International students and motivation to study at postgraduate level – some evidence from China

Key words

 international students international branch campuses students’ decision influencers motivators

Abstract

This paper investigates reasons why students decide to study abroad, taking into consideration push, pull and individual psychological factors. The research took place in China in a European university branch in Shanghai, where international students weresurveyed. Although up to date there was a lot of research on international students’ motivations to study abroad, testing various push and pull factors models, and there is only one piece of research looking specifically at students motivations with regards to international branch campuses but at Arabic context. The gap created the opportunity for the present investigation. This paper is the first piece of research that examines international students’ motivations to select a European university branch in China. The findings indicate that pull factors could be more important in influencing students to study at international branches of European universities.