Effective Factors on of International Student Satisfaction at University: The Comparative Study between Iranian and Turkish Universities

Abstract

Today, the importance and effects of higher education have become more apparent than ever, and accordingly the popularity of higher education has been intensified. The internationalization of universities requires strategic policy to improve research, educational and service activities, so that universities worldwide compete with one another in the phenomenon of attracting international students, including these competitions on the student satisfaction with the destination university. In this regard, the present study is the applied one in terms of purpose and mixed one in terms of nature and method. Data collection was done through interviews and questionnaires. The targeted sampling was consisted of 12 international students of Ondokuz Mayis University (OM) in Turkey and 12 at the University of Tehran and the semi-structured interviews were used. Also, data analysis was performed through primary and secondary coding by Atlas T8. Ultimately, it has led to the identification of seven factors along with 35 selected codes that include concepts such as educational, research, cultural, international, welfare, administrative and social, which results in increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the university, improving the university ranking, attracting more international students, and effective communication with other cultures as well as strengthening and improving global cultures.