Quality In Education Casestudy Vg

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective NATTHAWUT SRIKATANYOO, DHURAKIJ PUNDIT UNIVERSITY, THAILAND JUERGEN GNOTH, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND © 2005, ASQ

This study evaluates and extends research on the quality dimensions that drive students’ choice of international tertiary education providers. Based on an extensive review of both the generic services and education quality literature, a series of in-depth interviews generated many further quality criteria. These were tested on a sample of Thai prospective students who intended to study overseas and showed good nomological validity and internal reliability. The authors are confident that the six dimensions developed here are worthy of undergoing replication and further study. The dimensions are: academic and supporting facilities, academic staff performances, environmental conditions, entry requirements, academic reputation of a country, and academic reputation of domestic institutions. Key words: international education, quality dimensions

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INTRODUCTION Several studies identified the quality of education as a major criterion influencing students’ choice of an international tertiary education destination (for example, Bourke 2000; British Council 1984; 1985; Lawley 1998). Very few empirical studies on the quality of tertiary international education, however, have been conducted to date, leaving two major problems for research in this area: 1) What constitutes quality in international tertiary education, and 2) how does one measure it? The importance of pursuing answers to these questions appears obvious: International education has become one of the leading exports of the United States, contributing $12.3 billion to the U.S. economy in the academic year 1999-2000 (IIE 2001), and bringing nearly $12 billion in 2001-2002 (IIE 2003a). Similarly, international education is now Australia’s eighth largest export and contributes more than $3.2 billion to the Australian economy annually (IDP 2003). Study abroad is a complex and all-embracing experience. When students begin their deliberations about studying overseas, any aspect of any relevant lifedomain may enter the decision-making process. Decision making as problem-solving behavior would regard such aspects as considerations by which the means at hand (the countries and universities entering the deliberation) are evaluated (Payne, Bettman, and Johnson 1993). In other words, students evaluate the utility of the means at hand to the extent that they satisfy their considerations and goals. In this way, the utility of the means drives demand (Luce 1959; Lancaster 1971). This has implications for the understanding

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective and definition of “quality” as the term by which the characteristics of the experience of study abroad are represented in decision making. It is therefore suggested to include all aspects and considerations that may enter the decision-making process as determinants of quality. As drivers of demand, these consumer-defined characteristics would help one understand choice processes and suggest managerial implications. The authors thus begin by developing the quality dimensions of international tertiary education and discuss service quality dimensions and quality dimensions in higher education. They synthesize the findings and suggest additional criteria (items) on the basis of in-depth interviews with a sample of Thai international students. The resulting theoretical dimensions are examined by surveying a substantial sample of prospective Thai students’ perceptions of international tertiary education quality. The discussion then evaluates the results, outlines managerial implications, and suggests future research. The dimensions are shown to be nomologically valid and statistically robust, allowing tertiary institutions to improve their understanding of prospective students from Thailand.

SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) proposed 10 dimensions of service quality based on the results of interviews with senior executives and customer focus groups. These 10 dimensions were further developed by using factor analyses and inspecting alpha values to be the model of service quality that comprises the five dimensions known as SERVQUAL (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1988). SERVQUAL’s five dimensions (three original and two combined dimensions) are: • Tangibles: Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel • Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately

• Empathy: Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers When viewing international education (or education in general) as a service, however, (Dotchin and Oakland 1994; Zimmerman and Enell 1988), SERVQUAL is not deemed appropriate to be generalized for this sector for several reasons. First, some empirical evidence suggests that the proposed delineation of SERVQUAL is not consistent when subjected to cross-sectional analysis (Carman 1990). In addition, Carman (1990) found that some of the items did not load on the same dimension when compared across different types of service providers. Albrecht and Zemke (1985) investigated what customers considered most important while flying, and found four key aspects of service quality: • Care and concern: Customers think the organization is devoted to solving their problems. • Spontaneity: Customer-contact employees display a willingness and readiness to approach customers actively and take care of their problems. • Problem solving: Customer-contact employees are skilled in their job and perform according to prescribed standards, while the whole organization is geared to providing support for front-line employees. • Recovery: If anything goes wrong or something unexpected happens, there must be someone who is prepared to handle the situation. Grönroos (2000) developed seven criteria of good perceived service quality based on literature and conceptual work. The seven criteria of good perceived service quality are: • Professionalism and skills: Customers realize that the service provider, its employees, operational systems, and physical resources have the knowledge and skills required to solve their problems in a professional way.

• Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service

• Attitude and behavior: Customers believe that customer-contact employees are concerned about them and interested in solving their problems in a friendly and spontaneous way.

• Assurance: Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence

• Accessibility and flexibility: Customers think that the service provider, its location, operating hours,

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective employees, and operational systems are designed and operate so that it is easy to get access to the service, and are prepared to adjust to the demands and wishes of the customers. • Reliability and trustworthiness: Customers know that they can rely on the service provider, its employees, and systems, to keep promises and perform with the best interests of the customers at heart. • Service recovery: Customers realize that whenever something goes wrong or something unpredictable happens, the service provider will immediately take control of the situation and find an acceptable solution. • Serviscape: Customers believe that the physical surroundings and other aspects of the environment of the service encounter support a positive experience of the service process. • Reputation and credibility: Customers think that the service provider’s business can be trusted and gives adequate value for money, and that it stands for good performance and values, which can be shared by customers and the service provider. These seven criteria of good perceived service quality and other service quality dimensions mentioned in this literature review can function as fundamental guidelines for developing quality dimensions in international tertiary education, since they are based on a solid body of empirical and conceptual research as well as on practical experience. As initially demanded by Owlia and Aspinwall (1996), however, the specific characteristics of any service require the development of its own unique dimensions as well as common features with other services. Study abroad is as complex and multifaceted as life itself. Indeed, one may view it as life away from home, and even as including features of tourism experiences. A consumer-defined experience as facilitated by tertiary institutions abroad therefore also contains strong experiential and symbolic elements. These go beyond the merely functional aspects that may be associated with the concept of quality. Before combining the aforementioned findings, the authors present a brief literature review of quality in higher education.

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Quality Dimensions in Higher Education Higher education is a professional service that differs in many respects from other services, and warrants separate treatment. Similar to other professional services (for example, law, consulting, architectural), higher education is at the pure service end of the goods-services continuum. Typically, it is characterized by a higher degree of interpersonal contact, complexity, divergence, and customizations than other service businesses (Patterson, Romm, and Hill 1998). Although tangible elements, such as academic facilities and equipment, may help potential students assess the quality of higher education, most of the quality attributes in higher education cannot be seen, felt, or touched in advance, which makes prepurchase evaluation difficult, especially for an overseas student (Harvey and Busher 1996; Patterson et al. 1998). Prospective students are forced to rely on surrogates (for example, Web sites, brochures, advertising, word of mouth, communications with agents) or promises, to assess what they are likely to get. In addition, the quality of higher education may vary markedly in different circumstances (from time to time, class to class, students to students, lecturer to lecturer, and so on) (Owlia and Aspinwall 1996; Patterson et al. 1998). The experiences of prospective students may be totally different from the experiences of current students and alumni. What is more, the prospective students may have expectations, which might not match reality in a host country and its university life (Patterson, Romm, and Hill 1998). Considering the aforementioned characteristics of higher education, the literature was investigated in order to develop additional quality dimensions exclusively for international tertiary education. Owlia and Aspinwall (1996) proposed six quality dimensions in higher education. The dimensions were developed by grouping 30 attributes that are associated with education quality, based on the literature (for example, Ashworth and Harvey 1994; Harvey, Burrows; and Green 1992; Logothetis 1993; Meshkati 1991; and Spanbauer 1992). The six quality dimensions in higher education proposed are:

