Motivational Factors Barriers and Preparations

Introduction

Movement of students from one country to another has been increasing day by day. Especially nowadays where everything is being globalized one cannot confine themselves within same geographic region always. They seek changes and want to be universally accepted (Kim & Zhang, 2021). For this, students decide to venture on studying abroad and getting high opportunities. In another aspect, every individual needs to broaden their knowledge beyond their geographic locations once in a lifetime which is very essential for their personal growth as well as the development of mankind (Amani & Kim, 2017). This study will aim to find out the motivational factors for students to study abroad, the barriers in decision making of studying in an international college/university and also the preparation that they undertake for choosing an international platform for their post graduate course.

Literature Review

With rise in globalization, there is a trend of students moving across countries for the pursuit of higher education. Countries like China despite being rich in research capacity and having universities with world class education system, students from such circumstances are also opting for international level of education system ( Li, Shen & Xie, 2021). Furthermore, according to Li et al. (2021), “The decision to study abroad is not only motivated by the will of students but is also greatly shaped by the institutional habitus of ‘going abroad is excellent’

As suggested by the study earlier, China had high number of students moving abroad for higher studies, in a similar fashion, Bista & Dagley (2015) mentioned that Untied States of America welcomed highest number of international student enrolment in the year 2012-13 also including Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom which has been a trend since a longer period of time (as cited in Open Doors 2013).

Motivating factors

Push factors

Based on the study of the data from focused groups and in-depth interviews, Cai et al.(2015) stated a noteworthy finding from the perspective of social psychology thatamong various push factors for students, one of them was building their standing out personal image and presenting consistently with same image played as an important base for moving to international universities. Similarly, willingness of thorough learning of international culture, bringing changes in self and also moving on from current lifestyle were other distinct influential factors of studying abroad (Cai et al., 2015).

As Kolster (2014) noted that low access levels of higher education, low worth of a national higher qualification, decreased value of a national higher educational qualification, financial support (for instance, government aids/funds, scholarships) and reliable emigration facilities of home country are some of the factors that motivates a student aspiring to pursue higher education in an international area.

In a similar way, findings of the study by Bista & Dagley (2015) pointed out that more than 70 % of participants of their study had received scholarships from the university, also financial assistance from family and were self-motivated for higher education in the US. In summary, it can be seen how numerous ways of pushing factors in one’s country of origin are present in pushing students to move to a foreign country for higher education.

Pull factors

Cai et al. (2015) indicated that the attractive features of the host country, one’s wish to boost personal identity, host country’s culture, recreation sources, and also historic background were some pulling factors that are drawing students to their destination place for higher studies.

Likewise, Kolster (2014) emphasized that the provision of high quality of education in the destination country, global recognition of qualifications, safety and security levels within the country, post study and work environment of the destination as well as available information sources about the country were some of the aspects that were studied upon as the pulling reasons to an international platform for higher studies (as cited in Becker & Kolster 2012). Moreover, international students are motivated to gain international level of qualifications not only for job opportunities but also for the purpose of immigration to remain in the host country (Bista & Dagley, 2015).

Therefore, it can be said that not only the pushing factors, but pulling factors in the destination country affects one’s motives of decision making more strongly while choosing international universities/colleges for attainment of higher education.

Influencers and Barriers

Cai et al. (2015) believed that while making comparisons among various cultures, parenting cultures in the United States include kindness and close proximity with their children along with proper supervision (as cited in Baumrind,1971), whereas parents in Asian cultures are more strict and have a control over their children (as cited in Lu& Adler,2009). Such factors tend to influence in an individual’s choices of pursuing higher education. Moreover, costs and opportunities that an aspiring abroad students has to face also acts as a major role in their decision making to choose an international post-graduate degree (Cai et al., 2015).

Furthermore, Cabrera (2014) discussed how limited finances and inadequate counselling, poor socioeconomic status, especially among students from diverse ethnicity, have less opportunities of higher education or even transitioning to further studies for a college degree/ qualifications (as cited in Wells & Lynch, 2012, p. 674). Correspondingly, this study conducted by Cabrera (2014) among 42 students of Portland State University in the US by using an Input-Environment-Outcome (IEO) model emphasized that family support along with motivation from educators had more chances of first generation college students succeeding in universities. In this way, these study findings reckons that hindrances that come along the career making with higher education alters the way of students pathway in making decisions too.

Preparation of study

Despite the numerous sources of information available in the websites and online portals, most students prefer the services provided by the recruitment agents as they are authorized agents appointed by the colleges/ universities itself. Bista & Dagley (2015) studied that 26% of international students’ seek assistance from consultancies / international agents for enrolment. Their study had indicated that though these recruiters can be a reliable source of information for a beginner, sometimes it can just turn out to be a business purpose for the consultancies thus leading to loss of money and also misleading information for the students. Altbach (2011) argued that “agents and recruiters are impairing academic standards...and many of these operators—although it is not known how many—have authorization to actually admit students, often based on murky qualifications” (p. 11)

Similarly findings of study by Thiry et al. (2015) suggested that students will require broad networks, more than peer and advisory relationships to discover full range of possibilities for them. They also mentioned the need of accessibility to professional networking well organized into education system throughout their careers for better planning and functioning.

Conclusion

To conclude it can be seen that there are numerous studies conducted among international students and the increasing trend of seeking international level education. There are several reasons why this trend is progressive as demonstrated by the researches. Despite the motivations, some hindrances were revealed too by the findings of the study. Also, most studies were found to be conducted among international Chinese students for their post graduate studies.

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