In England and Wales, fee-charging independent schools can be legally classified as charities and, therefore, receive associated benefits, the most obvious being taxation advantages. The high fees charged by many of these schools create financial exclusivity, which, it will be seen, confers significant social and cultural capital to those who can…

Our study uses a qualitative comparative analysis method in order to assess the impact of national accreditation schemes and also other relevant features of the higher education systems of 20 OECD countries on quality of the higher education sector measured by world rankings of national higher education systems. The analysis shows that higher…

This article sheds light on some challenges that internationalisation raises for policymakers regarding public funding of higher education in a welfare state by examining policy logics for introducing tuition fees for international students in Sweden 2011. Using thematic analysis of documents related to the Swedish reform, we identify how an…

We aim to investigate the factors influencing student choice in the private higher education (HE) sector in Kurdistan-Iraq. Hence, this research attempts to add to the literature in terms of understanding student university choice, in general, and address the gap in the literature in the context of Middle Eastern studies including Kurdistan, in…

The meritocratic ideal prescribes that universities should admit students based on academic ability and individual effort. Yet as competition for scarce slots has increased, markets for services to improve the odds of admission have expanded. We use the case of a popular online forum for elite Taiwanese students seeking graduate study in the…

The role of staff involved with undergraduate admissions and recruitment has changed since the turn towards marketisation in higher education. This article focuses on the system in England following both a sharp rise in student fees and an associated tendency for the public university agenda and related social priorities, such as widening…

There is a great deal of discussion in the academic literature around how the current conditions in higher education frame students as customers. Observers are of the view that rankings and marketing, an increased focus on student satisfaction, and particularly tuition fees, encourage an instrumental, passive attitude towards a university…

This paper explores how English universities operating in a "quasi-market" are managing the tension between two policy expectations: the first that they should encourage social mobility by widening the social base of their student population; the second that they should compete with other universities to attract students and thereby…

The relevant literature is rich enough about the differences between distance and face to face education. However, the number of studies examining these differences from the viewpoint of dual-mode alumni, those graduated from both distance and face to face education programmes is limited. In this study, opinions of 33 dual-mode alumni from Turkey…

Traditional assumptions favouring native English language countries in transnational higher education (TNHE) overlook experiences of international students in new emerging Asian education hubs. Specifically, there has been limited research relating to international students' choice for studying in Malaysia. Drawing from the "push-pull"…

Access to current research materials, pedagogical best practices, and relevant knowledge has become problematic as journal subscription costs have increased. Increasing delays in the traditional publication timeline, coupled with high subscription costs, have resulted in a diminished ability for IS faculty and their students to access the most…

In both China and in the United States, policies of "positive discrimination" were originally intended to lessen educational and economic inequalities, and to provide equal opportunities. As with affirmative action in the American context, China's "preferential policies" are broad-reaching, but are best known for taking ethnic…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the beliefs of undergraduate business students studying in Canada and partners in China about the quality of the program; what they consider effective signals of quality; and their willingness to pay to improve the quality. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was designed and distributed to…

In the light of the forthcoming policy shift to full-cost fees for English undergraduates, this study examines the impact of fee changes on how students weigh up their university choices. Conjoint analysis is used to examine the importance that students attach to various attributes of a university. It also explores differences across subsections…

Over the past decade the educational environment has not only become more competitive but also more commercialised. These trends have contributed to the introduction of service quality measurement at higher education institutions. Traditionally institutions assume that students have relatively homogeneous needs and expectations and the result is…