Students’ perceptions of emigration to foreign countries for higher education: Evidence from a Pakistani university

ABSTRACT

The present study aims to find out the predictors of students’ perceptions of emigration to foreign countries for higher education. The probabilities of emigration are calculated on the basis of students’ perceptions of their global networking, personality types, and push and pull factors of emigration. A cross-sectional survey was carried out among the students who were enrolled in University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. The respondents were selected using multistage sampling technique and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to calculate adjusted odd ratios (aOR). The study found that the socio-demographic variables, global networking, personality attributes, and push and pull factors significantly affected the decision of students to migrate for educational purposes. The findings of the present study furthermore indicated that the emigration for educational purposes was not a unidirectional phenomenon thus it is recommended to develop a holistic approach to further investigate the migratory perceptions of educated youth for higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Emigration
• migratory intentions
• university students
• higher education
• Pakistan