There has been many studies on customer satisfaction and word of mouth(WOM) in the field of marketing, but few researchers applied it to foreign students who became a target of Korean universities experiencing great difficulty in recruiting new students. For this reason, this study analyzed Chinese student’s variables influencing on satisfaction and WOM towards Korean universities. Four basic characteristic variables of Chinese students had a huge impact on negative WOM communication intention. In contrast, academic status variable had a significant impact on positive online WOM communication intention. Satisfaction factor was positively correlated with positive WOM communication intention and negatively related to negative WOM communication intention. In this respect, Korean universities need to pay more attention to satisfaction level of foreign students and WOM communication. Furthermore, they should plan and implement differentiated strategies for promoting themselves in recruiting foreign students.

Based on analysis of connotation and measurement scales of international student satisfaction, dimensions of international student satisfaction toward Korean university and impact of each dimension on total satisfaction were discussed in this study. First, through literature review on measurement of international student satisfaction and depth interview with 12 Chinese students, a four-factor model reflecting dimensions of international student satisfaction was constructed. Second, through regression analysis of 224 data collected by questionnaire survey, influences of four dimensions of international student satisfaction on total satisfaction were revealed. The results showed that international student satisfaction can be divided into four dimensions, including education service satisfaction, administration service satisfaction, facility service satisfaction and support service satisfaction. Education service satisfaction is the most influential variable on total satisfaction, followed by support service satisfaction, facility service satisfaction and administration service satisfaction.