The Impact of UK Education on the Information Behaviour of Graduate Students from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The Saudi Arabian government seeks to improve the country’s educational system in order to prepare its young population to become global citizens and diversify the economy. Saudi students tend to pursue education from the UK as they get more effective access to information for improving their learning outcomes, exploiting both paper-based and digital reources. The UKbased universities typically provide a virtual learning environment through digital devices provided to the students for attaining wider information sources through the internet. However, in the UK, Saudi students still face barriers in finding and using information, due to their cultural differences, language difficulties, and inadequate interaction with the faculty.

Although previous studies have provided information about the information-seeking behaviour and related barriers for Saudi students in UK education institutions, the detailed insights and practical data have not been obtained to validate these findings. Moreover, the research literature does not provide solutions to resolve the barriers in accessing information. This study has conducted primary research for obtaining realistic and updated information on the impact of an UK education on the Saudi students' information-seeking attitudes and their strategies for overcoming the barriers in accessing information resources, via a comparative study. This study has also explored the information behaviour among Saudi Arabian students to understand what barriers and strategies they employ while studying in Saudi Universities. This comparison of the two groups has facilitated the investigation of the key factors and barriers that influence their information behaviour based on a model constructed by Urquhart and Rowley (2007). Finally, this study has presented some practical recommendations for developing a more effective and supportive learning environment for information seeking by Saudi students.

Date of Award	Jun 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton
Supervisor	Roger Evans (Supervisor) & Lyn Pemberton (Supervisor)