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective • Tangibles: Sufficient equipment/facilities, modern equipment or facilities, ease of access, visually appealing environment, support services • Competence: Sufficient (academic) staff, theoretical knowledge and qualifications, practical knowledge, up to date, teaching expertise, and communication • Attitude: Understanding students’ needs, willingness to help, availability for guidance and advice, giving personal attention, emotion and courtesy • Content: Relevance of curriculum to the future jobs of students, effectiveness, containing primary knowledge or skills, completeness and use of computer, communication skills, and teamwork • Delivery: Effective presentation, sequencing and timeliness, consistency, fairness of examinations, feedback from students, encouraging students • Reliability: Trustworthiness, giving valid award, keeping promises and matching to the goals, handling complaints, and solving problems However, Owlia and Aspinwall’s (1996) six dimensions based on an empirical study are needed to examine the validity. Moreover, it may be inappropriate to apply the attitude dimension to international tertiary education because of the variability of higher education, as discussed previously. Furthermore, the content dimension seems unlikely to be appropriate for examining students’ perceptions or prepurchase evaluations of international tertiary education. A study conducted by Joseph and Joseph (1997) examining New Zealand business students’ perceptions of service quality in education identified seven determinants of service quality. The seven determinants and their criteria are: • Physical aspects: Accommodation facilities, academic facilities, campus layout and appearance, sports, and recreational facilities • Cost/time: Length of degree, cost of accommodation, cost of education • Academic issues: Reputable degree, excellent instructors • Program issues: Specialist programs, flexible structure and content, practical component,

options available, flexibility to move within school of study, flexible entry requirements • Career opportunities: Employable graduates, information on career opportunities • Location: Ideal location • Other: Word of mouth, family and peers influencing university choice The alternative quality dimensions proposed by Joseph and Joseph (1997) are based on students’ perceptions of an excellent or ideal university. It could be argued that students’ perceptions of the ideal university may not match reality. In addition, in the real world, there is not the option of having more of every characteristic that is desirable and less of every characteristic that is undesirable (AMA 1992). In other words, the ideal option does not exist. Furthermore, institutions of higher education have many stakeholders and service providers who, to varying degrees, are concerned with processes other than those immediately associated with the creation of higher education services (Rowley 1997). These may include residential businesses involved in foundation courses, accommodation, or even entertainment. Also, international students may be concerned with different attributes when choosing their place of education. For example, local students are concerned with the learning process and graduation, whereas overseas students may also be concerned with entry requirements and language skills, as well as environmental conditions, both physical and political, such as safety, urbanity, or even racism. In addition, Lawley (1998) theorized about a cost construct that includes comparative cost, climate, distance from home, and the presence of other home-country students. The results, however, demonstrated that the cost construct is not important to prospective overseas students’ evaluation of destinations or their intentions. Meanwhile, criteria such as academic issues, program issues, and location were identified as important factors related to the quality of higher education (for example, Hampton (1993) and Owlia and Aspinwall (1996)). These criteria were therefore taken into account for developing the quality dimensions in international tertiary education. Qualitative research by Patterson, Romm, and Hill (1998) identified four dimensions of students’

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective expectations/satisfactions in international tertiary education. The four dimensions are: • Economic well-being: The individual’s ability to obtain and pay for the goods and services necessary for survival in a foreign country. • Personal well-being: The perception of self as an individual in a foreign country. • Social well-being: The quantity and quality of interactions with other individuals. • Learning well-being: The elements pertaining to the acquisition of knowledge and professional skills. Yet qualitative research has limitations in generalizing its findings. Patterson, Romm, and Hill’s study (1998) provided preliminary knowledge that is usable in developing quality dimensions in international tertiary education. Patterson, Romm, and Hill (1998) found that students’ expectations and satisfaction shift over time, and these shifts are not consistent and varied depending on the dimensions. In addition, the major determinant of satisfaction appears to be the “learning well-being” dimension, which includes perceptions of

quality of lectures, workshops, supervision of individual research, and other services provided by academic staff; quality of facilities and equipment; and program content and availability of subjects.

METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS The development of the authors’ goal involved two steps. First, they developed the quality dimensions in international tertiary education on a basis of the literature review and in-depth interviews of 23 Thai international students in New Zealand. Second, they examined the performance of the quality dimensions by conducting a survey of 240 prospective international students in Chiang Mai, Thailand. These two steps are now discussed.

