Srikatanyoo article 12/20/04 11:17 AM Page 30
Quality Dimensions in International
Tertiary Education: A Thai
Prospective Students’ Perspective
NATTHAWUT SRIKATANYOO, DHURAKIJ PUNDIT UNIVERSITY, THAILAND
JUERGEN GNOTH, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND
This study evaluates and extends research on the quality
dimensions that drive students’ choice of international
tertiary education providers. Based on an extensive
review of both the generic services and education quality
literature, a series of in-depth interviews generated
many further quality criteria. These were tested on a
sample of Thai prospective students who intended to
study overseas and showed good nomological validity
and internal reliability. The authors are confident that
the six dimensions developed here are worthy of under-
going replication and further study. The dimensions are:
academic and supporting facilities, academic staff
performances, environmental conditions, entry require-
ments, academic reputation of a country, and academic
reputation of domestic institutions.
Key words: international education, quality dimensions
30 QMJ VOL. 12, NO. 1/© 2005, ASQ
© 2005, ASQ
INTRODUCTION
Several studies identified the quality of education as a
major criterion influencing students’ choice of an inter-
national tertiary education destination (for example,
Bourke 2000; British Council 1984; 1985; Lawley 1998).
Very few empirical studies on the quality of tertiary
international education, however, have been conducted
to date, leaving two major problems for research in this
area: 1) What constitutes quality in international tertiary
education, and 2) how does one measure it? The impor-
tance of pursuing answers to these questions appears
obvious: International education has become one of
the leading exports of the United States, contributing
$12.3 billion to the U.S. economy in the academic year
1999-2000 (IIE 2001), and bringing nearly $12 billion
in 2001-2002 (IIE 2003a). Similarly, international
education is now Australia’s eighth largest export and
contributes more than $3.2 billion to the Australian
economy annually (IDP 2003).
Study abroad is a complex and all-embracing expe-
rience. When students begin their deliberations about
studying overseas, any aspect of any relevant life-
domain may enter the decision-making process.
Decision making as problem-solving behavior would
regard such aspects as considerations by which the
means at hand (the countries and universities entering
the deliberation) are evaluated (Payne, Bettman, and
Johnson 1993). In other words, students evaluate the
utility of the means at hand to the extent that they satis-
fy their considerations and goals. In this way, the utility
of the means drives demand (Luce 1959; Lancaster
1971). This has implications for the understanding
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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective
and definition of “quality” as the term by which the
characteristics of the experience of study abroad are
represented in decision making. It is therefore suggested
to include all aspects and considerations that may
enter the decision-making process as determinants of
quality. As drivers of demand, these consumer-defined
characteristics would help one understand choice
processes and suggest managerial implications.
The authors thus begin by developing the quality
dimensions of international tertiary education and
discuss service quality dimensions and quality dimen-
sions in higher education. They synthesize the findings
and suggest additional criteria (items) on the basis of
in-depth interviews with a sample of Thai international
students. The resulting theoretical dimensions are
examined by surveying a substantial sample of
prospective Thai students’ perceptions of international
tertiary education quality. The discussion then evalu-
ates the results, outlines managerial implications,
and suggests future research. The dimensions are
shown to be nomologically valid and statistically
robust, allowing tertiary institutions to improve their
understanding of prospective students from Thailand.
SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) proposed
10 dimensions of service quality based on the results
of interviews with senior executives and customer
focus groups. These 10 dimensions were further
developed by using factor analyses and inspecting
alpha values to be the model of service quality
that comprises the five dimensions known as
SERVQUAL (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry
1988). SERVQUAL’s five dimensions (three original
and two combined dimensions) are:
• Tangibles: Physical facilities, equipment, and
appearance of personnel
• Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service
dependably and accurately
• Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers
and provide prompt service
• Assurance: Knowledge and courtesy of employees
and their ability to inspire trust and confidence
• Empathy: Caring, individualized attention the
firm provides its customers
When viewing international education (or education
in general) as a service, however, (Dotchin and Oakland
1994; Zimmerman and Enell 1988), SERVQUAL is
not deemed appropriate to be generalized for this sec-
tor for several reasons. First, some empirical evidence
suggests that the proposed delineation of SERVQUAL
is not consistent when subjected to cross-sectional
analysis (Carman 1990). In addition, Carman
(1990) found that some of the items did not load on
the same dimension when compared across different
types of service providers.
Albrecht and Zemke (1985) investigated what cus-
tomers considered most important while flying, and
found four key aspects of service quality:
• Care and concern: Customers think the organi-
zation is devoted to solving their problems.
• Spontaneity: Customer-contact employees display
a willingness and readiness to approach customers
actively and take care of their problems.
• Problem solving: Customer-contact employees are
skilled in their job and perform according to pre-
scribed standards, while the whole organization is
geared to providing support for front-line employees.
• Recovery: If anything goes wrong or something
unexpected happens, there must be someone who is
prepared to handle the situation.
Grönroos (2000) developed seven criteria of good
perceived service quality based on literature and con-
ceptual work. The seven criteria of good perceived
service quality are:
• Professionalism and skills: Customers realize that the
service provider, its employees, operational systems,
and physical resources have the knowledge and skills
required to solve their problems in a professional way.
• Attitude and behavior: Customers believe that
customer-contact employees are concerned about
them and interested in solving their problems in a
friendly and spontaneous way.
• Accessibility and flexibility: Customers think that
the service provider, its location, operating hours,
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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective
employees, and operational systems are designed
and operate so that it is easy to get access to the
service, and are prepared to adjust to the demands
and wishes of the customers.
• Reliability and trustworthiness: Customers know
that they can rely on the service provider, its
employees, and systems, to keep promises and per-
form with the best interests of the customers at heart.
• Service recovery: Customers realize that whenever
something goes wrong or something unpredictable
happens, the service provider will immediately take
control of the situation and find an acceptable
solution.
• Serviscape: Customers believe that the physical sur-
roundings and other aspects of the environment of
the service encounter support a positive experience
of the service process.
• Reputation and credibility: Customers think that
