DIGITAL LIBRARY
FACTORS INFLUENCING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ DECISION-MAKING WHILE CHOOSING A STUDY DESTINATION: A COMPARISON BETWEEN GERMANY AND UNITED KINGDOM
University of Northampton (UNITED KINGDOM)
About this paper:
Appears in: EDULEARN23 Proceedings
Publication year: 2023
Pages: 8365-8373
ISBN: 978-84-09-52151-7
ISSN: 2340-1117
doi: 10.21125/edulearn.2023.2166
Conference name: 15th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies
Dates: 3-5 July, 2023
Location: Palma, Spain
Abstract:
The goal of this research is to investigate the variables influencing international students' preferences for overseas study opportunities. The present research makes an effort to examine the determinants that influence students' decision about the country in which they would like to continue their advanced learning based on the internationalization of university education in today’s modern extremely competitive learning environment. Given the increasing international competition for international students, a clear knowledge of the aspects that influence foreign students' choice of study site is becoming highly important. The student choices for studying abroad have received a lot of interest in academic circles. The finest learning chances for children might come from exposure to another culture and background outside of the classroom. The best way to convince kids to see another country's culture is through study abroad programmes. A student is exposed to a variety of additional elements, such as cultural differences, society, and institutions, in addition to the subject matter. In recent years, business schools have started to provide study abroad opportunities to students from a range of academic fields.

The number of nations actively recruiting international students has expanded dramatically. This research's main contribution is, to identify the primary factors that impact foreign students' choice of study destination. This research used primary data collection for report and used quantitative analysis. The quantitative data has been gathered by creating two different structured questionnaires in Google forms and distributed it among the students who decided to choose their higher education in United Kingdom & Germany, respectively. Quantitative data is collected by conducting short interviews with participants who are either pursuing their degrees or completed their degrees in UK & Germany. The qualitative and quantitative analysis identified factors such as Communication, location, quality of education, social aspects, living expenses, and tuition fees as different categories of characteristics that influenced foreign students' selection of study location.
Previous studies have also indicated that the destination country and selection of universities impacted that decision of foreign students and are also heavily impacted by suggestions from people who have completed their higher education abroad. This research will contribute to a better understanding of the different factors that played a major role in impacting the students' decisions regarding their study destination.
Keywords:
International Students, HE, UK, Decision-Making, Student Experience.