The Development of Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education Combining the different findings from the literature reviewed previously, Table 1 compares the quality

Table 1 A comparison of quality dimensions in higher education and service quality dimensions. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1988

Owlia and Aspinwall 1996

Joseph and Joseph 1997

Reliability

Reliability

Program issues

Empathy

Competence Attitude

Academic issues

Tangibles

Tangibles

Physical aspects

Cost/time Assurance

Content

Responsiveness

Delivery

Patterson, Romm, and Hill 1998

Grönroos 2000 Reliability and trustworthiness Reputation and credibility

Learning well-being Social well-being

Attitude and behavior Accessibility and flexibility Service recovery Serviscape (the physical surrounding and other aspects of the environment)

Economic well-being

Career opportunities

Professionalism and skills

Location

Personal well-being Source: Developed for this research based on a literature review

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Other (word of mouth, family and peers)

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective Table 2 Conceptual quality dimensions in international tertiary education and their attributes. Dimensions

Attributes

I. Academic reputation of a country

• National education standard • Degree of trustworthiness of domestic academic institutions • Validity of degrees or qualifications • Reputation of academic institutions • Reputation of alumni

II. Academic staff performance

• Theoretical knowledge and qualifications • Practical knowledge and experiences • Specialization or expertise in a specific area • Teaching and communication skills

III. Academic and supporting facilities

• Availability of facilities and equipment • Sufficiency of facilities and equipment • Modernity of facilities and equipment • Convenience of access

IV. Entry requirements

• Primary knowledge and skills requirements • Supplementary knowledge and skills requirements • English language proficiency requirement • Requirements of supporting documents

V. Environmental conditions

• Social life on campus • Visually appealing environment • Friendliness of people • Safety

Source: Developed for this research based on a literature review

the 21 quality attributes were further grouped into five theoretical dimensions. The theorized quality dimensions in international tertiary education and their attributes are presented in Table 2.

Examining the Performance of the Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education A student survey was conducted to examine the reliability and theoretical validity of the hypothesized quality dimensions in international tertiary education assembled through literature and in-depth interviews. A total of 240 questionnaires were sent to final-year high school and undergraduate students at institutions located in the Chiang Mai area. Respondents were prescreened and asked about their intentions to study

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dimensions in higher education with the service quality dimensions by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) and Grönroos (2000). The dimensions were tabularized using an interpretative approach that attempted to find the common ground between the items. Rather than critiquing the differing levels of specificity of each author, the literature informed the study by reading the items horizontally. During the process of penetrating the meaning and connotations of individual items and dimensions, the authors gained in-depth insights and a basis for understanding prospective students’ consideration-sets and concerns. Moreover, Table 1 also indicates how the different approaches to services research may differ in their coverage of the quality-construct in higher education. In order to confirm the attributes from the existing literature, as well as to identify additional criteria in evaluating international tertiary education quality, indepth interviews of Thai students in New Zealand were conducted. Thai students were selected because Thailand is one of the top 10 home countries for international students studying in Australia (IDP 2002), New Zealand (New Zealand Ministry of Education 2003), and the United States (IIE 2003b). Moreover, Thailand is also a major home country for international students studying in the United Kingdom (UNESCO 1999). A total of 23 Thai international students studying abroad agreed to participate in the interviews. They were asked to express their opinions on the quality of international tertiary education. They were also asked to identify criteria related to international tertiary education quality. These were combined with criteria from the existing literature. The results of in-depth interviews not only confirmed the attributes from the literature, but also identified additional attributes, including concerns over entry requirements and environmental conditions. The interviews indicated that students perceived those universities requiring higher TOEFL or IELTS scores as providing a better quality of education than those that require lower scores. Moreover, students considered social life on campus, friendliness of people, and safety as important attributes associated with quality of education. Adding these new items to the previous findings based on the literature, 21 quality attributes were compiled. Following a content analysis,

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective Table 3 Summary of results from rotated factor analysis. Factor loadings of attributes Number Reliability on dimensions of coefficients to which attributes (alphas) they belonga Eigenvalue

