Student recruitment at international branch campuses. Can they compete in the global market?

The majority of international branch campuses are located in competitive higher education hubs, such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Many find themselves having to recruit students regionally, and some, even globally, which results in them competing head-to-head with the home campuses of well-respected Western universities. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing the decision of international students to study at a particular university in the United Kingdom and to investigate their attitudes toward international branch campuses. The study involved a self-completed questionnaire administered to 160 international students. A logit model was developed that was able to significantly predict whether an individual student would consider study at an international branch campus. Reputation, quality of programmes, and rankings were found to be the strongest influences on student choice of institution, suggesting that these are the factors that international branch campuses should focus on to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.