Expectations and realities of international students in a South African capital city

Since the demolition of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has become an educational hub for many students from the African continent. Due to a variety of factors that are pushing students to seek qualitative education outside their home countries, countries such as South Africa have realised the potential of this lucrative market but still needs a better understanding of this niche and must develop the initiatives to attract these students as a means of increasing revenue. Although this pull-push model is well documented in the tourism literature, it is not acknowledged from international students in Africa. More so, studies on international students have somewhat overlooked international students service experiences at their ultimate learning destination. This study examines international students’ perceptions of service expectations and experiences and compares both and then reports upon the variation. Results show that the overall quality of service delivery to international students at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) is not encouraging as it stands at 28.60%, consequently implying an overall poor service delivery. The major areas that the respondents recommend for improved development are educational support, infrastructure for leisure activities, accommodation and especially the quality of the education. The purpose of this article is to examine the service expectations and real service experienced by international students at a University of Technology in the City of Tshwane (Pretoria, South Africa). A quantitative research method was employed and from a population N=1505 international student respondents that were sent an online questionnaire, 325 usable responses were received.