Bis research paper number 128 The wider benefits of international higher education in the uk

5.1.7 Negative experiences 
Responses obtained from potential interviewees during sample stratification identified a 
number of alumni who apparently held negative views of (at least some aspects of) their 
UK HE experience. We deliberately selected and interviewed a number of these alumni, in 
order to obtain a more representative range of views and experiences. 
Within the 100 interviews conducted, fifteen alumni expressed some negative attitudes 
towards certain specific experiences or issues, or overall. However, what became clear 
during the interviews was that in perhaps half of these cases, their attitudes had shifted 
over time, almost invariably to a more positive position. Thus only half a dozen alumni 
sustained negative views at the point of interview. Further consideration of that ‘evolution’ 
of perceptions over time is in the following section on trends. 
The alumni reporting negative perceptions, either sustained or previously, fell into small 
groups citing problems of some distinct types, although some sense of a mismatch 
between expectations and experiences underpins them all: 

Three felt their course curriculum did not match or live up to the way it had been 
advertised, leading to disappointment in the knowledge gained or learning experience. 
In two cases this related to a course being less practical than they had desired, while 
one was shocked to be in a class of nearly 80 students and felt she obtained no 
personal contact or support from the academics leading the course. This could reflect 
unrealistic expectations, created by others or themselves. There were also a few cases 
where the course for which they applied was not actually being run once they arrived in 
the UK, but these were all resolved relatively quickly, which prevented long-term 
negative perceptions; 

A similar number were disappointed either not to be supported in their search for 
related employment opportunities (such as an internship) or simply being unable to 
84 

---

The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK 
obtain employment when they had tried to do so. They perceived this as a lack of 
support from their HE institution, or the UK educational structure, and would not 
recommend UK HE to others as a result; 

There were two cases of strong personality clashes, or similar problems, with a 
supervisor or an influential colleague, which had not been resolved and rumbled on 
throughout their studies. In one case the graduate obtained a very low grade, which he 
believed was due to these issues, and filed a formal complaint (which was not upheld), 
and he remained bitter. It is presumably inevitable within any large-scale system that 
there will be such personality issues at times; 

A slightly larger group (but still only four or five) complained that they had not 
integrated well into the student body, and now felt little attachment to the institution and 
perceived that they had obtained fewer benefits than they had hoped for. They had 
seen this at the time as a failing of the university in not supporting them more, but 
several now saw that they had themselves contributed to this.
When these issues were discussed at some length in the interviews, those with prior 
negative perceptions about a ‘narrow’ or somewhat limited social or cultural experience 
tended to have changed their thinking. They voluntarily admitted that their limited 
experiences had largely been due to their own attitudes or personality at the time (two had 
brought partners to the UK and lived independently off-campus, while others admitted that 
they had simply missed out through shyness or indifference, or over-devotion to study), 
and that with hindsight they probably bore responsibility for this themselves.
The sustained negative views that remained tended to relate to course content issues (or 
perhaps unrealistic promotions), lack of associated employment (or support for it) or rare 
personality issues. However, it was interesting to note that almost all of these ‘negative’ 
alumni had at least some positive perceptions about their experience, and in many cases 
happily reported many different social and other benefits. The number of cases with 
pervasive negative experience was almost vanishingly small.