Mapping international students’ expectations from the CY hospitality and tourism higher education: an early dropout indicator

Purpose – The study examined international students’ expectations when studying hospitality and tourism related programs in private colleges in Cyprus, in order to determine any relation between pre-purchased expectations and college dropout intentions. Design / Methodology / Approach – A sequential, mixed-methods approach was first implemented through a qualitative exploration of a purposeful sample, where 24 new international students participated in three different focus groups. Secondly, a survey method based on the Qualtrics market research concept, tested the hypotheses of the study and assisted in the development of the International Students’ Expectation Risk Assessment Matrix (ISERAM). The questionnaires were administered face-to-face to 324 new international students. Findings – The ISERAM analysis classified international students’ expectations in relation to dropout intentions in a mixture of psychographic, behavioural and demographic consuming factors. The ISERAM as a model, may indicate a future student learning engagement or disengagement with academic success or college dropout, respectively. The Interpersonal Expectations were revealed as the most influential and high risk factor to a college dropout, altering the importance of the interpersonal and subjective nature of the self-definitional needs. Furthermore, the behavioral expectations (implicit and explicit-based expectations) specify students’ personal desire for monetary, work experience gains and industry reputation based benefits from internships rather than the program’s accreditation, quality and academic standards. Originality – The ISERAM classifies international students’ expectations from a low to extremely high risk, assisting private colleges to foresee possible dropout intentions for better organizational planning and academic sustainable development.