Insights into the choice and decision making to study at a selected British university in the example of Polish students at the university global fair in Poland
Annals of Marketing Management and Economics, 2015, vol.1, nr 2, s. 69-79
Key words
Polish students UK Higher Education study motivation push factors pull factors
Abstract
The paper investigates what motivates Polish students to study in the UK. The research is based on Polish students who attended the University Global Fair in Warsaw, Poland in 2015, and were inclined to study at one British university in north-west England. The paper examines these students’ motivation for their choice and investigates their decision-making process in this case. According to the literature, two main types of factors influence students’ decision-making process: push and pull factors. Push factors are created by the students’ country of origin, and are the ones that persuade them to move abroad. Pull factors, in turn, are those which operate within the host country and encourage students to consider it as their new residence Though the UK is one of the main destinations to study for Polish students, little research has been done on this particular group. That gap created the opportunity for the present investigation, for which I interviewed a group of students. Their answers indicate that, contrary to what a number of other studies have suggested, pull factors could be more important in influencing Polish students to study at British universities.