Analysis of korean students international mobility by 2 d model

The first D, the driving force factor, explains how and what components of the dissatisfaction with domestic higher education perceived by Korean students drives students’ outward mobili

Analysis of Korean students’ international mobility

by 2-D model: driving force factor and directional factor

Elisa L Park

Published online: 17 September 2008

Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V 2008

Abstract The purpose of this study is to understand the dynamics of Korean students’ international mobility to study abroad by using the 2-D Model The first D, the driving force factor, explains how and what components of the dissatisfaction with domestic higher education perceived by Korean students drives students’ outward mobility to seek foreign higher education The second D, the directional factor, describes the factors that influence the choice of destination country for students’ outward mobility, and is explained

by the comparison of Korean students’ perceptions on the images of universities in the U.S., China, the U.K., and Australia and their expectations for higher education in each country (categorized as ‘academic’–‘environmental’) Two questionnaire surveys were conducted to analyze the two D factors and the research findings were integrated into suggestions for each country’s higher education institutions that can be incorporated into their recruitment strategies for international students

Keywords Higher education
School choice
Student mobility
International students
Images of universities
Expectation

Introduction

Higher education has been changing dramatically in its overall landscape with the trends of internationalization and globalization Especially, students’ educational mobility, tradi-tionally limited within domestic education, now expands its volumes and ranges of motion internationally The number of internationally mobile students, estimated to be 0.6 million

in 1975, doubled in 1990 (1.2 million), more than doubled again in 2005 (2.7 million) (UNESCO2006) and the growth continues to escalate, which is now forecasted to reach in excess of 7.2 million in 2025 (IDP Education Australia2002)

Korean students have been one of the most active participants in international mobility Total number of internationally mobile students, 149,933 in 1997, has grown to 217,959 in

E L Park (&)

Yonsei University, 159 DaeWoo ParkVilla #202, Seoul, South Korea

e-mail: elisalilypark@gmail.com

DOI 10.1007/s10734-008-9173-x

2007 (Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development1999; 2007) The number of Korean students in U.S higher education comprises 10.7% (62,392) of the total number of foreign students in 2007 while Indians take up 14.4% (83,833) and Chinese 11.6% (67,723) (Open Doors2007) When considering that the population of Korea is less than 1/27 of China and 1/23 of India,1the number of Korean students is proportionately far greater, and merits deeper speculation about their intentions and patterns of international mobility

Then, why do these numbers of Korean students leave their home country seeking for foreign higher education? Why do some students decide to go to the U.S while others prefer the U.K., China, Australia or others? In order to find answers to these questions, this study developed a 2-D Model: Driving Force Factor and Directional Factor as presented

in Fig.1, explaining the sequential process of Korean students’ international mobility The first D, the driving force factor, refers to the internal, domestic, and home com-ponents that initially drive students’ outward mobility for foreign higher education The outward mobility is often driven by various personal and situational reasons and each individual would have different sets of driving force factors Among these, this study focuses on the dissatisfaction with domestic higher education perceived by Korean stu-dents, which has been a serious issue in Korean higher education

The second D, the directional factor, refers to the students’ perceptions of images and expectations for foreign higher education, which may influence the directional decisions on the destination country Students who have decided to study abroad begin to compare pos-sible destination countries and eventually select one in particular In this process, various elements, such as opinions from parents and friends, information from media and websites about student visa processes, feasibility of admissions, educational environments, and economical and political conditions of each country, are all integrated in forming images and expectations on each country’s universities Among these, the preferred set of images and expectations of a certain country influences students’ choice and leads them to decide their mobility direction toward that country With this supposition, this study compared the images and expectations that Korean students have on universities in the U.S., U.K., China,

students’

outward mobility

selecting destination country

U.S.

U.K.

CHINA

OTHERS AUSTRALIA

deciding to study abroad home

driving force factor

directional factor

dissatisfaction with

domestic education

images expectations

Fig 1 2-D model: driving force factor and directional factor

1

Vital statistics of China: 1.3 billion; India: 1.1 billion; S Korea: 49 million (CIA 2008).

and Australia, the most preferred four destination countries by Korean students and analyzed how these perceptions influence the selection of the destination country

Research methodology

This study conducted two questionnaire surveys for analyzing the 2-D factors The first survey was designed to learn the reasons for dissatisfaction with domestic education and to collect the words, commonly used by Korean high school students for describing the images and expectations for foreign higher education The given words were then grouped into several categories and provided as answer choices in the second questionnaire to gauge the frequency distribution

