Enhancing International Students’ Experience in the UK through the Development of a Higher Education Co-opetition Framework: An Examination into Welsh Universities’ International Collaboration and Student Recruitment Activities Thesis submitted to Cardiff Metropolitan University in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) This research was undertaken under the auspices of Cardiff School of Management | Cardiff Metropolitan University Director of Studies: Dr Jason Williams | Supervisor: Professor Tom Crick MBE Yi He (Edward) BEng (Hons) MBA (Dist) MRes CEng MIET May 2018 DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in any substance for any degree and it is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ………………………………… (Candidate) Date …………………………………… Statement 1 This work is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed ………………………………… (Candidate) Date …………………………………… Statement 2 I hereby give consent for my dissertation, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ………………………………… (Candidate) Date …………………………………… I CYDNABYDDIAETHAU / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Yn gyntaf, hoffwn ddiolch i'm cyfarwyddwr astudiaethau, Dr Jason Williams, a'r goruchwyliwr, yr Athro Tom Crick MBE, am eich hyfforddiant, arweiniad a chefnogaeth aruthrol trwy gydol fy astudiaeth. Yn ail, hoffwn ddiolch i'r Athro Andrew Thomas, yr Athro Eleri Jones, Dr Richard Neil, Dr Claire Haven-Tang a'r tîm cefnogi ymchwil yn Ysgol Rheolaeth Caerdydd am eich help a'ch cyngor gwych. Hoffwn ddiolch yn arbennig i'm rhieni a theulu yn Tsieina, sydd wedi rhoi popeth i mi i gefnogi fy astudiaethau a'm gyrfa yn y DU. Hefyd, hoffwn ddiolch i fy ffrindiau a chydweithwyr, yn enwedig Irving Horne JP, John Sanchez Garcia-Gonzales, Dr Alexander Garcia, Leila O'Shea, Lee Bottrill a llawer mwy o unigolion. Mae eich cymorth a chefnogaethwedi wedi bod yn amhrisiadwy! Yn olaf, diolch yn fawr i #MetCaerdydd. Dw i wedi cael saith mlynedd mor gofiadwy yma! Yi He (Edward) Dysgwr Cymraeg falch o #Tsieina Firstly, I would like to give my sincere gratitude to my director of studies, Dr Jason Williams, and supervisor, Professor Tom Crick MBE, for your coaching, guidance and tremendous support throughout my study. Secondly, I would like to thank Professor Andrew Thomas, Professor Eleri Jones, Dr Richard Neil, Dr Claire Haven-Tang and the research support team at Cardiff School of Management for your great help and advice. I especially want to thank my parents and family in China, who have given me everything to support my studies and career in the UK since I left home at the age of 18. I would not have achieved what I have today without you! （在此真心感谢远在国内的我的父母和家人！没 有你们，就没有我今天的所有！） I would also like to extend my greatest gratitude to my friends and colleagues, particularly Irving Horne JP, John Sanchez Garcia-Gonzales, Dr Alexander Garcia, Leila O’Shea, Lee Bottrill, and many more individuals. Your help and support have been invaluable throughout my journey in the UK. Finally, a huge thank you to #CardiffMet. I have thoroughly enjoyed my seven years here! Yi He (Edward) A proud Welsh learner from #China II ABSTRACT Co-opetition is an increasingly popular hybrid corporate strategy, combining cooperative competition and competitive cooperation (Bengtsson and Kock, 2014). It offers organisations five commonly utilised co-opetive models, namely strategic alliance, joint venture, franchising, licensing and co-branding, in which business partners work together to achieve mutual goals, as well as compete in a healthy marketing environment (Leitao et al., 2014). The core of co-opetition, known as the value net framework, provides organisations a guideline to create sustainable collaborative relationships with their external stakeholders and competitors, to provide enhanced services to their customers (Kotler and Armstrong, 2015). Facing the intensified Higher Education (HE) competition both domestically and from overseas, this research testified the relevance, application and benefits of co-opetition into the UK HE sector. It analysed, through case studies, how the five models of co-opetition have been developed by UK universities and what benefits they have already brought to their consumers (i.e. the students) and the wider community. International student recruitments in the UK have suffered significant falls from the EU (down by 7% from 2016 to 2017) and some major overseas markets (Indian and Pakistan student numbers dropped by nearly 41% from 2011 to 2016), due to Brexit and increasingly strict immigration rules. However, student intakes from China have seen a steady year-by-year increase (BBC News, 2016 and Universities UK, 2017). China sent over 108,000 students to the UK in 2016 alone, making China by far the most important international students market for the UK (UKCISA, 2017). By applying co-opetition theory, this research successfully established a co-opetive value net framework specifically designed for UK HEIs. It linked individual HEIs with their competitors, customers, complementors and suppliers. This study demonstrated clearly that co-opetition could enhance international student recruitment, improve student experiences, and strengthen UK HEIs’ global competitiveness. This research offered a practical solution that enables HEIs to work with their competitors and external partners to deliver a more focused and personalised student service. It proved that co-opetition does not threaten the competitiveness of participating institutions. Instead, through this framework, HEIs can access shared resources and expertise more easily to support their development and offer better value for money for international students. III TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION....................................................................................................................... I CYDNABYDDIAETHAU / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................... II ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ III TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... IV LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. XI NOMENCLATURE ............................................................................................................ XIII 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 A personal reflection of the research journey ........................................................... 1 1.2 Overview of the UK Higher Education system ......................................................... 6 1.3 Higher education in Wales .......................................................................................... 9 1.4 International students in the UK .............................................................................. 11 1.4.1 Key statistics ............................................................................................................... 11 1.4.2 Dominance of international students from China ....................................................... 13 1.4.3 The need for improving international students’ experience in the UK ...................... 16 1.5 Research rationale ..................................................................................................... 19 1.6 Aim and objectives ..................................................................................................... 21 1.7 Structure of the thesis ................................................................................................ 22 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 23 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 23 2.2 Utilisation of marketing tools in the UK HE sector ................................................ 24 IV 2.3 Assessment for the competitiveness of UK HE ....................................................... 30 2.3.1 The globalisation of HE and international student mobility ....................................... 30 2.3.2 External environment facing UK and Welsh HE ....................................................... 34 2.3.3 Internal environment facing Welsh HE ...................................................................... 42 2.4 The co-opetition business strategy ........................................................................... 51 2.4.1 Competition and cooperation ...................................................................................... 52 2.4.2 The hybrid “co-opetition” strategy ............................................................................. 55 2.4.3 Key benefits of co-opetition ....................................................................................... 58 2.4.4 Common formats and best practices of co-opetition .................................................. 60 2.5 Linking co-opetition