Percent coverage of the variance

I. Academic and supporting facilities • Availability of facilities and equipment • Sufficiency of facilities and equipment • Modernity of facilities and equipment • Convenience of access to facilities/equipment

4

7.829

14.893

II. Academic staff performance • Theoretical knowledge and qualifications of lecturers • Practical knowledge and experiences of lecturers • Specialization or expertise in a specific area of lecturers • Teaching and communication skills of lecturers

4

1.837

12.788

III. Environmental conditions • Social life on campus • Visually appealing environment • Friendliness of people • Safety

4

1.734

10.098

IV. Entry requirements • Primary knowledge and skills requirements • Supplementary knowledge and skills requirements • English language proficiency requirement

3

1.555

9.573

V. Academic reputation of a country • National education standard • Degree of trustworthiness of domestic academic institutions • Validity of degrees or qualifications

3

1.264

8.238

VI. Academic reputation of domestic institutions • Reputation of academic institutions • Reputation of alumni

2

1.002

6.661

0.92 0.78 0.84 0.83 0.74 0.88 0.63 0.87 0.68 0.70 0.77 0.46 0.53 0.86 0.65 0.78 0.80 0.72 0.60 0.81 0.67 0.74 0.53

Reliability of linear combination (total-scale reliability)

0.72 0.71 0.68 0.91

The factor loadings of attributes on dimensions to which they did not belong were all less than 0.4. Source: Analysis of field data a

abroad. Only respondents who intended to study abroad were selected for further participation. The useable sample size was 182, and the effective response rate (after adjustments) was 75.8 percent. A fivepoint Likert scale that rated from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) was used to measure students’ evaluations of tertiary institutions and reasons for studying overseas. The majority of the respondents were females, and about 59 percent were undergraduate students. About 60 percent of the respondents were from upper and upper-middle class families, and nearly 21 percent were from middle-class families.

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The questionnaire contained three sections: 1. The potential students’ intentions and their reasons of going overseas to study 2. The rating of the importance of 21 attributes relating to international tertiary education quality 3. A series of demographic questions An original version of the questionnaire was prepared in English, and it was then translated into Thai by the researcher. The Thai version was developed using the parallel-translation or double-translation method (Adler 1983; Sekaran 1983; Song and Parry

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Dimension

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective 1996; 1997). An English professional translator then translated the Thai versions of the questionnaire back into English. Both Thai and English versions of the questionnaire were also compared by bilingual research experts. Only minor inconsistencies emerged and were resolved in a group meeting with all parties. Regarding data analysis, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to generate descriptive statistics for respondents’ profiles, reasons of going overseas to study, and students’ intentions of international education. Factor analysis was used to assess the nomological validity of the quality dimensions, while discriminant validity of the quality dimensions was examined through the rotated factor scores across all of the identified factors (Joseph and Joseph 2000). The decision to use factor analysis was upheld by the Bartlett’s test of sphericity (a = 0.000) and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO = 0.876) measure of sampling adequacy, as well as individual measures of sampling adequacy (MSA, between 0.771 and 0.927). The factor analysis was computed by using the Varimax procedure with maximum likelihood method. Attributes were removed if factor loadings were less than 0.40; for a sample of 200 respondents, factor loadings of 0.40 and above are significant (Hair et al. 1998). Furthermore, Acrobat’s alpha was used to assess the reliability of identified factors. The resulting factors are presented in Table 3. The results of factor analysis identified six factors: academic and supporting facilities, academic staff performance, environmental conditions, entry requirements, academic reputation of a country, and academic reputation of domestic institutions. The Eigenvalue for Factor VI is 1.002, and 62.23 percent of the total variance is attributable to the first six factors. All theoretical dimensions have thus been confirmed through the empirical investigation with an additional dimension, academic reputation of domestic institutions, which was split from the theoretical academic reputation of domestic institutions dimension. The only item that did not load sufficiently was requirements for supporting document, as its factor loadings was less than 0.4. Interviewees indicated that the need to supply documentation such as employers’ recommendations or police records would further substantiate the reputation of tertiary institutions.