The first survey specifically targeted two high schools located in Seoul, Korea that have a ‘Preparation Class for Study Abroad’ (PCSA)2 with the assumption that students

in the PCSA would have different opinions on domestic and foreign higher education from those of non-PCSA students who do not have a plan or preference for study abroad

A total of 230 questionnaires were distributed, 110 to the PCSA group and 120 to the non-PSCA group (Table1), and collected directly by the researcher (100% return rate) and a total of 219 questionnaires were utilized for research analysis after discarding eleven defective ones

The second questionnaire survey was conducted at 7 high schools located in Seoul, Korea A total of 1,800 questionnaires were delivered by the researcher directly to the principals and teachers at participating schools A total of 1,539 questionnaires were collected (86% return rate) and 1,359 questionnaires were utilized after eliminating 180 defective ones The high schools targeted for the second survey were particularly chosen in order to eliminate any possible bias resulting from the background of indi-vidual students such as socio-economic status and academic achievement levels (Table2)

Table 2 Characteristics of participants in survey 2 (total number of students: 1,359)

Table 1 Characteristics of participants in survey 1 (total number of students: 219)

2 Preparation Class for Study Abroad (PCSA) is a special class provided by several private high schools that are highly competitive in Korea The main purpose of PCSA is to provide educational support and coun-seling to students who plan to apply to universities in foreign countries Curricula are mainly concentrated in English language, SAT preparation, histories of foreign countries, and special training for essay writing.

The driving force factor: dissatisfaction with domestic education

Influence of dissatisfaction on students’ attitudes toward studying abroad

As previously mentioned, this study regarded students’ dissatisfaction with domestic education as a driving force factor and investigated the linkage between students’ per-ceived dissatisfaction and their attitudes toward studying abroad As the survey outcome shows in Table3, there was a clear positive correlation that students who perceived higher level of dissatisfaction with domestic education showed stronger tendencies to have positive attitude for outward mobility for foreign higher education Specifically, the PCSA students who had already made their decision to study abroad showed considerably higher levels of dissatisfaction (4.22 score: ‘dissatisfied–very dissatisfied’) than the non-PCSA students (2.42 score: ‘satisfied to moderate’) The result of the second survey was similar, with a larger gap Students, who answered that they have plans or wish to study abroad, scored 4.38 (‘dissatisfied–very dissatisfied’) while students, who answered that they prefer

to stay in domestic schools, scored 2.16 (‘satisfied–moderate’)

The level of dissatisfaction and its driving force may vary by individual and country However, it appears clear to Korean students that the perceived dissatisfaction with domestic higher education acts as a driving force factor, which strongly motivates students’ outward mobility for seeking other educational opportunities in foreign higher education as

a substitute for domestic education

Reasons for dissatisfaction with domestic higher education

Then, what elicits the dissatisfaction of Korean students with domestic higher education?

In fact, there are considerable cries of concern in Korea on the issue of dissatisfaction with domestic higher education Since the exodus rate of Korean students has been increas-ing drastically and even the average age of students has been gettincreas-ing younger,3 many

Table 3 Level of dissatisfaction and attitudes toward studying abroad

Survey 1

Students who have plan

or wish for oversea study (33%)

Students who don’t have plan

or wish for oversea study (67%) Survey 2

Students’ attitudes Have positive attitude for outward mobility Stay domestic

a

Average score of level of dissatisfaction (scale 1, very satisfied; 2, satisfied; 3, moderate; 4, dissatisfied;

5, very dissatisfied)

3 In Korea, the continuously increasing trend of sending young children abroad for education has created a new term, ‘Goose Father,’ which describes fathers who lead solitary lives after sending their children abroad

to study with their mothers These fathers stay home, make money to provide financial support for their children, and only see them during school holidays Such excessive educational fervor has been further charged as the main culprit in the dismantling of traditional family values.

