Transnational Higher Education and the Factors Influencing Student Decision-Making: The Experience of an Irish University

Increasingly, universities have been engaging in transnational higher education (TNE), and such activity provides students with an additional study option. While much is already known about the TNE activities of universities in larger countries, such as Australia and the United Kingdom, very little is known about universities from smaller countries, such as Ireland. This article examines an Irish university with international branch campuses in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. The results of a survey exploring the factors that influenced students’ choice of location, institution, and program and conducted among three cohorts of students over a 2-year period are presented. The results suggest that, above all other factors, the university’s international ranking and the accreditations and rankings of its Business School are particularly influential in students’ decision-making process. This finding highlights a potential exposure in terms of the scale of the institution’s student recruitment and revenue streams should it ever experience a decline in its rankings or international reputation.