‘The best education in the world’: reality, repetition or cliché? International students' reasons for choosing an English university

Abstract

Universities and students collaborate in a shared language of excellence, quality and choice, and become part of the same discourse of marketisation, commodification and globalisation, where each plays their part as provider and consumer in a highly competitive international area. Whilst there are an increasing number of studies which focus on the use of the Internet and websites, there are still very few articles on the use of websites in the context of higher education and university choice. This study uses a sample of 60 personal statements from online postgraduate applications submitted by international students. The extracts are coded for analysis and compared against the website information provided on university and British Council websites during the time period of the applications. Applicants used specific nouns, adjectives and phrases published on the British Council website and the website of their target university as reasons for choosing a university.

Keywords:

• choice
• marketing higher education
• university marketing
• student as consumer
• student choice