Korean researchers have sought the reasons for the educational exodus A study con-ducted by the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) in 2005, which was sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Education, discovered that 8,166 surveyed stu-dents and parents preferred foreign education for the reasons of (1) the utility of English language instruction, (2) the excessively competitive environment for college entrance in Korea, and (3) the excessive expenditure for private tutoring in Korea Job Korea (2006) also conducted a similar study with 1,047 college students and found that students wished to study abroad because of (1) potential improvement in global competitiveness (including second language proficiency), (2) Korean society’s high recognition and preference for foreign diplomas, and (3) the low quality of Korean higher education

The first survey of this research also discovered the similar outcome in Table4that 59.8% of surveyed students complained about ‘the low quality of college education,’ including lack of opportunities for learning a second language; majors and courses unavailable; and poor faculty and facilities Other components of dissatisfaction included: ‘excessive private tutoring’4 (57.6%) for college entrance examination including financial burdens and mental and physical stress from the heavy workload, and an ‘excessively competitive environment for college entrance’ (47.0%), including a complicated system of college entrance examination and frequent changes of govern-ment policies regarding college entrance These listed reasons, low quality of college education, excessive private tutoring, and excessive competition for college entrance, are the major concerns that Korean students have on domestic education and these components for dissatisfaction ultimately function as the driving force to push them outward seeking for better higher education abroad

Table 4 Reasons for dissatisfaction with domestic education answered by Korean students

1 Low quality of college education (59.8%):

lack of opportunities for second language education, majors and courses unavailable, poor faculty and facilities, low reputation of Korean universities, relatively low social recognition of domestic diploma compared to foreign diploma, corruption in higher education

2 Excessive private tutoring (57.6%):

monetary burden for private tutoring (mainly for English and for college entrance examination), mental and physical stress from heavy load of private tutoring

3 Excessive competition for college entrance (47.0%):

complicated system of college entrance examination, frequent changes of government policies regarding college entrance, excessively stressful and competitive atmosphere for preparing for college entrance examinations in high school, difficulty of college admission

4 Others (45.2%):

uncertain job prospects after graduation, conservative and bureaucratic atmosphere in school, standardized and uncreative education methods, memorization-oriented teaching methods, and unfair educational opportunities based on economic status

4 According to Korean National Statistical Office (2008), the educational market for private tutoring in Korea has estimated up to $20 billion; total 77% of students (elementary to high school) are taking private tutoring in addition to school education, which cost them extra educational spending of $280 a month in average per student.

The directional force factor: images and expectations

Images of international universities in destination choice

The influence of images of international universities in the decision-making process, specifically in destination choice, can be explained by a consumer’s behavior in decision-making analysis, which is widely used in the field of business marketing According to Keller (1993) and Kotler (1994), consumers select a product through a comparison of possible alternatives In this comparison process, individuals rely on information and personal preferences based on their perceptions Information, however, is not readily available in most cases, and consumers’ perceptions would not be objectively and scien-tifically rational but rather personally and emotionally biased (Boulding1956; Martineau

1958; Olivier 1980) Korean students, major consumers of the international education market, select their destination countries without detailed information about various for-eign universities, and in most cases, their perceptions on images of international universities would significantly influence their decision making Regarding the perceptions

of students, several studies have made the connection between the images perceived by students and their influences on students’ school choice Grunde’s study in1976discovered that the primary consideration in choosing a school is its image, which is mostly influenced

by the opinions of parents, high school counselors, and peer groups According to Tucciarone (2007), college enrollment is most saliently determined by school images and students’ perceptions, which are critical factors that influence a student’s final choice Wilson’s study in1985 also suggests that potential candidates for college often select a school that possesses reputations of ideals they desire, such as ‘traditional’ and ‘conser-vative’ or ‘progressive’ and ‘modern.’

Image comparison of universities in four countries

In order to find out and compare what images Korean students have on universities in the U.S., U.K., China, and Australia, the first survey asked students to list words for image descriptions The 40 most frequent words were compiled and listed in the second ques-tionnaire, and the second group was asked to mark the matching image words to each of four countries’ universities and Korean universities as well

The most frequent words in image descriptions for foreign universities were ‘profes-sional,’ ‘motivating,’ ‘academic oriented,’ ‘creative,’ ‘competitive,’ and ‘educationally beneficial’ (categorized as academic image) Besides these academically associated expressions, more socially, culturally and environmentally oriented expressions were also widely used, such as ‘liberal,’ ‘racially discriminatory,’ ‘relaxing,’ ‘welcoming,’ ‘attrac-tive,’ ‘dangerous,’ and ‘boring,’ (categorized as environmental image) A crucial finding is that the images of foreign universities are formed not only within an academic context but also largely associated with the country’s social and environmental concepts, often informed by personal feelings and subjective judgments

