Through the Looking Glass: Analysis of Factors Influencing Iranian Student’s Study Abroad Motivations and Destination Choice

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate and understand why and how Iranian higher education students choose to study overseas. After critically analyzing the international student mobility literature, the important factors are distilled. Then, by using Fuzzy-Delphi Method (FDM), 15 factors are selected from the 21 factors initially selected by reviewing the literature. This study utilizes a novel Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach, based on Best-Worst Method (BWM), to prioritize the factors influencing the choice of Iranian students regarding international higher education. Therefore, by using BWM, the most and the least important factors and subfactors were identified and prioritized based on the experts’ opinions. The findings of this quantitative research reveal that Iranian students identify “Aids and Scholarships,” “Cost Issues,” and “Environment of the Home Country” as the most important factors, respectively. Finally, a discussion is generated regarding the results and their implications.