Analyzing the Graduate Student Experience in Leicester, UK: A Report

This report examines the living experiences of graduate students in Leicester, UK, focusing on management issues, the background of the study, objectives, research methods, and relevant theories. It delves into the educational system of Leicester Castle Business School, the lifestyle of graduates, and the challenges they face, including cultural differences and language barriers. The research employs both primary data, gathered through surveys and interviews, and secondary data from books, journals, and databases. Key findings are analyzed using frameworks like PESTLE, McKinsey 7S, Porter's generic strategies, SWOT, and STP. The report concludes with recommendations to mitigate current and potential issues, aiming to improve the overall experience for graduate students in Leicester. Desklib provides a platform for students to access similar solved assignments and past papers.

LIVING IN LEICESTER FOR GRADUATES
LEICESTER IS A CITY IN UK

Table of content
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
a) Management issues:................................................................................................................3
b) Background of the study..............................................................................................................4
c) Objectives:................................................................................................................................5
d) Research method:...................................................................................................................5
e) Theories and concepts:.............................................................................................................5
Part 2:...............................................................................................................................................8
 Report:......................................................................................................................................8
a) Material collection:...................................................................................................................8
b) Research methodology:...............................................................................................................9
c) Findings analysis:...................................................................................................................10
e) Conclusion:.............................................................................................................................28
f) Recommendation:..................................................................................................................29
 Critical reflection....................................................................................................................33
a) Application of techniques.......................................................................................................33
b) Evaluation of techniques........................................................................................................39
 Personal reflection:.................................................................................................................41
a) What has been learned?..........................................................................................................41
b) Understanding of research process:........................................................................................41
c) Application of learning experience in rest of the course:.......................................................41
Part 3:.............................................................................................................................................42
 Executive Summary...............................................................................................................42
a) Aims:......................................................................................................................................42
b) What has been looked at?.......................................................................................................42
c) How this was looked at:..........................................................................................................43
d) What was found?....................................................................................................................43
e) What action has called for?....................................................................................................44
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................45
Appendices....................................................................................................................................53
2

Part 1:
Introduction
The current dissertation will shed light on the living of students in Leicester while they are
pursuing the graduation in the concerned city. The overseas students of the UK enjoy the
traditional lifestyle. Leicester is the city that is an exciting place for the young people and the
rich culture with the multicultural cities and the fascination history. The concerned part will
focus on the situational brief of the international students in Leicester. The issues of management
will be focused in the current part. The objectives for the current research will also be
highlighted in this research. This part of the research will also include the methods for carrying
out the research. The theories and concepts of the current study such as the cognitivism,
behaviourism will be detailed in this current part.
Situational Brief:
Situational briefing is a procedure of creating a framework for a particular project that helps the
researchers to complete the jobs according to the need within proper time frame.
a) Management issues:
Leicester is located at the heart of UK, and this city is holding culture and heritage of the past
British era. Several sectors have been developed in this place as this city has lots of practical
resources. Quinn (2018) has stated that, due to its historical values and culture, students of
present era prefers to build their career at this place. Huge number of students takes admission in
the Universities of Leicester. Three universities are situated in this place, and they provide the
best educational opportunities to students. As opined by Long et al. (2016), students from other
countries come to live in this place, and they enjoy their life as per their own choice. However, at
present, students of graduation course are facing several problems regarding educational system
of Leicester. For example, poor relationship with peer and neighbours, cultural difference,
language difference are the common issues that are facing by graduate students in Leicester.
These are the most important issues for any organisation in the country. As Leicester has a
central location in UK it is able gather people with different cultures from inside and outside the
country. As opined by Rijamampianina and Carmichael (2018), due to presence of 3 world class
universities and presence of variety of cultures in the city, it is able to attract people from
throughout the world. Most of the people from outside the country come here to learn many
3

different things. Due to presence of valuable, cultural history, the city is able to attract students
from different parts of the world. From the Yawar and Seuring (2017), as it becomes the cultural
centre of the country; it can now provide variety of cultural facilities to both the national and
international students. Students reach to Leicester mainly to complete their graduation procedure
from any one out of the 3 world class universities. All the facilities provided by the universities
are well enough to satisfy all their students and therefore, most of the student feels free to adapt
the cultural environment of the city. Though, in the current days some student of graduation level
has faced several problems while doing their coursework (Vveinhardt and Andriukaitiene, 2015).
The main problems are associated with the living in this area. As people from different cultures
live here, thus new students got very little chance to make good relationship with their
neighbours. On the other hand as Soomro et al. (2016), stated that due to language difference the
relationship of the graduate students with their neighbours is very poor.
b) Background of the study
A vibrant hub of entertainment of being provided to the students in the heart of England that is
Leicester. The campus of the Leicester University is one of the best campuses in the UK city.
The students are provided with a social hub on the campus which is perfect to meet for relaxing,
volunteering and coffee. Leicester also has a huge variety of the clubs and bars which offer the
students discounts and plans for doing a night out. Thought out the city there is thriving music
with the venues such as De Montfort Hall bringing in the venues such as Firebug and Y Theater
(Student times, 2018). The shopping in Leicester is also great as students can buy things from
designer brands to the quirky boutiques. The art and culture of the Leicester are also well
maintained. This is due to the reason that students can enjoy a performance at the theatre and
enjoy and can participate in a variety of festivals varieties of festivals. Leicester has the
population of students about 35,000 and had a vibrant to feel the social scene.
With the huge multicultural community, the Leicester city embraces the international students. It
has been observed that international students value up to 58 million pounds as per the DMU
research. Thus, the growing number of international students requires the assessment so that they
can be properly managed in Leicester. In addition to this, 2,497, international students are being
enrolled for studying full -time in 2016 and 2017 (DMU, 2018).
Students in Leicester mainly considered in the three economic factors. The financial pressure for
the tuition fees, accommodation problems and the communication. The international student in
4

