Factors influencing international student satisfaction in Korean universities

Despite South Korea emerging as one of the new players in the international education market over the last decade, our knowledge of the extent of international students' satisfaction studying in South Korean universities is modest. To fill this research gap, our study used 873 valid survey responses from international students originating from 69 countries studying at 62 Korean universities. An exploratory factor analysis was first used to extract a set of important factors from a number of variables. Then an ordered-logistic regression was conducted to identify factors influencing international students' overall satisfaction. A number of recommendations and areas of intervention have been identified ranging from learning experience to living and support services. Equally important, this study confirms the validity of the hypothesis that international students from the East Asian cultural sphere attain more satisfaction than other international students who are more culturally dissimilar from members of the host population. The findings of this study contribute to the overall effort of raising student satisfaction and thereby supporting the enrollment of additional students and managing attrition and retention problems through continuous improvement.