How Singaporean Students Decide to Study in Australia: Towards Building a Model of Their Decision-Making

Abstract

Higher education ranks as Australia's sixth largest export sector, making a financial contribution of over $9 billion to the economy in 2004–2005. Surveys of potential students and projections by IDP-Education Australia on marketing higher education in 2025 are that the overseas student intake will rise by 14% to 850,000, earning in export trade around $A56 billion annually. Australia currently has 10 per cent of the global market share for international students, being the second largest supplier after the USA. With additional places required, particularly from the Asian nations, primary beneficiaries will be Australia's universities. Due to the size and growth potential of the industry, this article is designed to better understand the process of decision-making by international students in the Asian region, with a specific focus on Singapore. By examination of relevant theories, the literature and an analysis of the decision-making processes identified for students from Singapore, a model of decision-making is constructed to attempt to explain the behaviour of this student population.