Leicester also spends money on travel and tourism and visit ratio family and friends (DMU,
2018). It also affects the direct expenditure through the Leicester economy. It has been found
that on average each of the international students generates £26,214 in the economy of the UK;
however, the least is £23,593 which is working through the Leicester economy (DMU, 2018). As
per the report, it has been suggested that 4,600 international students stayed in Leicester more
than their visa is permitted, the estimated number of such international students is 90,000. The
University of DMU makes a huge number of cultural as well an educational contribution to the
student community to help students become more employed.
c) Objectives:
Objective 1: To identify the education system of Leicester Castle Business School.
● To evaluate the cultural background of the school
● To evaluate the style of teaching in this school
Objective 2: To critically evaluate the lifestyle of graduates in Leicester.
● To understand the perception of graduates in living in Leicester
● To understand the attitude of graduate students towards learning
Objective 3: To analyse issues Graduates face those in Leicester.
● To analyse impacts of issues in the lives of graduate students
● To evaluate intensity of issues faced by graduate students
Objective 4: To recommend possible solutions to mitigate current and potential issues faced
by graduates in Leicester.
● To identify potential solutions to mitigate issues
● To provide information about potential solution to mitigate issues
d) Research method:
This research has aimed to achieve objectives mentioned above to understand experience of
graduates in Leicester. In accordance to Jinks (2018), primary and secondary data has been
gathered and analysed to understand lifestyle and issues of graduates, living in Leicester. Survey
of 55 students and interviews of 3 teachers of Leicester Castle Business School has been
conducted to collect primary data based on real-life experience.
e) Theories and concepts:
Pestle analysis
5

Figure 1: PESTLE factors
(Source: Zalengera et al. 2014)
This tool is effective in order to analyse the macro- environment for the company. The external
factors that are being scanned through the PESTLE analysis are political, social, technological,
legal; economic and environmental determinants (Zalengera et al. 2014). This can effectively
determine the business growth and market growth.
Mckinsey 7 S framework
6
PoliticalEconomicTechnologicalLegalSocialEnviornmental

Figure 2: Mckinsey 7s model
(Source: Ravanfar, 2015)
Internal situation of a company is effectively analysed by the MCkinsey 7s model some soft and
hard elements are being discussed in this concept (Ravanfar, 2015). The seven S that are
described in this model are style, staffs, skills, strategy, Systems, structure and shared values.
Porter's generic strategies
7
Sharedvalue

Figure 3: Porter's generic strategies
(Source: Tansey et al. 2014)
It is significant to know the competitive position of the company. This model is based on the
quadrant of market and cost. The four generic strategies of this model is cost leadership,
differentiation, differentiation focus and cost focus (Tansey et al. 2014). The company can
follow only one of generic strategies to gain the competitive advantage. It has been found that
best strategy includes high market share with high economic share. Unique resources and
capability is required for the company to use the generic strategy.
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis can help any of the market researcher to analyse the external as well as internal
factors if the organisation, this also determines the strength, weakness of the company; this can
be effective in future planning for organisation.
STP analysis
In order to full fill the long term objectives and requirement of a company, market segmentation
is an important factor. Segmentation will help in knowing the demographic and behavioural
requirements of target markets. Moreover, targeting helps in building the brand image among
the target markets identified by company.
Part 2:
 Report:
a) Material collection:
According to Saunders et al. (2018), two forms of data are there, such as primary and secondary
data. In this research, both primary and secondary data has been collected and analyzed to
understand the research topic. Primary qualitative data has been collected from survey of 55
graduate students, who are living in Leicester. On another hand, 3 teachers of Leicester Castle
Business School have been interviewed to acknowledge their perspective regarding the life of
graduates in Leicester, and it helped to collect primary qualitative data. As contradicted by
Fletcher (2017), secondary data helps to understand past and present theories and concepts
regarding research topic. For this reason, authentic books, journals, and databases relevant to
research topic have been studied. Secondary qualitative and secondary quantitative data has
8