the service provider’s business can be trusted and
gives adequate value for money, and that it stands
for good performance and values, which can be
shared by customers and the service provider.
These seven criteria of good perceived service quality
and other service quality dimensions mentioned in
this literature review can function as fundamental
guidelines for developing quality dimensions in inter-
national tertiary education, since they are based on a
solid body of empirical and conceptual research as
well as on practical experience. As initially demanded
by Owlia and Aspinwall (1996), however, the specific
characteristics of any service require the development
of its own unique dimensions as well as common fea-
tures with other services. Study abroad is as complex
and multifaceted as life itself. Indeed, one may view
it as life away from home, and even as including fea-
tures of tourism experiences. A consumer-defined
experience as facilitated by tertiary institutions
abroad therefore also contains strong experiential
and symbolic elements. These go beyond the merely
functional aspects that may be associated with the
concept of quality. Before combining the aforemen-
tioned findings, the authors present a brief literature
review of quality in higher education.
32 QMJ VOL. 12, NO. 1/© 2005, ASQ
Quality Dimensions in Higher
Education
Higher education is a professional service that differs
in many respects from other services, and warrants
separate treatment. Similar to other professional serv-
ices (for example, law, consulting, architectural),
higher education is at the pure service end of the
goods-services continuum. Typically, it is characterized
by a higher degree of interpersonal contact, complexity,
divergence, and customizations than other service
businesses (Patterson, Romm, and Hill 1998).
Although tangible elements, such as academic
facilities and equipment, may help potential students
assess the quality of higher education, most of the
quality attributes in higher education cannot be seen,
felt, or touched in advance, which makes prepurchase
evaluation difficult, especially for an overseas student
(Harvey and Busher 1996; Patterson et al. 1998).
Prospective students are forced to rely on surrogates
(for example, Web sites, brochures, advertising, word
of mouth, communications with agents) or promises,
to assess what they are likely to get.
In addition, the quality of higher education may vary
markedly in different circumstances (from time to time,
class to class, students to students, lecturer to lecturer,
and so on) (Owlia and Aspinwall 1996; Patterson et al.
1998). The experiences of prospective students may be
totally different from the experiences of current students
and alumni. What is more, the prospective students may
have expectations, which might not match reality in a
host country and its university life (Patterson, Romm,
and Hill 1998). Considering the aforementioned charac-
teristics of higher education, the literature was investi-
gated in order to develop additional quality dimensions
exclusively for international tertiary education.
Owlia and Aspinwall (1996) proposed six quality
dimensions in higher education. The dimensions were
developed by grouping 30 attributes that are associated
with education quality, based on the literature (for
example, Ashworth and Harvey 1994; Harvey, Burrows;
and Green 1992; Logothetis 1993; Meshkati 1991; and
Spanbauer 1992). The six quality dimensions in higher
education proposed are:
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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective
• Tangibles: Sufficient equipment/facilities, modern
equipment or facilities, ease of access, visually
appealing environment, support services
• Competence: Sufficient (academic) staff, theoretical
knowledge and qualifications, practical knowledge,
up to date, teaching expertise, and communication
• Attitude: Understanding students’ needs, willingness
to help, availability for guidance and advice, giving
personal attention, emotion and courtesy
• Content: Relevance of curriculum to the future jobs
of students, effectiveness, containing primary knowl-
edge or skills, completeness and use of computer,
communication skills, and teamwork
• Delivery: Effective presentation, sequencing and
timeliness, consistency, fairness of examinations,
feedback from students, encouraging students
• Reliability: Trustworthiness, giving valid award,
keeping promises and matching to the goals, han-
dling complaints, and solving problems
However, Owlia and Aspinwall’s (1996) six dimen-
sions based on an empirical study are needed to
examine the validity. Moreover, it may be inappropri-
ate to apply the attitude dimension to international
tertiary education because of the variability of higher
education, as discussed previously. Furthermore, the
content dimension seems unlikely to be appropriate
for examining students’ perceptions or prepurchase
evaluations of international tertiary education.
A study conducted by Joseph and Joseph (1997)
examining New Zealand business students’ perceptions
of service quality in education identified seven deter-
minants of service quality. The seven determinants
and their criteria are:
• Physical aspects: Accommodation facilities, aca-
demic facilities, campus layout and appearance,
sports, and recreational facilities
• Cost/time: Length of degree, cost of accommoda-
tion, cost of education
• Academic issues: Reputable degree, excellent
instructors
• Program issues: Specialist programs, flexible
structure and content, practical component,
options available, flexibility to move within school
of study, flexible entry requirements
• Career opportunities: Employable graduates,
information on career opportunities
• Location: Ideal location
• Other: Word of mouth, family and peers influencing
university choice
The alternative quality dimensions proposed by
Joseph and Joseph (1997) are based on students’ per-
ceptions of an excellent or ideal university. It could be
argued that students’ perceptions of the ideal university
may not match reality. In addition, in the real world,
there is not the option of having more of every charac-
teristic that is desirable and less of every characteristic
that is undesirable (AMA 1992). In other words, the
ideal option does not exist.
Furthermore, institutions of higher education have
many stakeholders and service providers who, to varying
degrees, are concerned with processes other than those
immediately associated with the creation of higher edu-
cation services (Rowley 1997). These may include resi-
dential businesses involved in foundation courses,
accommodation, or even entertainment. Also, interna-
tional students may be concerned with different attributes
when choosing their place of education. For example,
local students are concerned with the learning process
and graduation, whereas overseas students may also be
concerned with entry requirements and language skills,
as well as environmental conditions, both physical and
political, such as safety, urbanity, or even racism. In addi-
tion, Lawley (1998) theorized about a cost construct that
includes comparative cost, climate, distance from home,
and the presence of other home-country students. The
results, however, demonstrated that the cost construct is
not important to prospective overseas students’ evalua-
tion of destinations or their intentions. Meanwhile, crite-
ria such as academic issues, program issues, and location
were identified as important factors related to the quality
of higher education (for example, Hampton (1993)
and Owlia and Aspinwall (1996)). These criteria were
therefore taken into account for developing the quality
dimensions in international tertiary education.
Qualitative research by Patterson, Romm, and
Hill (1998) identified four dimensions of students’
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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective

