THE PUSH-PULL FACTORS INFLUENCING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ DESTINATION CHOICE: A CASE STUDY IN TURKEY

Abstract

Over the past decade, the international student population in Turkey has grown by almost 300 per cent. Recent internationalization policies by the government and universities have the potential to make Turkey an ever more attractive destination for foreign students, particularly those from neighboring areas. This extraordinary growth ability does not come without its challenges, and clearly requires further study. More work on improving global study destinations such as Turkey is needed to push aggressive growth strategies in the number of international students in those areas (Özoğlu, M., B.S. Gur, 2018). The study findings analyzed through this research indicate that, there are three general factors influencing the push-pull factors influencing international student’s destination choice. According to the findings, firstly the micro level factors statistically effect the dependent variable and has a positive relationship. In this factor different items including Family Influence, Expectations, Language, international Experience were tested to see if all are combined correctly. Although this factor has very weak relationship but students do not ignore it while making their decision making especially language skill. Secondly, Meso level factors including items like Scholarships, Tuition, Reputation of Institution, and Quality of Education have been tested if they have any relationship with international student destination choice. The analysis indicates a positive significant linear relationship among this factor and dependent variable. Among all these items tuition is being more considered while making the decision especially while most international student in turkey are from Asian countries that are listed as developing countries. Finally, macro level including items like Immigration Policy, Social Cultural, and Security Factors are also being tested with dependent variables. The findings illustrate a moderate positive statistically significant linear relationship among the variables. This variable has the highest effectiveness with international students’ destination choice, among all the immigration policies that are in Turkey makes it a little challengeable to choose it as a destination choice. Finally, through the studies the point that the demand for international education is influenced by many factors that are needed to be considered. Shortage of access to higher education in many Asian and African countries has been a primary cause of most of the student migration that has arisen in the latter half of the 20th century. Historical or colonial links between host and home countries have played an important role in determining the direction of much of the international student flow.