We did, however, wonder if there was a danger of fragmentation of support, and whether some central overview of all these external services should be attempted. Monitoring the service Within institutions there may be a need to monitor the implementation of the CVCP guidelines at departmental level. Some institutions are undertaking their own internal evaluations of the levels of satisfaction among overseas students, but it is by no means universal. We have been shown examples of evaluation questionnaires used in institutions. This may be because many of them are very busy and committed students with other concerns, or it may be for a whole range of cultural reasons, but it is a difficulty which institutions face.
Some problems are beyond the capability of educational institutions to deal with directly.
The particular ones we encountered included problems which students had with funding, and problems dealing with the immigration authorities. While the institutions could, and did, offer such assistance as they were capable of providing, solutions to these problems are not in their hands. A few students found that facilities were not as modern or as comprehensive as they would have wished, but by and large the teaching met their expectations. Students and those who fund them are increasingly conscious of the costs of their education and are seeking value for money. Providers of further and higher education are equally conscious of this and, to their credit, and in the view of most of these students, appear to continue to place as much emphasis on the 'value' as the 'money'.