Promoting transnational student mobility is high on national and European educational agendas. Many previous studies on this topic focus on what attracts international students to a certain country, investigating this question mainly from the point of view of the receiving country or higher education system. Most of the research on longer-term student mobility (so-called "degree mobility") is limited to the Anglo-Saxon geographical area and focuses on economic motives for student mobility.
This project is concerned firstly with international mobility of students from and into those countries from which (relative to the size of the domestic higher education sector) more national students go abroad for an entire study cycle (known as exporters). Secondly, it looks at student mobility into and from countries that (relative to the size of the domestic higher education sector) accept more international students than the number of national students they transfer to other countries (known as importers). In addition to the extension of the geographical focus, an extension of the analytical point of view also takes place compared to studies which mainly use economic factors to explain the phenomena. It considers similarities and differences of political systems as well as cultural and religious similarities between the country chosen for the stay abroad and the country of origin.
In order to depict these complex relational patterns between pairs of countries (known as dyads), the characteristics of both countries belonging to the pair, i.e. the host country and the home country of the students are considered. Through these geographical and analytical extensions, a sample is generated which also presents an increased variance on central explanatory factors such as the index of democracy and cultural variables such as language and religious affiliation.
Methodologically, a network analysis is used. Descriptive network analysis is used to illustrate the exchange relationships and the extent of the exchange relationships between countries. In addition, quantitative analyses (Exponential Random Graph Models) are used to identify determinants of the direction and intensity of exchanges between countries.
This project is integrated in the DZHW research cluster "Mobility of the Highly Skilled".