expectations/satisfactions in international tertiary quality of lectures, workshops, supervision of individual

education. The four dimensions are:
• Economic well-being: The individual’s ability to
obtain and pay for the goods and services necessary
for survival in a foreign country.
• Personal well-being: The perception of self as an
individual in a foreign country.
• Social well-being: The quantity and quality of
interactions with other individuals.
• Learning well-being: The elements pertaining to
the acquisition of knowledge and professional skills.
Yet qualitative research has limitations in general-
izing its findings. Patterson, Romm, and Hill’s study
(1998) provided preliminary knowledge that is usable
in developing quality dimensions in international terti-
ary education. Patterson, Romm, and Hill (1998)
found that students’ expectations and satisfaction shift
over time, and these shifts are not consistent and varied
depending on the dimensions. In addition, the major
determinant of satisfaction appears to be the “learning
well-being” dimension, which includes perceptions of
research, and other services provided by academic staff;
quality of facilities and equipment; and program content
and availability of subjects.
METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS
The development of the authors’ goal involved two steps.
First, they developed the quality dimensions in interna-
tional tertiary education on a basis of the literature review
and in-depth interviews of 23 Thai international students
in New Zealand. Second, they examined the performance
of the quality dimensions by conducting a survey of 240
prospective international students in Chiang Mai,
Thailand. These two steps are now discussed.
The Development of Quality
Dimensions in International
Tertiary Education
Combining the different findings from the literature
reviewed previously, Table 1 compares the quality