As a result, the six dimensions comprise a total of 20 attributes (as presented in Table 3). In relation to the importance of attributes in the six quality dimensions, descriptive statistics (second column of Table 4) demonstrate that students place a high degree of importance on all attributes. All attributes had a mean score of greater than 3.6, except for one attribute, reputation of alumni (3.08). Safety, teaching and communication skills of lecturers, availability of facilities and equipment, and validity of degrees or qualifications were the first four most important attributes in international education quality, respectively. The comparison of means between high school and undergraduate students (third and fourth columns of Table 4) did not reveal any significant differences, except for three attributes: safety, social life on campus, and visually appealing environment. This shows that high school students placed more importance on these attributes than their undergraduate counterparts. High school and undergraduate respondents do have differing perspectives, however, as to the order of the five most important attributes. High school respondents placed safety as the most important attribute followed by teaching and communication skills of lecturers, social life on campus, national education standard, and friendliness of people, respectively. Safety was also placed as the most important attribute by undergraduate students, yet followed by availability of facilities and equipment, teaching and communication skills of lecturers, validity of degrees or qualifications, and modernity of facilities and equipment, respectively. These results point toward the need to develop different strategies for different markets in particular undergraduate and graduate markets.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS This study identified six quality dimensions in international tertiary education on the basis of 20 attributes. These are proposed to influence the choice of international tertiary destination, and were developed and extended through field research by using a solid body of conceptual and qualitative research. The quality dimensions were examined via factor analysis and the

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective

Attributes

All sample

High school

Undergraduate

P-value

Safety

4.59

4.73[1]

4.49[1]

0.033

Teaching and communication skills of lecturers

4.37

4.45[2]

4.32[3]

NS

Availability of facilities and equipment

4.29

4.23

4.34[2]

NS

Validity of degrees or qualifications

4.27

4.23

4.31[4]

NS

National education standard

4.22

4.27[4]

4.19

NS

Specialization or expertise in a specific area of lecturers

4.21

4.20

4.22

NS

Sufficiency of facilities and equipment

4.20

4.23

4.19

NS

Modernity of facilities and equipment

4.19

4.05

4.29[5]

NS

Social life on campus

4.19

4.39[3]

4.05

0.009

Friendliness of people

4.18

4.27[5]

4.11

NS

Practical knowledge and experiences of lecturers

4.16

4.17

4.15

NS

Convenience of access to facilities and equipment

4.14

4.00

4.23

NS

Degree of trustworthiness of domestic academic institutions

4.08

4.09

4.07

NS

Theoretical knowledge and qualifications of lecturers

4.03

4.03

4.04

NS

English language proficiency requirement

3.89

3.85

3.92

NS

Primary knowledge and skills requirements

3.85

3.80

3.88

NS

Visually appealing environment

3.85

4.01

3.73

0.039

Supplementary knowledge and skills requirements

3.75

3.73

3.76

NS

Reputation of academic institutions

3.71

3.59

3.80

NS

Supporting documents requirement

3.66

3.59

3.71

NS

Reputation of alumni

3.08

2.96

3.16

NS

[1,2,3,4,5] Top five important attributes in the undergraduate respondents’ perspective Source: Analysis of field data

theoretical dimensions were confirmed, adding to the nomological validity of the methodology. The dimensions identified are academic and supporting facilities, academic staff performances, environmental conditions, entry requirements, academic reputation of a country, and academic reputation of domestic institutions. The study successfully synthesized the existing literature and generated a more cohesive measurement instrument worthy of further consideration and study.

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The six quality dimensions can help academic institutions position and differentiate themselves from competitors, particularly those that have the advantage of age and historical reputation. In this way, academic institutions can use these dimensions to assess a given institution’s quality along each of the six dimensions in comparison to others. Moreover, the international education quality dimensions can also provide an overall measure of service quality in the form of an average

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Table 4 Comparison of importance of attributes between high school students’ and undergraduate students’ perspectives.

