Daejoong Son

International Student Mobility Towards South Korea: Motivations for Choosing South Korea As a Study Abroad Destination Daejoong Son

This study investigates international student mobility toward South Korea in order to identify factors and information sources influencing international students? choice of study abroad destination. It seeks to explain why international students decide to come to South Korea to pursue higher education, to identify variances of the factors influencing the enrollment decision, and to present possible implications for the government and institutions. This research reveals that positive pull-factors play the most important role in decisions to study abroad; characteristics of the host nation are considered the most important factor influencing students when selecting South Korea as the host country; and academic pull-factors play the most significant role in choosing a host institution. Additionally, it reveals that factors and information sources for studying at a South Korean institution differ by international student background characteristics such as gender, level of education, economic status of home country, and preference and language of instruction.