International student flows into provincial China - the main motivations for higher education students

While being a major source country of international students for western countries, China's position as a destination for international students has risen rapidly in the last decade. However, the reasons behind provincial China's inbound student flows are under-researched. To address this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHigher education research and development Vol. 41; no. 7; pp. 2170 - 2186
Main Authors Gong, Xue, Huybers, Twan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 10.11.2022
Subjects
China
College Students
Educational Policy
Educational Quality
Foreign Countries
Foreign Students
Global Approach
Higher education
International education
international education choice
International students
provincial China
Recognition (Achievement)
Scholarships
Student Attitudes
Student Characteristics
Student mobility
Student Motivation
Surveys
University choice
University students
China
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Summary:While being a major source country of international students for western countries, China's position as a destination for international students has risen rapidly in the last decade. However, the reasons behind provincial China's inbound student flows are under-researched. To address this gap in the literature, taking Jiangsu as a case study, this study identifies a hierarchy of motivations behind international flows of students into provincial China. A survey was conducted using a questionnaire to elicit students' perceived importance of 18 motivations. We used ANOVA to explore differences in motivations in terms of student characteristics. The key motivations identified are the availability of scholarships and China's growing global importance. The findings suggest that pursuing high-quality education is not the main purpose for international students studying in provincial China at present. Instead, they seek to gain education experience in China with a view to future career perspectives, and provinces like Jiangsu are good alternatives for studying in metropolises. Policy implications are generated for governments and provincial universities to better meet the needs of international students in order to diversify and grow international student numbers in provincial China.
Bibliography:Refereed article. Includes bibliographical references.
ISSN:0729-4360
1469-8366
DOI:10.1080/07294360.2021.1981254