Table 1 A comparison of quality dimensions in higher education and service quality dimensions.
Parasuraman, Patterson, Romm,
Zeithaml, and Berry Owlia and Aspinwall Joseph and Joseph and Hill Grönroos
1988 1996 1997 1998 2000

Reliability Reliability Program issues Reliability and trustworthiness

Reputation and credibility

Empathy Competence Academic issues Learning well-being Attitude and behavior

Attitude Social well-being Accessibility and flexibility
Service recovery

Tangibles Tangibles Physical aspects Serviscape

(the physical surrounding and
other aspects of the environment)

Cost/time Economic well-being

Assurance Content Career opportunities Professionalism and skills

Responsiveness Delivery

Location

Other (word of mouth,

family and peers)
© 2005, ASQ

Personal well-being

Source: Developed for this research based on a literature review

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective
dimensions in higher education with the service quality
dimensions by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry
(1988) and Grönroos (2000). The dimensions were
tabularized using an interpretative approach that
attempted to find the common ground between the
items. Rather than critiquing the differing levels of
specificity of each author, the literature informed the
study by reading the items horizontally. During the
process of penetrating the meaning and connotations
of individual items and dimensions, the authors gained
in-depth insights and a basis for understanding
prospective students’ consideration-sets and concerns.
Moreover, Table 1 also indicates how the different
approaches to services research may differ in their
coverage of the quality-construct in higher education.
In order to confirm the attributes from the existing
literature, as well as to identify additional criteria in
evaluating international tertiary education quality, in-
depth interviews of Thai students in New Zealand were
conducted. Thai students were selected because Thailand
is one of the top 10 home countries for international stu-
dents studying in Australia (IDP 2002), New Zealand
(New Zealand Ministry of Education 2003), and the
United States (IIE 2003b). Moreover, Thailand is also a
major home country for international students studying
in the United Kingdom (UNESCO 1999). A total of 23
Thai international students studying abroad agreed to
participate in the interviews. They were asked to express
their opinions on the quality of international tertiary
education. They were also asked to identify criteria
related to international tertiary education quality. These
were combined with criteria from the existing literature.
The results of in-depth interviews not only con-
firmed the attributes from the literature, but also
identified additional attributes, including concerns
over entry requirements and environmental condi-
tions. The interviews indicated that students perceived
those universities requiring higher TOEFL or IELTS
scores as providing a better quality of education than
those that require lower scores. Moreover, students
considered social life on campus, friendliness of peo-
ple, and safety as important attributes associated with
quality of education. Adding these new items to the
previous findings based on the literature, 21 quality
attributes were compiled. Following a content analysis,
Table 2 Conceptual quality dimensions in
international tertiary education and
their attributes.
Dimensions Attributes
I. Academic • National education standard
reputation of • Degree of trustworthiness of domestic
a country academic institutions
• Validity of degrees or qualifications
• Reputation of academic institutions
• Reputation of alumni
II. Academic • Theoretical knowledge and qualifications
staff • Practical knowledge and experiences
performance • Specialization or expertise in a specific area
• Teaching and communication skills
III. Academic • Availability of facilities and equipment
and • Sufficiency of facilities and equipment
supporting • Modernity of facilities and equipment
facilities • Convenience of access
IV. Entry • Primary knowledge and skills requirements
requirements • Supplementary knowledge and skills
requirements
• English language proficiency requirement
• Requirements of supporting documents
V. Environmental • Social life on campus
conditions • Visually appealing environment
• Friendliness of people
© 2005, ASQ
• Safety
Source: Developed for this research based on a literature review
the 21 quality attributes were further grouped into five
theoretical dimensions. The theorized quality dimen-
sions in international tertiary education and their
attributes are presented in Table 2.
Examining the Performance
of the Quality Dimensions in
International Tertiary Education
A student survey was conducted to examine the reliability
and theoretical validity of the hypothesized quality
dimensions in international tertiary education assem-
bled through literature and in-depth interviews. A total
of 240 questionnaires were sent to final-year high
school and undergraduate students at institutions
located in the Chiang Mai area. Respondents were pre-
screened and asked about their intentions to study
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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective

Table 3 Summary of results from rotated factor analysis.

Factor loadings
of attributes Percent
Number Reliability on dimensions coverage
of coefficients to which of the
Dimension attributes (alphas) they belonga Eigenvalue variance

I. Academic and supporting facilities 4 0.92 7.829 14.893

• Availability of facilities and equipment 0.78
• Sufficiency of facilities and equipment 0.84
• Modernity of facilities and equipment 0.83
• Convenience of access to facilities/equipment 0.74

II. Academic staff performance 4 0.88 1.837 12.788

• Theoretical knowledge and qualifications of lecturers 0.63
• Practical knowledge and experiences of lecturers 0.87
• Specialization or expertise in a specific area of lecturers 0.68
• Teaching and communication skills of lecturers 0.70

III. Environmental conditions 4 0.77 1.734 10.098

• Social life on campus 0.46
• Visually appealing environment 0.53
• Friendliness of people 0.86
• Safety 0.65

IV. Entry requirements 3 0.78 1.555 9.573

• Primary knowledge and skills requirements 0.80
• Supplementary knowledge and skills requirements 0.72
• English language proficiency requirement 0.60

V. Academic reputation of a country 3 0.81 1.264 8.238

• National education standard 0.67
• Degree of trustworthiness of domestic academic institutions 0.74
• Validity of degrees or qualifications 0.53

VI. Academic reputation of domestic institutions 2 0.72 1.002 6.661

• Reputation of academic institutions 0.71
• Reputation of alumni 0.68

Reliability of linear combination (total-scale reliability) 0.91

The factor loadings of attributes on dimensions to which they did not belong were all less than 0.4. © 2005, ASQ
a

Source: Analysis of field data

abroad. Only respondents who intended to study abroad
were selected for further participation.
The useable sample size was 182, and the effective
response rate (after adjustments) was 75.8 percent. A five-
point Likert scale that rated from 1 (strongly disagree)
to 5 (strongly agree) was used to measure students’
evaluations of tertiary institutions and reasons for
studying overseas. The majority of the respondents were
females, and about 59 percent were undergraduate
students. About 60 percent of the respondents were
from upper and upper-middle class families, and nearly
21 percent were from middle-class families.
The questionnaire contained three sections:
1. The potential students’ intentions and their reasons
of going overseas to study
2. The rating of the importance of 21 attributes relat-
ing to international tertiary education quality
3. A series of demographic questions
An original version of the questionnaire was pre-
pared in English, and it was then translated into Thai
by the researcher. The Thai version was developed
using the parallel-translation or double-translation
method (Adler 1983; Sekaran 1983; Song and Parry

