The business of export education: Expectation gaps in living conditions for Chinese students in New Zealand

Abstract

This study has researched how to improve the service quality and living experience of international students in New Zealand through exploring five questions: 1. What are the important factors considered by Chinese students when they choose New Zealand as a destination? 2. What are the current living conditions of Chinese students who study overseas in New Zealand? 3. What are the social lives for Chinese students in New Zealand? 4. How are their lives in New Zealand different from their expectation? 5. How can the New Zealand institutes improve their service quality to meet the needs of the overseas students?

This study has used quantitative questionnaires as the main research tool for data collecting among the Chinese international students. 135 questionnaires were handed out to 135 Chinese overseas students in 9 schools – 3 public universities, 3 private education institutes, and 3 language schools. By the end, there were 122 questionnaires completed and returned by the selected students.

The collected data was analyzed through the SPSS software. Mean value analysis, frequency analysis, and T-Test analysis were mainly implemented to summarize, compare and contrast the data.

There are no other research tools or data collection methods being employed in this research.

This study reveals that Chinese international students are mainly concerned with “being in an English speaking country”, having the “opportunity to live in that country permanently”, “ease of getting a student visa”, “freedom of lifestyle”, and “the quality of education” in selecting a country to study overseas in.

The study also discovers that students’ satisfaction and perception about the service quality of New Zealand export education are based on five key factors: accommodation, study, social network, discrimination, and convenience of daily living.

Overall this study has found out the particular aspects which need to be worked on by the government and the education providers in order to meet the needs or expectation gap of the international students. It is likely to contribute to New Zealand export education in several ways. First, its quantitative primary survey provides direct and updated sources from current Chinese international students. Second, this study has full coverage of living and studying perspectives. In addition, it takes detailed demographic factors into account. It could provide an example and resources for further study on a similar topic.

Although this study is not comprehensive and could not cover all aspects of overseas’ students’ life experience, it has given a big picture and reality-based information. In the future, even more particular perspectives such as the education institution’s opinions or views about their service quality could be investigated in a further study.