Can you pigeonhole foreign students into five 'tribes'? One market research firm clearly thinks so - but how do the young people themselves feel, asks Jessica Shepherd

I'm most like a 'seeker'," says Fiona Fung, 21, from Brunei, in her final year of a BA in media and performance at Salford University. "But I've got friends who are 'gekkos'." "I'm a 'bono'," says Cecilia Ostlund, 23, from Sweden, in her last year of a BA in languages and management at Lancaster University.

What are they talking about? A study that divides international students into five "tribes", that's what.

Market research firm i-graduate has gone for an anthropological take on a poll it has conducted of 25,000 international students, 80% of whom are at British universities.

It asked the students what it was that made them choose their university and country of study. Then it organised them into tribes according to their answers. Education Guardian picked up its binoculars to share the controversial study's findings for the first time.

First, there are the "seekers". These students are often at home on engineering, science and business degree courses. They are driven by their parents' wishes that they secure a good job. They are not fussed about earning megabucks or changing the world. The seeker is happy if its parents are. I-graduate says students from Hong Kong are often seekers. About 24% of the 25,000 international students it polled were in this tribe.

Then there's the "gekko", after the hair-gelled and power-hungry corporate finance boss Gordon Gekko of the 1987 film Wall Street. The gekko can be found craving peers' respect. But even more important to the species is the potential to command huge sums of money. They care about one thing: cash. I-graduate says Polish students tend towards this tribe, as do those studying creative subjects, business and engineering. About 23% of those polled were part of this tribe.

What of the "bono"? This international student is more idealistic than the rest. He or she can be found worrying in a corner about the difference they can make to the environment and is at home on language, science and creative degree courses. They are more influenced by tutors than parents. I-graduate says postgraduates are most likely to be part of this tribe, as are students from the Netherlands and the US. About 22% of those quizzed were members of this tribe.

Then there's the "kid", who can be seen wandering aimlessly across campus. The kid lacks focus and is searching for something easy to guide it. It might be for this reason that the kid is the most influenced by university league tables of any of the five tribes. Many of this tribe's members are undergraduates, but not all. I-graduate says students from Pakistan are often members of this tribe, as are engineering students. A fifth of those polled belonged to this tribe.

And, finally, there's the "surfer". The surfer is just looking for fun and is less ambitious than members of the other tribes. He or she cares less about the future and job security than his or her peers. Despite the name, the surfer can be spotted at all universities, not just those on the coast, and is often at home on language degree courses. I-graduate says Spanish and Japanese students tend towards this tribe. About 11% of those polled were members.

I-graduate's director, Will Archer, expects this study to give universities a more accurate insight into their international students and a new perspective on them.

Archer hopes it will prompt them to adjust their marketing strategies. It could even be used to help students decide which university or course is best for them, he says. They could ask themselves "which tribe am I in?", he suggests.

Archer says universities "lack clarity" when it comes to understanding the motivations, perceptions and expectations of their international students. Too often they resort to national stereotypes to define overseas students, he says.

"What motivates international students to study abroad, what influences their choice of study and what they expect to get out of the experience cannot be defined along national lines," he says.

But is this "anthropological" approach any better?

Piera Gerrard is head of international relations at the University of Salford, where the plan is to increase the overseas proportion of the student population from 8% to 13% by 2017.

Gerrard says this study could be helpful. She has come across seekers, gekkos and kids at Salford. "I think it is particularly interesting to note how important starting salaries and pleasing parents are," she says. "Universities should be more aware of this. We must be careful not to fall into stereotypes though. We don't want to have a homogenous set of students; we look for qualified and motivated ones."

Claire Axel-Berg, head of the international office at the University of Bristol, agrees stereotyping should be avoided. "But at least this study gives us something broader than the earlier 'international students' single group we've had before," she says.

"This is a more sophisticated analysis than the pure demographic divisions of international students," says Tim O'Brien, managing director of Into University Partnerships and former international development director at Nottingham Trent University.

He recognises seekers and kids, but not bonos. "If one used this study on its own, it would be valid to say it propagated stereotypes, but it will be added to the layers of knowledge already at universities. You clearly couldn't extrapolate and say all those on corporate finance courses who are international students are gekkos."

Dominic Scott, chief executive of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, says universities need to respond to the differences between students. "If this study helps us to think about different characteristics and different needs, then it is much to be welcomed," he says. "There is of course a danger that it could lead to increased stereotyping, but on balance, the more research into the particular nature of our international student body, the better."

Not everyone is so positive. Saskia Sassen, a sociology professor at Columbia University in the US and at the London School of Economics, says bringing nationalities into the description of each tribe is "offensive, unhelpful and demeaning". "I have taught for well over 20 years and I do not recognise the nationality tagging of this study," she says.

"The notion of using these five categories denigrates the project that brings together students, faculty and university administrators. One key effort we need today is to recognise talent and potential in types of students that we may not usually associate with these qualities. We don't need a 'marketing office' at universities, but a 'talent-search office'."

Tim Westlake is director of student recruitment, admissions and international development at Manchester University, where students from outside the European Union account for 8% of the university's £650m turnover. He says he doesn't recognise these tribes and would never try to categorise students in this way.

"It's fair to say that many international students are focused on their lifelong earnings," he says. "I don't think that's surprising, considering the cost for them to study abroad. But students will have a mix of characteristics. I don't think it's helpful to describe them as gekkos or any of the other tribes."

Lucy Everest, director of marketing at Middlesex University, agrees. "We do not consider this kind of categorisation helpful as there is a danger of stereotyping nationalities," she says. "We don't categorise students based on nationality, country of origin or by personality traits. We find our students like to be associated with students on their course, the friends they make from their home country and others."

Too right, say several international students who don't recognise themselves as tribal members.

Ayako Tominari, a linguistics research student from Japan who is studying at Lancaster University, says: "I understand that maybe many Japanese students used to be in the surfer tribe, but nowadays, I think there are fewer Japanese students like this."

Kavya Narenatreyas, 21, from India, is studying for a BEng in aeronautical engineering at Salford University. She says: "I think this is really unhelpful. I have friends who are nothing like this."

It's only in the past three or four years that universities have started to appreciate how different the experiences of studying at a UK university can be for international students, says Archer.

This is surprising, considering how important they are to the higher education sector. In 2006, across Britain, 330,080 foreign students were on degree courses. Almost all - apart from those from the EU or on scholarships - were paying the full cost of up to £12,000 a year in fees, raising more than £1.5bn for universities.

Universities UK has acknowledged that British higher education is now dependent on overseas students, and most institutions want more of them.

The irony is that university marketeers have chosen to tap into the different needs of international students now. It's too late. The marketing of a university is now in the hands of overseas students, whose fingers are on their mouses.

"I found most of what I needed to know about UK universities on the web - in chatrooms and in forums," says Narenatreyas. "And that's the way I pass on information, too."

Source: http://education.guardian.co.uk/students/news/story/0,,2266106,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=8