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective score across all six dimensions. These analyses could assist academic institutions to design appropriately competitive strategies, particularly marketing communication strategies, to attract a sustainable and/or larger share of the international education market. The results of this study also highlight the importance of understanding the need to identify the important attributes that potential students consider when choosing a tertiary institution. If academic institutions as well as their host countries are to attract a sustainable share of the international education market, they need to know their customers, understand their needs and wants, and then develop strategies to deliver the desired satisfactions better than competitors do. A further analysis of importance ratings between high school and university students indicated that there are also differences between undergraduate and graduate markets. This may well support that the international education market can be segmented into different education levels. Academic institutions could also implement market segmentation strategy on the basis of geographical units, demographic variables, psychographic profiles, and behavioral variables. For instance, they could offer short professional development courses for executives, while also offering online courses for students who cannot or do not want to leave their countries. If the institutions are to succeed in the long term, however, they must understand the need for identifying the attributes that potential students in a particular segment consider important when choosing an overseas institution for their further study.

Limitations and Direction of Future Research The samples are limited to Thai students at a foreign university for the extension of the set of decisionmaking criteria, and final-year high school and undergraduate students studying in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for the actual survey. This could limit the generalization of the research findings. It is believed that a larger range of students with a more diversified background could provide even richer results for

analysis. In any case, while the dimensions appear comprehensive, they are only generic. They indicate a significant amount of depth that encourages each country and institution to drive this research further in detailed market analyses. With regard to the issues of consistency of the quality dimensions, they need to be examined by using confirmatory factor analysis in a further stage in the authors’ research program. REFERENCES Adler, N. J. 1983. A typology of management studies involving cultures. Journal of International Business Studies 14 (Fall): 29-47. Albrecht, K., and R. Zemke. 1985. Service America: Doing business in the new economy. Illinois: Dow Jones-Irwin. American Marketing Association (AMA). 1992. Conjoint analysis: A guide for designing and interpreting conjoint studies. Illinois: American Marketing Association. Ashworth, A., and R. C. Harvey. 1994. Assessing quality in further and higher education. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishing. Bourke, A. 2000. A model of the determinants of international trade in higher education. The Service Industries Journal 20, no. 1: 110-138. British Council. 1984. Higher education market survey: Singapore. London: British Council. British Council. 1985. Higher education market survey: Singapore. London: British Council. Carman, J. M. 1990. Consumer perceptions of service quality: An assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions. Journal of Retailing 66, no. 1: 33-55. Dotchin, J. A., and J. S. Oakland. 1994. Total quality management in services-Part 1: Understanding and classifying services. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management 11, no. 3: 9-43. Grönroos, C. 2000. Service management and marketing. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hair, J. F. Jr., R. E. Anderson, R. L. Tatham, and W. C. Clack. 1998. Multivariate data analysis. Upper Saddle River, London: Prentice Hall International, Inc. Hampton, G. M. 1993. Gap analysis of college student satisfaction as a measure of professional service quality. Journal of Professional Service Marketing 9, no. 1: 115-128. Harvey, L., A. Burrows, and D. Green. 1992. Criteria of quality: Summary. Birmingham: The University of Central England. Harvey, J. A., and H. Busher. 1996. Marketing schools and consumer choice. International Journal of Educational Management 10, no. 4: 26-32.

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Natthawut Srikatanyoo is a deputy director in the graduate school at Dhurakij Pundit University, Thailand. Srikatanyoo has completed his doctorate at the University of Otago, New Zealand, in the field of international education marketing. He is now in charge of the Master of Marketing Communication program, which is jointly offered by Dhurakijpundit University and University of Canberra, Australia. He has published in the Journal of Brand Management, and presented a number of papers at international conferences including the European Marketing Academy Conference (EMAC) and Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC). His research interests include international marketing, services marketing, branding, and marketing strategy. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] . Juergen Gnoth is a senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing at University of Otago, New Zealand. His interests are in the areas of consumer behavior, tourism services marketing, and marketing ethics. Gnoth is a leading member of the Tourism Research Group and is involved in researching the constructs of intentions, expectations, image, and satisfaction of international tourists.