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective
1996; 1997). An English professional translator then
translated the Thai versions of the questionnaire back
into English. Both Thai and English versions of the
questionnaire were also compared by bilingual
research experts. Only minor inconsistencies emerged
and were resolved in a group meeting with all parties.
Regarding data analysis, Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to generate descriptive
statistics for respondents’ profiles, reasons of going
overseas to study, and students’ intentions of interna-
tional education. Factor analysis was used to assess the
nomological validity of the quality dimensions, while
discriminant validity of the quality dimensions was
examined through the rotated factor scores across all of
the identified factors (Joseph and Joseph 2000).
The decision to use factor analysis was upheld by
the Bartlett’s test of sphericity (a = 0.000) and the
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO = 0.876) measure of sam-
pling adequacy, as well as individual measures of
sampling adequacy (MSA, between 0.771 and 0.927).
The factor analysis was computed by using the
Varimax procedure with maximum likelihood
method. Attributes were removed if factor loadings
were less than 0.40; for a sample of 200 respondents,
factor loadings of 0.40 and above are significant (Hair
et al. 1998). Furthermore, Acrobat’s alpha was used to
assess the reliability of identified factors. The resulting
factors are presented in Table 3.
The results of factor analysis identified six factors:
academic and supporting facilities, academic staff per-
formance, environmental conditions, entry requirements,
academic reputation of a country, and academic reputa-
tion of domestic institutions. The Eigenvalue for Factor
VI is 1.002, and 62.23 percent of the total variance is
attributable to the first six factors. All theoretical dimen-
sions have thus been confirmed through the empirical
investigation with an additional dimension, academic
reputation of domestic institutions, which was split
from the theoretical academic reputation of domestic
institutions dimension. The only item that did not load
sufficiently was requirements for supporting document,
as its factor loadings was less than 0.4. Interviewees
indicated that the need to supply documentation such
as employers’ recommendations or police records would
further substantiate the reputation of tertiary institutions.
As a result, the six dimensions comprise a total of 20
attributes (as presented in Table 3).
In relation to the importance of attributes in the
six quality dimensions, descriptive statistics (second
column of Table 4) demonstrate that students place a
high degree of importance on all attributes. All
attributes had a mean score of greater than 3.6,
except for one attribute, reputation of alumni (3.08).
Safety, teaching and communication skills of lecturers,
availability of facilities and equipment, and validity of
degrees or qualifications were the first four most
important attributes in international education quality,
respectively.
The comparison of means between high school and
undergraduate students (third and fourth columns of
Table 4) did not reveal any significant differences,
except for three attributes: safety, social life on campus,
and visually appealing environment. This shows that
high school students placed more importance on these
attributes than their undergraduate counterparts.
High school and undergraduate respondents do have
differing perspectives, however, as to the order of the five
most important attributes. High school respondents
placed safety as the most important attribute followed
by teaching and communication skills of lecturers,
social life on campus, national education standard, and
friendliness of people, respectively. Safety was also
placed as the most important attribute by undergradu-
ate students, yet followed by availability of facilities
and equipment, teaching and communication skills of
lecturers, validity of degrees or qualifications, and
modernity of facilities and equipment, respectively.
These results point toward the need to develop different
strategies for different markets in particular under-
graduate and graduate markets.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
This study identified six quality dimensions in interna-
tional tertiary education on the basis of 20 attributes.
These are proposed to influence the choice of interna-
tional tertiary destination, and were developed and
extended through field research by using a solid body
of conceptual and qualitative research. The quality
dimensions were examined via factor analysis and the
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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective

Table 4 Comparison of importance of attributes between high school students’ and undergraduate
students’ perspectives.
Attributes All sample High school Undergraduate P-value