Regarding the images of each country’s universities, there was a salient distinction in image descriptions among countries As shown in Table5, the top ranked images for U.S universities were ‘liberal,’ ‘competitive,’ ‘diverse,’ ‘advanced,’ and ‘modern,’ while the images of U.K universities were characterized as ‘traditional,’ ‘prestigious,’ ‘attractive,’ and ‘reliable.’ The images of ‘professional,’ ‘reputable’ and ‘expensive’ were shared by both countries However, the images of U.S universities, such as ‘liberal,’ ‘competitive’ and ‘modern’ were far less associated with U.K universities while ‘traditional,’

‘prestigious,’ and ‘attractive’ images of U.K universities were not strongly conceived in U.S universities either

The images of Chinese universities were also different: ‘developing,’ ‘high potential,’ and ‘up-and-coming’ but still ‘dangerous,’ ‘restrictive,’ and ‘boring.’ The ‘professional,’

‘reputable,’ ‘reliable,’ ‘secure,’ or ‘expensive’ images strongly associated with the U.S and U.K universities were considerably less for Chinese universities

Australian universities also received a far different set of images, characterized as

‘welcoming,’ ‘comfortable,’ ‘relaxing,’ and ‘fun.’ Such images of Australian universities were mostly not academic but rather environmentally associated and personal feeling oriented These relaxing and comfortable images were far less associated with the other three countries At the same time, ‘professional,’ ‘prestigious,’ ‘reputable,’ ‘dangerous,’ or

‘traditional’ images were seldom used in the descriptions of Australian universities More extended image comparisons are available in Table5

Overall, it is an interesting finding that universities in the U.S and U.K both possess academically oriented images However, slightly different, U.S universities have more professional, advanced, and modern types of images, while U.K universities are perceived

to be more traditional, conservative and prestigious Chinese universities are also viewed

as academically oriented and developing with high potential but neither professional nor prestigious Australian universities are perceived as least academic but most attractive in their environmental images of welcoming, comfort and relaxation

When these results are compared with images of Korean universities in Table6, it is more than surprising that the top ranked images for Korean universities were mostly negatively expressed, such as ‘stressful,’ ‘stagnant,’ ‘boring,’ ‘repressive,’ ‘expensive,’ and

‘difficult.’ Korean students did not perceive Korean universities as professional, Table 5 Top 20 image descriptions of four countries’ universities answered by Korean students

educationally beneficial, creative, or attractive, but perceived the other four countries comparatively more positive and even idealized

These negative images of Korean universities are the direct reflection of the dissatis-factions listed by Korean students (Table4), such as ‘excessively competitive environments for college entrance,’ ‘physical stress from heavy load of private tutoring,’

‘coercive academic atmosphere,’ and ‘conservative environment in schools.’ These per-ceived dissatisfactions were directly carried over to their negative images and it can be inferred that the gap between the negative images on domestic universities and the positive images on foreign universities would fuel the attraction to foreign higher education

Amount of information influences the images

For an additional reference, it was also found that the amount of information students possess about foreign universities also influences students’ perceptions on the images The more information students have, the more specific and academic images students describe

As shown in Table7, Korean students answered that they ‘know somewhat’ about uni-versities in the U.S (scored 4.0) and indicated ‘know moderate’ to ‘know somewhat’ (scored 3.8) for universities in China This relatively higher level of familiarity, which may

be due to U.S.’ world famous universities and China’s regional proximity to Korea, helped

to specify students’ perceptions and resulted in more specific and academic images (Table5)

In reverse, less information presents more generalized and environmentally associated images, mostly imbued by ideas of the country’s cultural and social environments Even though there are a number of high-quality, competitive universities in the U.K and

Table 6 Top 20 image

descriptions of Korean

universities answered by

Korean students

Rank Image descriptions

of Korean universities

Rank Image descriptions

of Korean universities

oriented

Table 7 Amount of information Korean students have about universities in each country

a Average score of scale (scale 1, don’t know at all; 2, don’t know much; 3, know moderate; 4, know somewhat; 5, know very well)

Australia, because Korean students did not know much about them (2.5 for U.K univer-sities: ‘don’t know much’ to ‘know moderate’; 1.8 for Australian univeruniver-sities: ‘don’t know

at all’ to ‘don’t know much’), the image descriptions for universities were rather the general concepts about the country itself such as ‘traditional’ and ‘prestigious’ and based

on personal feelings such as ‘welcoming’ and ‘comfortable,’ which were automatically transferred onto university images

