Suzanne Beech
Suzanne Beech
Qualifications
BSc (2.1 Hons) Geography with Extended Studies in Europe (2009)
Postgraduate
Email: sbeech01@qub.ac.uk
Address
Room 02011, Elmwood Building
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology (GAP)
Queen’s University Belfast
Belfast, BT7 1NN
Northern Ireland, UK
Telephone
028 9097 5283
Current Research: Society, Space and Culture
The Geographies of Higher Education Mobility: How International Students Choose Where to Study
Governmental reforms, dating from the 1980s, have encouraged universities to seek out new markets for potential students, including from overseas. Additionally, since 1992, traditional, red-brick universities have been forced to compete for funding with new universities and former polytechnics. Recruitment of these ‘new’ students has thus assumed economic primacy in many universities' policies, particularly over the last decade. Increased enrolment of international students can provide further funding sources and, importantly, other cultural benefits to the universities who wish to exploit this area. The expansion of the Erasmus scheme and rapid commercialisation of South America, China and Asia have provided the opportunity to do so. Furthermore, the shift towards a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by 2010 through the Bologna Process will further increase opportunities for international student mobility.
Despite the global universality of this shift and the massive potential economic benefits to host countries, our understanding of the decision-making processes of potential international students is thin. In an increasingly competitive international market place, countries and HEIs that know what students are looking for in terms of intellectual reputation and understand the imaginative geographies involved in their decision making processes will increase their competitive advantage. My research attempts to address this lacuna by identifying and understanding the decisive factors in international students choosing one country and institution over another. This involves an examination of the ways in which these students develop geographical ‘knowledge’ about potential host countries and cities and how this knowledge is mobilised in their decision-making processes.
Supervisors
Prof Steve Royle
Dr Alastair Ruffell
Presentations:
'The Decision Making Geographies of International Students: Towards an Analysis', Geographie(s) of education in European border regions: the making and breaking of (b)orders?, Conference, University of Flensburg, Germany, May 2010
'Place and its role in international student decision making', Young People's Mobilities and International Education, British Sociological Association, London, June 2011
'Choosing where to study: international students' perceptions of place', RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, London, September 2011
Professional Memberships
Postgraduate Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
Additional Information:
Recipient of the GAP 75th Anniversary Prize (2010)