Safety 4.59 4.73[1] 4.49[1] 0.033

Teaching and communication skills of lecturers 4.37 4.45[2] 4.32[3] NS

Availability of facilities and equipment 4.29 4.23 4.34[2] NS

Validity of degrees or qualifications 4.27 4.23 4.31[4] NS

National education standard 4.22 4.27[4] 4.19 NS

Specialization or expertise in a specific area of lecturers 4.21 4.20 4.22 NS

Sufficiency of facilities and equipment 4.20 4.23 4.19 NS

Modernity of facilities and equipment 4.19 4.05 4.29[5] NS

Social life on campus 4.19 4.39[3] 4.05 0.009

Friendliness of people 4.18 4.27[5] 4.11 NS

Practical knowledge and experiences of lecturers 4.16 4.17 4.15 NS

Convenience of access to facilities and equipment 4.14 4.00 4.23 NS

Degree of trustworthiness of domestic academic institutions 4.08 4.09 4.07 NS

Theoretical knowledge and qualifications of lecturers 4.03 4.03 4.04 NS

English language proficiency requirement 3.89 3.85 3.92 NS

Primary knowledge and skills requirements 3.85 3.80 3.88 NS

Visually appealing environment 3.85 4.01 3.73 0.039

Supplementary knowledge and skills requirements 3.75 3.73 3.76 NS

Reputation of academic institutions 3.71 3.59 3.80 NS

Supporting documents requirement 3.66 3.59 3.71 NS

Reputation of alumni 3.08 2.96 3.16 NS

© 2005, ASQ

[1,2,3,4,5] Top five important attributes in the undergraduate respondents’ perspective

Source: Analysis of field data

theoretical dimensions were confirmed, adding to the
nomological validity of the methodology. The dimen-
sions identified are academic and supporting facilities,
academic staff performances, environmental conditions,
entry requirements, academic reputation of a country,
and academic reputation of domestic institutions. The
study successfully synthesized the existing literature and
generated a more cohesive measurement instrument
worthy of further consideration and study.
The six quality dimensions can help academic
institutions position and differentiate themselves from
competitors, particularly those that have the advantage
of age and historical reputation. In this way, academic
institutions can use these dimensions to assess a given
institution’s quality along each of the six dimensions
in comparison to others. Moreover, the international
education quality dimensions can also provide an over-
all measure of service quality in the form of an average

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Quality Dimensions in International Tertiary Education: A Thai Prospective Students’ Perspective
score across all six dimensions. These analyses could
assist academic institutions to design appropriately
competitive strategies, particularly marketing com-
munication strategies, to attract a sustainable and/or
larger share of the international education market.
The results of this study also highlight the importance
of understanding the need to identify the important
attributes that potential students consider when choosing
a tertiary institution. If academic institutions as well as
their host countries are to attract a sustainable share of
the international education market, they need to know
their customers, understand their needs and wants, and
then develop strategies to deliver the desired satisfactions
better than competitors do.
A further analysis of importance ratings between
high school and university students indicated that
there are also differences between undergraduate and
graduate markets. This may well support that the
international education market can be segmented into
different education levels. Academic institutions could
also implement market segmentation strategy on the
basis of geographical units, demographic variables,
psychographic profiles, and behavioral variables. For
instance, they could offer short professional develop-
ment courses for executives, while also offering
online courses for students who cannot or do not
want to leave their countries. If the institutions are to
succeed in the long term, however, they must under-
stand the need for identifying the attributes that
potential students in a particular segment consider
important when choosing an overseas institution for
their further study.
Limitations and Direction of
Future Research
The samples are limited to Thai students at a foreign
university for the extension of the set of decision-
making criteria, and final-year high school and
undergraduate students studying in Chiang Mai,
Thailand, for the actual survey. This could limit the
generalization of the research findings. It is believed
that a larger range of students with a more diversified
background could provide even richer results for
analysis. In any case, while the dimensions appear
comprehensive, they are only generic. They indicate a
significant amount of depth that encourages each
country and institution to drive this research further
in detailed market analyses. With regard to the issues
of consistency of the quality dimensions, they need to
be examined by using confirmatory factor analysis in
a further stage in the authors’ research program.
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BIOGRAPHIES
Natthawut Srikatanyoo is a deputy director in the graduate school
at Dhurakij Pundit University, Thailand. Srikatanyoo has completed
his doctorate at the University of Otago, New Zealand, in the field
of international education marketing. He is now in charge of the
Master of Marketing Communication program, which is jointly
offered by Dhurakijpundit University and University of Canberra,
Australia. He has published in the Journal of Brand Management,
and presented a number of papers at international conferences
including the European Marketing Academy Conference (EMAC)
and Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference
(ANZMAC). His research interests include international marketing,
services marketing, branding, and marketing strategy. He can be
reached by e-mail at natthawut.sro@dpu.ac.th .
Juergen Gnoth is a senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing
at University of Otago, New Zealand. His interests are in the areas
of consumer behavior, tourism services marketing, and marketing
ethics. Gnoth is a leading member of the Tourism Research Group
and is involved in researching the constructs of intentions, expecta-
tions, image, and satisfaction of international tourists.