Staff and student perceptions of support services for international students in higher education: A case study

Abstract

One aspect of the internationalisation of higher education in Australia has been a large growth in the number of international students enrolled in universities. While this has brought a number of benefits to the institutions, the students themselves report varying levels of satisfaction with their experience. One area which can contribute to satisfaction levels is provision of student support services. This paper describes a study which found that international students and support service providers, while sharing perspectives in some respects, had differing views about student service delivery. The paper argues that providers of services for international students need to be more aligned to students’ expectations of service provision, and more centred on students’ actual needs, if they are to increase students’ levels of satisfaction with their international experience.