With English as the medium of academic exchange, Chinese students are the largest single overseas student group in the English speaking countries (2010). Relative to the outbound education market of other countries, the Chinese education market is large, and it is currently receiving much attention globally. Not only is South Africa one of countries where English is spoken, it has relatively speaking, low study fees and easily-accessed visas compared with countries in Europe and the United States. Therefore, South African universities have a virtually unlimited potential for receiving Chinese students. For South African education providers, particularly NMMU as the host university for the research in question, in order to render the expected education quality and to cater for the Chinese education market effectively, it is of utmost importance that the institutions have a clear understanding of Chinese students’ expectations as well as their actual academic experiences (in the broadest context) when studying at this university. The above is closely linked to the expected educational quality, the actual educational delivery as experienced by Chinese students, as well as the levels of satisfaction they experience as students at NMMU. The purpose of this research project is twofold. Firstly, it aims to construct a theoretical model showing the variables and relationships pertaining to expected and actual educational delivery as experienced by Chinese students. Having assessed the perceptions of the respondents based on the findings, another purpose is to design appropriate educational marketing strategies suitable to address the academic needs and expectations of Chinese students in the broadest context. By designing appropriate education strategies, the potential to develop the Chinese education market in South Africa will be enhanced. Given the purpose and nature of the research in question, methodological triangulation strategies were used. A Likert seven-point scale research instrument was developed and administered. Due to the limited number of respondents (n=61), the Likert scale instrument was further subjected to enrich the data by means of face-to-face interviews with 61 Chinese students (respondents), who shared their perceptions on the expectations and actual experiences of NMMU academic programme quality encounters. By following the methodological triangulation strategies, the validity of the findings is enhanced. The phenomenological dimension of the research was conducted according to guidelines as documented in secondary sources. The findings of the matched pair t-tests indicated that significant statistical differences do exist between the ‘expectations’ and ‘actual experiences’ of Chinese students’ perceived academic programme quality. Sufficient evidence is available at the 95 percent level of significance to support the hypothesis H1, namely: “There are differences between Chinese students’ ‘expected’ and ‘perceived’ academic programme quality (actual experience) of NMMU”. Besides the matched pair t-tests, further statistical analyses were performed by means of calculating Cohen’s ‘d’ values and relative percentage ratings to assess the magnitude of the “gap” between expectations and actual experiences of Chinese students studying at NMMU. The findings revealed that the Chinese students were not completely satisfied with their actual experiences when studying at NMMU. The above statistical findings were endorsed by the qualitative findings. Three sets of conclusions and recommendations were identified for this research. Firstly, conclusions emanating from secondary sources on service quality and students’ satisfaction literature were provided, such that students satisfaction is seen more as a psychological state which reveals an overall feeling of the students’ purchase and consumption experience. Secondly, the conclusions linked to the empirical findings revealed significant statistical differences between the expectations and perceptions (actual experiences) of Chinese students’ perceived academic programme quality. Finally, recommendations on relevant NMMU educational marketing objectives/ strategies can be grouped into four domains: - To build a customer-led education business which adheres to the principles of true marketing orientation with the focus on Chinese students. To achieve this objective a high level of understanding of Chinese students’ specific needs and wants when studying at NMMU is of utmost importance. The effective marketing positioning of NMMU can render leverage benefits to themselves and their clientele. - Findings from the biographic data analyses are significant to the positioning strategies and market segmentation strategies of NMMU. - The decision on a proper positioning strategy entails the choice of target market segments, which will determine where and how the education business competes and its choice of differential advantages. - The South African education providers should have appropriate educational brands to entice the Chinese students’ support.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:9359 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Song, Junli |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MCom |
| Format | xiv, 196 leaves ; 31 cm, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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