Trading off benefits and costs in higher education: A qualitative research with international incoming students

Globalization has brought new challenges to Higher Education Institutions such as international exchange programs. In this context, the purpose of this work is to analyse students' value trade-off in their terms abroad. Specifically, a multidimensional framework on value as trade-off is applied: two negative dimensions of sacrifice: monetary (price) and non-monetary (time and efforts), and three groups of benefits: functional (location, facilities, infrastructure, timetables, etc.), social (relationships with instructors, with other students, networks, etc.), and emotional (having fun while being a student). For that purpose, an exploratory research was undertaken using qualitative techniques. Three focus groups were conducted with 17 undergraduate students from eight different nationalities staying at the University of Valencia (UV), Spain. Results have endorsed the idea that academic experiences can be evaluated as a value trade-off (benefits vs. costs) since participants have shown agreements and differences on the five dimensions of value. This suggests that international students show a multifaceted and contrasted experience, which needs to be managed by Universities interested in their positioning as competitive destinations.