Pull factors in choosing a higher education study abroad destination after the massive global immobility: A re-examination from Chinese perspectives

Figures & data

Table 1. Pull factors and corresponding subfactors

Pull factors	Subfactors
The reputation of institutions and city	World ranking of institutions
	(2) World ranking of majors
	(3) Knowledge of the host city
	(4) Knowledge of the host institution.
The employment and immigration opportunities	(5) Overseas employment prospects
	(6) Chinese employment prospects
	(7) Immigration opportunities.
The economic development of the host country	(8) Economic development of host country.
Recommendations of others	(9) Recommendations of others.
Language in use	(10) Tuition language
	(11) Daily language.
Cost of overseas experiences	(12) Tuition cost
	(13) Living cost.

Figure 1. Frequency of pull factors considered, student group.

Table 2. Pull factors considered by international students

Pull factors	Frequency	Consideration ratio
Tuition cost	884	83.87%
Living cost	773	69.55%
Tuition language	714	67.74%
Chinese employment prospects	578	54.84%
Economic development of host country	516	48.95%
World ranking of majors	510	48.39%
World ranking of institutions	476	45.16%
Daily language	442	41.94%
Knowledge of host city	374	35.48%
Knowledge of host institution	368	34.89%
Recommendations of others	238	22.58%
Overseas employment prospects	102	9.68%
Immigration opportunities	34	3.23%
Sum	5,969	566.30%

Note: The consideration ratio is calculated by the ‘frequency of each factor divided by the total number of student respondents’ so that it represents the possibility of each factor being considered by individuals in the sample.

Figure 2. Frequency of pull factors considered, parent group.

Table 3. Pull factors considered by parents of international students

Pull factors	Frequency	Consideration ratio
Tuition cost	155	84.24%
Living cost	126	68.48%
Tuition language	117	63.59%
World ranking of institutions	98	53.26%
Chinese employment prospects	95	51.63%
Recommendations of others	87	47.28%
Economic development of host country	84	45.65%
World ranking of majors	72	39.13%
Daily language	50	27.17%
Knowledge of host city	33	17.93%
Knowledge of host institution	32	17.39%
Overseas employment prospects	17	9.24%
Immigration opportunities	3	1.63%
Sum	969	526.62%

Note: The consideration ratio is calculated by the ‘frequency of each factor divided by the total number of parent respondents’ so that it represents the possibility of each factor being considered by individuals in the sample.

Table 4. Comparison of factor importance between the student group and the parent group

Factors that attract and influence	Students		Parents		Significance
decision-making	M	SD	M	SD
Tuition cost	5.97	1.209	6.54	1.101	P < 0.001
Living cost	5.13	1.986	5.12	1.701	P = 0.935
Tuition language	5.03	1.849	4.91	1.934	P = 0.446
Chinese employment prospects	4.65	1.965	4.02	1.838	P < 0.001
World ranking of institutions	3.32	1.895	3.41	2.004	P = 0.561
World ranking of majors	3.23	1.895	3.11	1.256	P = 0.288
Daily language	3.09	1.895	2.17	1.715	P < 0.001
Knowledge of host city	2.97	2.002	5.15	1.939	P < 0.001
Knowledge of host institution	2.52	1.810	5.19	1.967	P < 0.001
Economic development of host	2.45	1.889	4.48	1.913	P < 0.001
country
Recommendations of others	1.72	1.603	4.53	2.035	P < 0.001
Immigration opportunities	1.05	0.324	1.26	0.634	P < 0.001
Overseas employment prospects	1.02	0.271	1.01	0.104	P = 0.378

Notes: (1) Variables are measured on a seven-point scale from 1 = least important to 7 = most important; (2) data are presented from highest to lowest importance based on student respondents; (3) M = mean, SD = standard deviation.