provided clear insight into the lifestyle of graduates in Leicester. These collected materials have
easily understood issues facing by students in Leicester.
Primary data was collected to reduce bias in the collected data on the other hand secondary data
was gathered those are actually approved data in previous research procedure that helped them to
reduce both time and cost of gathering data from the field of study. Both primary and secondary
data were collected from the university students. Primary data was collected by doing a survey
among 55 university students. On the other hand secondary data was collected from the
university websites and several other sources. The focused group of data collection was the
foreign students living at Leicester for graduation purpose. Primary data was mainly gathered to
do qualitative analysis and most of the primary data are current data without any bias. Hence,
secondary data source also help the researchers to compare the current data with the past data
from the university website and other sources. Both qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis
of primary and secondary data help the researcher to compare different parts of the graduate
student’s lifestyle (Academia.edu, 2018). Thus it helps the researchers to monitor changes in the
behavioural pattern among the graduate students from different countries. Comparing current
primary data with secondary past data can help the researchers to compare them and to observe
the changes among the graduate students according to their learning procedure. Qualitative data
analysis was done to improve quality of learning by graduation students and help them to
improve their lifestyle.
b) Research methodology:
This research has conducted both qualitative and quantitative methods as there is an in depth
analysis based on the survey of 55 respondents and reviewing journals on this selected subject.
The research method is suitable as the analysis part highly focused to extract actual information
related to the issue. Survey questions are related with the research questions. The opportunity
helps to use the research questions in order to guide the direction of the survey. Moreover, the
researcher has clearly focused that respondents are accustomed with the communication process
as language and cultural issues can create barrier at the time of gathering information (Hox et al.
2017). At the time of gathering the data an interpreter was present to avoid such problems. The
questions were close ended as they can provide short answers based on the questions. Issues that
have mainly analysed in this study include demographic information, facilities, job opportunity
and future planning of the respondents (Ball and Carr, 2016). The overall planning for collecting
9

information is satisfactory to understand about the relevant issues and present status of the
students who are living in Leicester. Researcher as selected descriptive research design tool
which help to describe all the pints and all the happening of the topic of this research paper.
Moreover, this research design tool helps to know about the students and teacher perceptions and
all the key points which are related with this manner. This is relevant for explaining the research
topics with some detail description as well (Minocha et al. 2017). Deductive research approach
tool is required for this current research paper in which researcher use previous models, theories
and information for conducting this current study. There is no need to creating or developing
new theories or models from this study. That's why deductive research approach is appropriate
for this current research paper
c) Findings analysis:
Researcher has collected appropriate research tools to collect material to understand research
topic. According to Gehman et al. (2017), different forms of surveys are there like face to face,
online, telephonic, postal and others. However, online survey has advantageous attributes like
cost efficiency and time efficiency. In this online research, survey has been conducted to acquire
knowledge about lifestyle and issues of students, living in Leicester. Research topic and students
prepared questionnaire were asked about issues faced by them. As argued by Altavilla et al.
(2017), face to face interviews have advantageous aspects. For this reason, face to face interview
of teachers of Leicester Castle business School has been conducted. Researcher has noticed
facial expressions and body language of participants for analysis of their answers. As opined by
Etikan et al. (2016), authentic secondary resources help to acquire in-depth information about
research topic. For this reason, authentic books, journals, and databases have been collected and
studied correctly. [Referred to Appendix 2]
(i) Primary Quantitative Data Analysis
In order to conduct primary data collection, 55 respondents were chosen to conduct the survey
session to address the research objectives. The 55 respondents were chosen from Leicester Castle
Business School in order to meet the objectives of the research to analysis the lifestyle of the
graduates living in Leicester and identify the existing education system.
Survey Questionnaire
Question 1: what is your gender?
10

Options Total Respondents Number of
Respondents
Percentage of
Respondents (%)
Male
55
30 54
Female 25 45
Table 1: Responses on gender divisions
(Source: Created by Author)
Figure 1: Gender division
(Source: Created by author)
Findings:
Based on the above graph it can be suggested that the majority of the respondents are male
participants. Numbers of female participants are not much less than the male participants.
Analysis:
Based on the above findings it can be stated that among the graduates who are presently living in
the Leicester city are male participants. Education system in Leicester Castle business school has
conducted the educational provision for both of the genders whereas female candidates
percentage is a little lower than the male students.
Question 2: What is your age?
Options on age Total Respondents Number of Percentage of
11

Respondents Respondents (%)
Less than 25 years
55
15 27
25-30 years 30 54
More than 30 years 10 18
Table 2: Responses on the age of participants
(Source: Created by Author)
Figure 2: Age of participants
(Source: Created by author)
Findings:
The above diagram is representing that majority of the participants are middle aged younger
participants. The minority of the participants are lower than 27 years.
Analysis:
It is implying that most students usually come at this city in order to finish the graduation and
took up a job. In order to give them a good career opportunity, the business school needs to
develop a planned approach in its educational system.
Question 3: what are the departments in which the graduate students are studying in
Leicester castle Business school?
Options Total Respondents Number of Percentage of
12