Page 87 - Movers, Shapers, and Everything in Between: Influencers of the International Student Experience

Campus]. I have to select the module that not really interest me out of no choice.” While not all comments were to this effect, it is notable that some IBC students commented on perceived differences, whether it was reality or not.
Comments elucidate the finding that there is lower satisfaction with academic and teaching quality at IBCs than at home campuses. Though it was raised by students at both types of campuses, overall, dissatisfaction with teaching ability was a theme that showed up more frequently in comments from IBC students than in comments from home campus students. Some comments related specifically to the fact that non-native English speakers were employed as lecturers. One student wrote “there are a lot of professors whose English is the main reason or sole reason that many students just give up going to classes due to the fact that it is not efficient to attend a class where you achieve nothing and students would rather study themselves with the ppt slides.” Another IBC student noted that “there are few professors that has worse English than the students themselves. As an international student I believe that lecturers should get further training in the English capabilities.” Though staff and lecturers whose first language is not English are employed at both the home campuses and IBCs of all universities in this study, students at IBCs may be more likely to evaluate whether they are receiving an education experience akin to what they envision being offered at the home campus.
A report from the OBHE (Garrett et al, 2017) corroborates this, finding that “There is a clear preference to use faculty based in the country, and an avoidance of the “flying faculty” model. Mature IBCs have introduced academic staff development and elements of home country academic practices, especially around pedagogy and assessment of student learning” (p. 8). While complaints about the quality of English spoken by lecturers was a theme in comments from both IBC and home campus-enrolled students, it was more prevalent in the former group. It may be that IBC students are more sensitive to perceptions of receiving an “authentic” Western education and, as a result, comment on it more.
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Satisfaction at IBCs and Home Campuses
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