An Investigation of Factors Determining the Study Abroad Destination Choice

Abstract

Previous studies on the field of education abroad have mainly focused on the factors influencing the mobility of international students from developing to developed countries and very few have been conducted to investigate the factors influencing the flow of international students to the Asia Pacific region. As a piece of country-specific research, this study, with an attempt to explore why and how international students travel to Taiwan for the purpose of study and to describe possible implications for the authorities and institutions offering higher education, is timely and worthwhile. A push–pull model is developed to identify the factors relating to the three-phase model of study abroad decision-making process, while the analytic hierarchy process method is used to examine the relative importance of these factors. The findings of this study suggest that policy makers and institutional administrators should focus on offering various kinds of scholarships for international students, designing multilingual websites for international students with different languages, promoting language training programs for international students, and designing student recruitment strategies tailored for the different study groups of international students at the government and the institution levels. This study is of particular significance because global competition between countries for international students and especially for the best among them will be more intense in the future.

Motivation, Induction and Challenge: Examining the Initial Phase of International Students' Educational Sojourn

“…Key areas of research regarding this trend focus on the drivers and barriers relevant to international students. International students are motivated by a range of factors which can potentially influence their decision to come to the United Kingdom (Hyams-Ssekasi, Mushibwe & Caldwell, 2014;Lee, 2014;Maringe & Carter, 2007;Mazzoral & Soutar, 2002). These expectations (Cowley, 2016) can be problematic if they do not correspond with the standards and prospects of the higher education institution they are seeking to study at (Kingston & Forland, 2008;Rae & Woodier-Harris, 2012).…”

Motivational factors for educational tourism: marketing insights

“…lacking, which highlights the need to conceptualize edu-tourism motivational factors for the purpose of coherency. (Lam, Tong and Ariffin, 2016), To learn a second language (Bodycott, 2009;Counsell, 2011), Geographical proximity (Soo and Elliott, 2010), Cultural proximity (Counsell, 2011;Lee and Morrish, 2012), Reputation for high-quality educational system (Petruzzellis and Romanazzi, 2010), Safety (Anderson and Bhati, 2012), The need for international exposure (Anderson and Bhati, 2012;Bodycott, 2009), Lack of higher education in the home country (Bodycott, 2009;Maringe and Carter, 2007), Career benefits (Counsell, 2011;Eder et al, 2010;Ivy, 2010), Visa procedure (Eder et al, 2010;Urias and Yeakey, 2008), Price of education and living costs (Bourke, 2000;Lam et al, 2016), Policies (e.g., part-time jobs, post-graduation employment or immigration opportunities) (Ho et al, 2007;Yang, 2007), Social influence (e.g., family members, friends, teachers, relatives, agents & social media) (Cheung et al, 2011;Ivy, 2010;Lee, 2014;McCarthy et al, 2012).…”

International Students in Asia: Travel Behaviors and Destination Perceptions

“…Moreover, the ability to spend more or less on travel may correlate with respondent sources of financial support (Payne, 2010). Some Asian students opt to study in Taiwan because of concerns about their family's capacity to afford the tuition fees prevalent in the West (Lee, 2014). Tourism operators and relevant authorities can benefit from investing time and effort in exploring the VFR market in the Asian …”

“…Finally, Taiwan's educational authorities may benefit from offering a greater variety of international student scholarships, especially in developing countries. In light of the primary importance of study costs this approach has already been a cost-effective and expedient means of attracting international students to Taiwan (Lee, 2014). It is also suggested that Taiwan's higher educational institutions, both public and private, general education and technical and vocational education, should collaborate closely with universities in China.…”