Impacts of Institutional Characteristics on International Students’ Choice of Private Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia

Abstract

In recent years, Malaysia has witnessed an influx of foreign students in the local higher education institutions with the aggressive support from the Malaysian government to build Malaysia as the educational hub within the region. This is in line with Malaysia's aspiration to be a global education hub by year 2020.Besides the country level policy, the aim of this study is to understand the major drivers that influence foreign students to choose Malaysia and the private HEI as their study destination. Five dimensions were employed in measuring student's choice of private HEI with a focus on institutional characteristics (cost of education, academic reputation, location, programme and facilities). A sample of 265 respondents was drawn within five private HEIs and the Structural Equation Model (SEM) was utilized in testing the five proposed hypotheses. Based on the findings, all hypotheses were significant except for location. This study gave an idea that institutional characteristics are significantly important in measuring foreign students' choice of Malaysian private HEI.In conclusion, these findings would enable academics and practitioners to focus on the crucial factors that influence foreign students to choose their respective private HEIs.

A Review on Student Attrition in Higher Education Using Big Data Analytics and Data Mining Techniques

“…Malaysia Government has been the main financial provider in the educational sector especially for HE. However, there is a problem with the limitation on resources mostly in finance due to the increase in demand for the management of institutions and budget for sponsored students who are studying abroad [11]. The government had taking initiative and working on restructuring strategies under the University Transformation Programme (UniTP) to enhance the educational system and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) to raise Malaysia income especially in the educational sector such as encourage the foreign students to choose Malaysia as a destination to further their studies.…”

Influential Determinants of International Students’ Satisfaction in Higher Education

“…Pertaining to costs, in [18] proved that international students choose an institution based on their measurement of the overall costs of education. Demonstrated in [19], tuition fees are significantly related to international students" mobility decision and have a significant impact on enrolment rates [20].…”

“…Regarding reputation, international students choose an institution based on its reputation and courses offered as they believed that graduating from a reputable university will provide them better chances of getting well-paid jobs in the future [18]. Therefore, they carefully choose a university which has a reputable brand name so that it will merge with their self-identity and they could create a decent social recognition upon graduation due to the established university"s brand name [22].…”

Demand for Malaysian Higher Education among ASEAN Countries: An Income Classifcation based Analysis

“…They concluded that institutional type is the most important factor considered by students. Another study by Migin et al (2015) highlighted that institutional characteristics, such as academic reputation and facilities, are significant in influencing more international students to study in Malaysian private education institutions. At an institutional level, Othman et al (2018) analysed seven factors which may attract international students to Universiti Malaysia Sabah.…”