International students’ choice of destinations for overseas study: A specific push-pull model for vietnam

Abstract

This chapter aims to build a comprehensive framework, which examines the push-pull factors that impact the decision making of Vietnamese youngsters’ choice of destination for overseas studies. Our push-pull model, indeed, reflects a typical pattern of overseas students flying from South to North countries. Overseas students are pushed by factors inherent to the situation of their home countries such as underdevelopment of the higher education sector, and incentives by the home government in relation to skillful manpower. Overseas students are pulled by motivating factors inherent to the host countries such as migration or job opportunities, superior educational quality, the needs of the host government for a high-skilled workforce, and ideological affinity. However because of the deregulation of government functions and the development of local higher education suppliers, and domestic and foreign linked programs—and more generally, because of the emergence of newly industrial economies within the Asia Pacific region—the trends have changed rapidly in recent years. The absolute numbers of students crossing the border of the country to undertake higher education abroad is still increasing but anecdotal evidence suggests that some students who have the opportunity to go abroad eventually decide to stay at home, instead while some other divert to Asia as their destination of overseas study instead of traditional host countries such as the US, UK, France and Australia.