| dc.description.abstract | Higher education has become increasingly internationalized in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with international student mobility (ISM) being a key area of internationalization activities. A better understanding of ISM can be achieved by examining the rationales behind why students seek academic opportunities abroad, particularly those who choose to pursue a full degree in a foreign country. Drawing upon the push-pull concept of migration for international study choice from Mazzarol and Soutar (2002) and the theory of student agency in educational decision-making from Gambetta (1987), this study examines the significance of different types of motivational factors during the process of navigating mobility decisions. Following a qualitative research approach, this case study employed individual interviews with ten current master’s students from North America, South America, Africa, and Asia who chose to come to Norway in 2021 to pursue a graduate degree at two Norwegian universities: BI Norwegian Business School (BI) and The University of Oslo (UiO). Within this context, not only were traditional types of motivational factors for ISM considered (educational, economic, and social/political/cultural), but pandemic-related motivations were also added to the study design as a new type of factor influencing mobility decisions for these participants amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The research findings indicated that the student decision-making journey for ISM is complex and nuanced, with different types of motivations rising and falling in significance across various stages of the process. Social/political/cultural motives were most notable in the push to leave the home country and the pull to go abroad, while both economic and social/political/cultural motivations mattered most for the pull towards Norway as a study destination. Additionally, educational and economic motives were most influential in the decision to attend BI or UiO. While making these critical ISM choices, participants also had to navigate a unique new set of pandemic factors in their mobility journeys. The results from this research study provide new insights about mobility motivations to Norway for the country’s higher education stakeholders to consider when thinking about ISM strategies in 2023 and beyond.
An addendum to acknowledgements is available as a separate file. | eng |