Determinants of Chinese students’ increasing pursuit of UK’s taught master degree under the third wave of international education mobility

ABSTRACT

Although there is an abundance of research on international students’ study and life experiences in the receiving countries and their post-study labour market outcomes in the sending countries, the motivations to study in a specific country have rarely been studied. Based on the theoretically grounded analysis, this article aims to explore the determinants driving Chinese students to increasingly choose UK’s postgraduate taught programmes, under the context of the third wave of international student mobility. Drawing on 41 interviews and thematic analysis, this study finds a variety of determinants: China’s intense domestic competition for the master programme entry, social networks, China’s traditional culture, short duration of master programme, global competence and parental influence. Also, the results suggest that China’s domestic master education is experiencing great changes. The findings provide implications for UK higher education institutions and Chinese students in terms of studying abroad. This study contributes to a broadened empirical and conceptual understanding of capital conversion and push-pull model under Chinese student context, offering empirical evidence for explaining the inner decision process of studying in the UK regarding students coming from China’s contemporary middle class.

KEYWORDS:

• UK’s master education
• Chinese international students
• cosmopolitan competency
• China’s higher education
• decision model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. It refers to the top 100 universities in the 21st century in China. The 211 Project was launched by the State Council in 1995 to establish 100 world-class universities.

2. It usually refers to the top-39 universities in China. The 985 project was proposed in 1998 by the Ministry of Education in the “Action Plan for Education Revitalisation for the 21st Century” to provide generous funding and resources for selected higher education institutions that had the potential to deliver world-class research excellence.

3. The C9 league includes the top-9 universities in China. It is also the top university league in China.

4. The 10 social class includes state & society administrator (cadre in governments), manager (manager or department leader in state company, private company, foreign company and joint company), private enterprise owner (having large scale company), technological specialist (teacher, engineer, doctor, academic researcher, lawyer, culture worker), clerk & office worker (secretary, accountant, computer operator), individual entrepreneur (one-person company with unlimited liability), commercial & service worker (tertiary industry workers), industrial worker (worker in factory, mining and transport industry), farmer and unemployed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Cultural Heritage and Innovation Project of China University of Mining and Technology: Interaction between Overseas Dissemination of Chinese Culture and Localization of Foreign Culture [2018WHCCO6]; A study on the key problems of forming multi-level spatial pattern in Jiangsu [2021SJA1013]; The Jiangsu Provincial Innovation and Entrepreneurship Doctor Program [JSSCBS20211193]; 2022 Social Science Foundation of China University of mining and technology [2022-11338]; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities; Center for Balance Architecture, Zhejiang University.

Notes on contributors

Keyu Zhai

Keyu Zhai is an associate professor at China University of Mining and Technology. His PhD was completed at School of Education, University of Glasgow, funded by China Scholarship Council from 2016 to 2019. His current research interests include international higher education and migration studies, with a focus on the experiences and success of international returnees in China. His research is interdisciplinary, traversing across sociology of education, geography of education, and urban studies.

Kang Cao

Kang Cao is Associate Professor in the Department of Regional and Urban Planning, Zhejiang University, China. Her research mainly focuses on the culture exchange and knowledge flow based global planning history and contemporary planning theory. She is particularly interested in the issue of planning conflict, the transnational and transregional flow of planning and urban knowledge, and the traditional Chinese philosophy inspired Chinese planning theories.