Serving International Students

Motivations and Models

In the increasing global competition for the best students, the quality and attractiveness of an institution no longer depends only on its academic, teaching and research standards. Services to students have come to play an important role in the quality assessment – and thus competitiveness – of institutions. They play a central role both in ensuring recruitment of international students and in supporting the internationalisation efforts ‘at home’. This article examines the main motivations at play in organising support, the principal organisational models, and impact of institutional strategy on service provision, illustrated by a number of practical examples.