University students' needs and satisfaction with their host city

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study was threefold: to identify which attributes of the host university city are important to students; to assess students' satisfaction with the key attributes of their host university city; and to determine the drivers of students' overall satisfaction with their host university city. Design/methodology/approach – A two stage, mixed methods research design was selected for this study. Focus groups comprised the first stage and a survey of 159 full time university students attending the university of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, comprised the second stage. Findings – The survey findings indicate that students at the university of Otago perceive accommodation, socialising and sense of community, safety and cultural scene as the most important attributes of their host university city. Alternatively, the results of the regression analysis which assessed the relative strength of city attributes in explaining their overall satisfaction with Dunedin, demonstrated that shopping and dining, appeal and vibrancy, socialising and sense of community and public transport were the key drivers of their overall satisfaction with the city. Research limitations/implications – Students' overall satisfaction with the city is relatively positive and they are most satisfied with socialising and sense of community, community assets, and the city's natural environment. Overall, students' expectations of the city's attributes were reached and exceeded. However, their satisfaction with accommodation, the attribute that they ranked as the most important, was unmet. This shortfall in expectations has the potential to negatively impact the university's image and encourage students to transfer somewhere else for further study if their most important need is not addressed. Practical implications – As an important city stakeholder for university cities, students' perceptions and satisfaction with their host city need to be given priority. University administrators in collaboration with city place managers should put effort into maintaining the city attributes which are important to students and which drive their satisfaction with the city experience, since they represent a large proportion of residents in university host cities. The consequences of their inattention to students' needs could be harmful in the long-term. Originality/value – Tertiary student perceptions and satisfaction with their host cities have been largely ignored. This study addresses this gap by identifying which attributes of cities are important to students, gauging students' perception of their host city according to these attributes, and identifying the city attributes driving their satisfaction with their host city.