The information search of Taiwanese students within the decision-making business master's degrees in Taiwan and in the UK.

Abstract

This study investigated Taiwanese students' information search regarding their application choices for business Master's degees in Taiwan). Taiwanese students studying) in Taiwan and Taiwanese students studying in the UK in this study were used to contrast the similarities and differences between the information search of home-based and international students. In the literature review, previous studies on information search were discussed, and a conceptual framework was presented to indicate the stages of students' decision-making and possible external information sources that students might use. As the majority of research was conducted amongst Western English-speaking home-based students, the importance of investigating how information sources could be used differently by Taiwanese applicants was emphasised. The study employed qualitative data collection of focus group discussions, observations and interviews to investigate how participants used information sources to find the information they needed in making Master's choices. Different types of universities in Taiwan and in the UK were sampled to explore students' choice criteria. Template Analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings suggested that the TW group had more internal information which reduced the level of their external search. On the other hand, the UK group as international students needed more external information as a result of lacking internal information. This study also found Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and educational agents were influential to Taiwanese participants' Master's decision-making. Also, middle range universities are often selected by the UK group, while parental influences were limited to both the TW and the UK group. As current students and alumni were found in this study to be particularly influential regarding applicants' Master's choices, higher education institutions (HEI) should also look after current students when trying to market courses to potential students.