promoting study abroad programs through utilizing service trade strategy. The methodology used in the current study is based on a co-orientation model adopted from the field of psychology. Using the co-orientation theory, this study investigates perceptual gaps (created from services’ intangibility, convergence, and internationalization) between the service provider (university staff) and the customers (international students) for multiple selection criteria. The survey questionnaires were constructed based on co-orientation survey questionnaires and modified using the selection criteria that were indicated from previous studies. In conclusion, it was found that international students and the university staffs in the sample have very different perceptions on most of the international students’ university selection criterion. As an implication, this study shows the factors which have the most significant difference between the perception of international students and the university staffs and offers appropriate actions to amend such gaps.