Country's image development in higher education: structural modelling from the attitude theory perspective

According to Verlegh and Steenkamp (1999), country image (Col) can be defined as mental representations of country's people, products, culture, national symbols. Its foundation consists of emotional and cognitive components. Dinnie (2008) argues that the country's competitive ability index aggregates indicators of institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomics, health, primary and higher education, market efficiency, technological advance, business situation and innovation. Efficient image development in one dimension can positively affect other dimensions, because they are closely interrelated. Therefore, the paper aims at establishing and structuring country's image in relation to higher education and its image building by indicating dependable variables and components.