Personally preferred images enhance the choice of destinations

Survey participants were divided into four groups depending on their preferred destination country in order to find out how images were differently perceived by students upon their preference of countries When comparing the images in Tables5 and 8, specifically regarding Chinese universities, the negative images strongly perceived by all students (such as ‘dangerous,’ ‘restrictive,’ ‘boring,’ ‘conservative,’ ‘corrupt,’ ‘difficult,’ and

‘stagnant’ in Table5) were considerably lessened in the group that chose China as an ideal destination for foreign higher education as shown in Table8 The images perceived by the China chooser group were more positive and academically oriented, added by the images

of ‘potential,’ ‘challenging,’ ‘competitive,’ ‘passionate,’ ‘attractive,’ ‘innovative,’ and

‘reputable.’

The ‘expensive’ image of U.S and U.K universities was also lessened by the U.S and U.K chooser groups and ‘competitive,’ ‘reliable’ and ‘motivating’ images were strengthened instead Except for the ‘expensive’ image, since most of the images of the U.S., U.K., and Australian universities were positively described, not much difference was made by each group of students except the small changes in the order of ranks

This outcome suggests a significant implication that the positive images upon students’ preference enhance their choices Those who choose the U.S do so because they perceive U.S universities as professional, reputable, competitive, and advanced, and, in fact, they like the values associated with those images Those who choose China favor Chinese universities’ developing, up-and-coming, high potential and challenging images Those who choose the U.K prefer its universities’ prestigious, traditional, attractive and reliable images, while those who choose Australia selected that country because they like the attractive, fun, welcoming and comfortable university images In sum, different sets of

Table 8 Top 10 image descriptions answered by four groups of students depending on preference of destination country

characteristics in the images of each country’s universities attract students according to their preferences and associated values, formulating as a directional factor

Expectations for foreign higher education in destination choice

Psychologists Fiske and Taylor (1991) argue that an individual depends on his or her existing expectations toward the categories to which the object belongs, which means that individuals may evaluate an object differently depending on their preexisting schema, defined as ‘an organized pattern of expectations’ (Folkes and Kiesler 1991) So, what expectations do Korean students have for a certain country’s universities and how do these affect the destination choice?

With the supposition that there would be differences in students’ expectations towards a particular destination country, this study divided students into four groups depending on their preferences among four countries The top 20 expectations, answered by students in the first survey, were given in the second survey in the format of a five-point Likert scale, from the range of 1 (not important) to 5 (very important)

According to the answers from the second survey, each group of students had different sets of expectations for their preference of a particular destination country As shown in Table9, students who selected the U.S as an ideal destination had their high expectations

of ‘curriculum excellence,’ ‘high reputation of school,’ and ‘high job opportunity after graduation’ for U.S higher education

‘Curriculum excellence,’ ‘improving second language proficiency,’ and ‘creative learning environment’ were the shared high expectations of pursuing higher education in the U.S., China, and the U.K However, students who preferred China had additional expectations—‘reasonable cost of living’ and ‘low tuition,’ which were not expected for U.S and U.K higher education

Besides the high academic expectations for U.K universities, the environmental expectations were also highly ranked, such as ‘pleasant campus environment,’ ‘safe environment (low crime rate)’ and ‘exciting place to live,’ which were not significantly associated with U.S and Chinese universities

Expectations for Australian universities were distinctly different from those of the other three countries’ universities Students who preferred to go to Australia expected Australia

to be an ‘exciting place to live,’ with a ‘safe environment (low crime rate),’ ‘comfortable climate and surroundings,’ and ‘pleasant campus environment.’ They also had high expectations for ‘improving second language proficiency,’ however, expectations for

‘curriculum excellence,’ ‘high job opportunity after graduation,’ ‘renown faculty mem-bers,’ and ‘high reputation of school’ were significantly lower than other countries An extended comparison is available in Table9

To view the outcomes in another light, first, regardless of preference of country, all students had high expectations for foreign higher education with ‘improving second lan-guage proficiency’ and ‘creative learning environment.’ With particular preference of destination, students who selected the U.S., China, and the U.K considered ‘curriculum excellence,’ ‘creative learning environment,’ ‘high reputation of school,’ and ‘high job opportunities after graduation’ as significant aspects in their destination selection The

‘good quality of school facilities’ also scored high for U.S and U.K schools but relatively low for Chinese and Australian universities

Second, it can be inferred that students who weigh academic factors as more important

in deciding their mobility direction choose the U.S., China, or the U.K as their destination country However, students who also take into account monetary issues choose China