“Yearning for it” and “no turning back”—A study on Chinese international high school students’ motivations in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

This paper studies the macro situation of studying abroad in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and the motivations of Chinese international high school students studying abroad. The research shows that from the macro situation, the “push” growth is caused by the epidemic situation, racial discrimination, tightening employment and immigration policies, online teaching, and other reasons, while the “pull” growth is caused by the good control of the epidemic situation and the sense of belonging and security for students in China; however, from the perspective of individual choice, most international high school students still insist on studying abroad, “demand effect” and “cost effect” can explain their motivations of studying abroad. The motivation of those students going abroad unshakably mainly shows “demand effect.” They tend to satisfy the differentiated demand of personal development through studying abroad and believe that this demand is more difficult to obtain in home country. While the motivation of those students going abroad reluctantly mainly shows “cost effect.” The cost of early investment including not only monetary expenditures but also behavioral choices in K-12 education leads to their continued investment.