Post choice satisfaction among international postgraduate students from Asia studying in Victorian universities

As a study destination Australian universities operate in a competitive international market for full fee paying international students. In order to be successful it is vital that universities, like any other business, address issues of customer satisfaction. Using the expectations/perceptions paradigm this study examines the gap between pre-choice expectations and post-choice perceptions and the resulting satisfaction levels of international postgraduate students from four Asian countries studying in Victorian universities. The study concludes that although the students, in general, appear to be relatively satisfied with the university as a study destination, students\u27 perceptions remained far below expectations across all factors and variables investigated. The study also found that there were significant variances in the expectations and perceptions among students from different countries, suggesting that the impact of culture on the decision-making behaviour of students requires further investigation.<br /

A comparative analysis of international education satisfaction using servqual

University education, the world over, has undergone significant transformation and reform with respect to higher education systems meeting the growing role of information and communication revolution, and the demand for knowledge, which represent the new challenges of globalisation. These challenges are seen as threats as well as opportunities for higher education systems around the world. The driving force of globalisation is competition and the international education market has become fiercely competitive with different marketing strategies being implemented by educational institutions to attract the growing number of students seeking higher education. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between the SERVQUAL constructs proposed by Parasuraman et al (1988 &amp; 1985) and the country of origin and satisfaction among four cohorts of Asian international postgraduate students studying in Australian universities. Country of origin is recognized as an important predictor of satisfaction and choice in the international education environment. The data used in this study is derived from a mail survey conducted among international postgraduate students from China, India, Indonesia and Thailand studying in five universities in Victoria, Australia. An adapted version of the SERVQUAL instrument was used to collect the data and was designed to measure the gap between student responses on expectations and perceptions of the university as a study destination on a seven point bi-polar scale. The responses were sought on 36 statements representing aspects of the operations and services of the university under desired (ideal) expectations of choice and post-choice perceptions. Scales were developed to investigate the relationship between the SERVQUAL constructs of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles and the country of origin and were shown to be reliable. Using ANOVA and MANOVA techniques, the study found significant differences between country of origin and the SERVQUAL constructs and discusses strategic implications and opportunities for highereducational institutions<br /

An analysis of factors of importance to international postgraduate students from Asia studying in Victorian universities

Student satisfaction is a key strategic variable in maintaining a competitive position in the international education market by Australian universities. The universities are facing the challenge of rising student expectations of quality, service and value for money, and the need to increase the satisfaction level of their students to retain and improve international student numbers. This process requires universities to carefully analyse the key factors contributing to student satisfaction.Using logistic regression analysis with factor scores and aggregated satisfaction scores, this study examines the relative importance of factors and their impact on the satisfaction levels of international postgraduate students from four Asian countries studying at Victorian universities. The study concludes that the dominant factors that impact on student satisfaction include the quality of education, student facilities, reputation of the institutions, the marketability of their degrees for better career prospects, and the overall customer value provided by the universities.<br /

Removal of Pharyngeal Polyp in the Horse

A 7-year old, female, Tennessee Walker was admitted to Stange Memorial Clinic in late August. The owner had purchased the animal rather cheaply, knowing it was in poor condition and hoping that it could be restored to normal

Ventral False Hernia in Equine

The etiology of ventral hernia is not completely agreed upon by all clinicians. Trauma of many sorts which causes weakening of the muscle fibers is commonly incriminated. Ventral hernia often occurs along the posterior border of the last rib which might indicate a possible hereditary or predisposing weakness of the attachment of the abdominal muscles at this point. Ventral was used to differentiate this hernia from umbilical and inguinal type hernias. It was also referred to as false because in this particular case the peritoneum was torn which is not the case in a true hernia

Bad Teeth, Malnutrition, and Pregnancy Disease

Once again it is that time of year when the sheep men suffer their losses from the condition known as Pregnancy Disease. It is a good guess that many veterinarians are or will be hearing and seeing cases similar to the following one recently presented to the Stange Memorial Clinic

Teaching quality and tutorial delivery : experience of a second year marketing unit

The higher education sector, the world over, is faced with the challenging task of servicing an increasingly diverse international student community in the globally competitive education market. The rising expectation of students of education outcomes, varied learning styles and orientations of the student population have brought in challenges such as providing a high quality educational environment with changes in curricula and pedagogy (Coldrake, 2001) to negotiate the cultural and linguistic diversity and the resulting expectations of students. The \u27quality\u27 of teaching and learning is high on the agenda among the key issues that had emerged from policy developments to meet these challenges.Using the SPQ2F instrument (Biggs, 2003) and depth interviews, this paper investigates the study 3J\u27PToaches of students enrolled in a second year marketing unit in an Australian university focusing on the learning contexts in which learning occurs. The findings indicate that there are no significant differences in study approaches of students and that the study approaches differ according the learning context. The paper concludes that student perceptions on learning contexts assist in the development of teaching strategies that lead to quality outcomes, higher student satisfaction and providing universities a competitive edge in marketing its services to prospective students.<br /

Responding to the learner diversity : an inquiry into the delivery of a second year marketing unit

This paper reports on the outcome of an inquiry into the learner diversity and the delivery of a second year marketing subject in an Australian university. Using Biggs&rsquo;s revised SPQ2F instrument (Biggs, 2003), it analyses the learning approaches of students and the opportunities for developing teaching strategies for better learning outcomes. The results suggest that overall students seem to adopt deep learning than surface learning though they differ in terms of the learning contexts. Moreover, no significant differences among students in regard to the study approach domains except for minor variation related to specific items in the instrument.<br /