It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that nowadays students have numerous options for degree selection and a better chance to choose their favorite university, especially, when the discussion is about studying abroad. In this matter, it is very important to have a deep understanding of students’ preferences and their decision-making process and the key step to achieving this understanding can be recognizing those factors that influence this process.

Based on UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) report, the population of students that went abroad to study got more than doubled from 2 million in 2000 to at least 4 million in 2012. Given the importance of this growth, there is a need to be considered from marketing perspective by universities.

Watjatrakul (2014) explained the following: “Globalization and market pressure in the education sector have propelled higher education institutions to constantly review on the need of economic accountability and performance improvement, many universities aim to increase the number of students admitted as a means of increasing their income while the admitted students are considered as customers” (p. 676). It is obvious that because of new technology and internet, students have more access to information of various programs presented by different universities around the world.

Petruzzellis and Romanazzi (2010) discussed that “…competition for qualified students has increased contemporarily with the student awareness about the programs and services offered by most universities, as result, student retention has become an area of critical concern” (p.139).

The purpose of this paper is to review recent researches related to this issue; more specifically, the study pursues these objectives: discussing the concept of “students as customers”, revising existing literature related to decision-making process in higher education and evaluating models of local and international students’ decision-making process.

2. Are Students Customers?

According to Lovelock (2001), “…education is classified as a service with intangible actions, directed towards the minds of people, with continuous delivery, conducted through a partnership between the service organization and its client, and although it provides high personal contact, there is low customization” (cited in Oliveira, 2009, p.5). In recent years, there has been a significant increase in applying marketing theories in higher education. Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka (2006) explained that “value, effectiveness and potential benefits of using marketing theories and concepts, which have been effective in the business world are now gradually being applied by many universities with a view to gaining a competitive edge and gaining a larger share of the international market” (p.317). Binsardi and Ekwulugo (2003) pointed out that “the higher education market is now well established as a global phenomenon, especially, in the major English-speaking nations: Canada, the USA, Australia and the UK” (cited in Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka, 2010).

Angell et al (2008 ) highlighted that “given that higher education provision is a service, and that students are now expected to fund their own educational experience at greater expense, it would seem appropriate that UK-based universities make the paradigm shift from being product-led, i.e. relying on the product to sell, towards a more “customer-led” approach” (p.237

In addition, Eagle and Brennan (2007, p.51) argued that “there is considerable debate in literature regarding perceived positive and negative aspects of the “student as customer” concept, drawing upon both general argumentation and empirical studies”, Table 1 presents main arguments about the idea of considering student as a customer (Eagle and Brennan, 2007, p.

51). Watjatrakul (2014) found an interesting point which is about “students that believe the universities’ adoption of the student-as-customer concept will lead to improvement of the universities’ service quality and the degradation of educational quality in terms of the instructors’ neglect of teaching, the impairment of instructor-student relationship, and the ease of course achievement”(Watjatrakul 2014,p.676).

More and more universities are adopting the “customer” metaphor and treat their students as customers (Watjatrakul, 2014, p. 677). Considering “student as customer”, one question needs to be asked: how students choose their university; and which factors influence their decision-making process as a customer; it is necessary to realize their preferences, priorities and desires. In the next part of the article, we will discuss these issues.

2.2 Student’s Decision-Making Process

Burkhardt and Bennett (2015) argued the following: “Higher education institutions (HEIs) play an important role in an increasingly global world, they recruit and matriculate international students with the intention to promote cultural exchanges that benefit both foreign and domestic students, and the community at large, by providing opportunities for cross-cultural interaction” (p.163).

Maringe and Carter (2007, p.459) mentioned that “International students’ higher education decision making is a high stakes process” and “university choice results as being very important, since its effects reflect on future carrier and life of students” (Petruzzellis & Romanazzi, 2010,p.139). Decision-making process for students is influenced by different factors. We should pay attention to student’s perspective “To determine students’ university preferences, students consider what is important for them, and then consciously or unconsciously trade-off among these attributes” (Soutar and Turner, 2002,P.

40). It is noticeable that sometimes students have strong reasons for making choices. Hemsley-Brown (1999) has endorsed this view in her study in which she concluded that while pupils often give utilitarian reasons for making choices, these were usually filtered through layers of preconceptions emanating from influences in family background, culture and life history (cited in Maringe,2006,p.468).

Different levels of economic and social capital that students had access to can deeply influence students’ decision-making process (Reay et al., 2005). In another point of view, Marigine (2006) considered three levels at which choice and decision-making research in HE has been showed; “First is the global level, which shows why students choose to study abroad. Second is a national level where students’ choice of university is the focus. The third level which has received relatively little attention is the choice of courses of study” (Marigine, 2006, p.469). In next part of the article, we try to review different researchers related to those factors that influence decision-making process.