Motivations of Indian students to pursue a STEM Master’s program abroad: insights from a qualitative study

Abstract

An evaluation of extant research reveals a significant blind spot around investigating the enrolment decision-making of Indian international students in the STEM fields. This study qualitatively explores the motivations of Indian international students to pursue a STEM Master’s program in an industrialised country. To elicit pertinent information, 29 Indian international students in four leading study-abroad destination countries (the USA, Australia, Germany, and the UK) were interviewed online. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using a thematic approach. The analysis reveals 20 motivation themes that underlie the enrollment decision making journey of the respondent set. Although some themes are traditional pull factors common in extant studies (e.g., career advancement, university reputation, migration), several other motivations may be more salient to the STEM international students in this study (e.g., an opportunity to be a part of high-quality research with expert faculty, a yearning for internships and projects with leading business organisations). The findings reveal that students’ enrollment decisions are motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically. The intrinsic motivations show the international student's innate scholarly interests and aspirations. Extrinsic motivations reflect the international student’s need for rewards and conscious valuing. The findings of this qualitative exploration act as a market intelligence input for university managers and host country policymakers to develop compelling value propositions.

Keywords

• International higher education
• Indian international students
• motivations to study abroad
• STEM
• self-determination theory
• Anatoly Oleksiyenko, The Education University of Hong Kong Faculty of of Education and Human Development, Hong Kong