International Students More Satisfied Than Apple Customers

BRUSSELS, September 13, 2011 -

Studying Abroad in Europe Outperforms World’s Leading Brands in Satisfaction Survey

Foreign students are exceptionally satisfied with their experience at European universities. With a satisfaction score of 71%, studying abroad even outranks the popular Apple brand (65%). This is revealed in a recent study by StudyPortals amongst 1,100 international students.

Measuring student satisfaction with the Net Promoter Score (NPS), international students in Austria are at 92% most pleased with their experience, followed by Norway (91%) and Finland (88%). At 50%, satisfaction levels in Greece and the United Kingdom are below the European average. Nevertheless, students are very positive about their experience in these countries, since the average score is around 0% and anything above 0% already indicates that students would recommend it to their friends.

The survey also found what really determines students’ opinions: social life and city atmosphere contribute considerably to student satisfaction, whereas living costs and accommodation can have a negative influence. The duration also plays a role: students who stay abroad for more than one year are generally more critical than exchange students.

All in all, studying abroad in Europe is more likely to be recommended than for instance Apple, Facebook or Google. In a time of rising tuition fees and declining university admissions across Europe, this news is welcomed by the international education community. “These findings give confidence to students who consider to study abroad“, says Stian Hofslett Thowsen, senior advisor at the Norwegian Centre for Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU).

The survey was conducted at www.stexx.eu, a new social platform where students review their study experience and share their advice with prospective students. Stexx.eu will soon also be integrated with study choice websites such as www.mastersportal.eu, increasing its impact: student reviews will be linked to information on 24,000 study and scholarship programmes that already attract millions of students every year.

Stexx.eu is supported by the European Commission. Many international student organisations have contributed to its creation, including Erasmus Student Network, European Students’ Forum AEGEE and European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management. Stexx.eu will officially be launched by the president of the European Association for International Education (EAIE) on September 15 in Copenhagen.

More about StudyPortals: www.studyportals.eu
More about NPS: www.stexx.eu/about/student-satisfaction/ and www.netpromoter.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact: Joran van Aart, Director of Student Value Tel: +31-40-2920060, Mobile: +31-6-4409-4984, press at studyportals.eu