Analysis of korean students international mobility by 2 d model

High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 DOI 10.1007/s10734-008-9173-x 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, traditionally 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) (UNESCO 2006) and the growth continues to escalate, which is now forecasted to reach in excess of 7.2 million in 2025 (IDP Education Australia 2002) 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 123 742 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 home deciding to study abroad selecting destination country U.S U.K students’ driving force factor outward CHINA mobility AUSTRALIA dissatisfaction with OTHERS domestic education directional factor expectations images Fig 2-D model: driving force factor and directional factor 2007 (Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development 1999; 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 Doors 2007) When considering that the population of Korea is less than 1/27 of China and 1/23 of India,1 the number of Korean students is proportionately far greater, and merits deeper speculation about their intentions and patterns of international mobility Then, why these numbers of Korean students leave their home country seeking for foreign higher education? Why 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 components 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 students, 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 possible 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, Vital statistics of China: 1.3 billion; India: 1.1 billion; S Korea: 49 million (CIA 2008) 123 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 743 Table Characteristics of participants in survey (total number of students: 219) PCSA (97) (44%) Non-PCSA (122) (56%) Age in average 17.6 years old 16.9 years old Sex Male (47%), Female (53%) Male (44%), Female (56%) Wish or plan for oversea study Yes (100%) Yes (12%) Table Characteristics of participants in survey (total number of students: 1,359) Age in average 16.4 years old Sex Male (51%) Female (49%) GPA level Top (32%) Middle (48%) Wish or plan for oversea study Yes (33%) No (67%) Low (20%) 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 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 (Table 1), 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 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 individual students such as socio-economic status and academic achievement levels (Table 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 counseling 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 123 744 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 Table Level of dissatisfaction and attitudes toward studying abroad PCSA students (44%) Non-PCSA students (56%) 4.22a 2.42a Survey Level of dissatisfaction Students who have plan or wish for oversea study (33%) Students who don’t have plan or wish for oversea study (67%) Level of dissatisfaction 4.38a 2.16a Students’ attitudes Have positive attitude for outward mobility Stay domestic Survey a Average score of level of dissatisfaction (scale 1, very satisfied; 2, satisfied; 3, moderate; 4, dissatisfied; 5, very dissatisfied) 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’ perceived dissatisfaction and their attitudes toward studying abroad As the survey outcome shows in Table 3, 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 increasing drastically and even the average age of students has been getting younger,3 many 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 123 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 745 Table Reasons for dissatisfaction with domestic education answered by Korean students 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 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 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 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 Korean researchers have sought the reasons for the educational exodus A study conducted by the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) in 2005, which was sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Education, discovered that 8,166 surveyed students 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 Table that 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 government 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 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 123 746 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 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 decisionmaking 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 scientifically rational but rather personally and emotionally biased (Boulding 1956; Martineau 1958; Olivier 1980) Korean students, major consumers of the international education market, select their destination countries without detailed information about various foreign 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 in 1976 discovered 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 in 1985 also suggests that potential candidates for college often select a school that possesses reputations of ideals they desire, such as ‘traditional’ and ‘conservative’ 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 questionnaire, 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 ‘professional,’ ‘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,’ ‘attractive,’ ‘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 Table 5, 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,’ 123 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 747 Table Top 20 image descriptions of four countries’ universities answered by Korean students ‘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 Table 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 Table 6, 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, 123 748 Table Top 20 image descriptions of Korean universities answered by Korean students High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 Rank Image descriptions of Korean universities Rank Image descriptions of Korean universities Stressful 11 Academically oriented Stagnant 12 High potential Boring 13 Developing Repressive 14 Welcoming Expensive 15 Modern Passionate 16 Fun Difficult 17 Secure Corrupt 18 Conservative Restrictive 19 Relaxing 10 Party school life 20 Comfortable 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 dissatisfactions listed by Korean students (Table 4), 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 perceived 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 Table 7, Korean students answered that they ‘know somewhat’ about universities 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 (Table 5) 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 Amount of information Korean students have about universities in each country U.S China U.K Australia Amount of informationa 4.0a 3.8a 2.5a 1.8a Image description / Academic a Environmental ? 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) 123 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 749 Australia, because Korean students did not know much about them (2.5 for U.K universities: ‘don’t know much’ to ‘know moderate’; 1.8 for Australian universities: ‘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 Tables 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 Table 5) were considerably lessened in the group that chose China as an ideal destination for foreign higher education as shown in Table 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 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 Top 10 image descriptions answered by four groups of students depending on preference of destination country Rank U.S China U.K Australia Professional Developing Prestigious Attractive Reputable Up-and-coming Traditional Fun Competitive High potential Attractive Welcoming Advanced Challenging Reliable Comfortable Diverse Competitive Academically oriented Creative Liberal Passionate Reputable Up-and-coming Modern Attractive Motivating Liberal Self-achieving Innovative Educationally beneficial Educationally beneficial Motivating Reputable Professional Secure 10 Reliable Academically oriented Competitive Diverse 123 750 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 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 Korean students have for a certain country’s universities and how 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 (not important) to (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 Table 9, 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 members,’ and ‘high reputation of school’ were significantly lower than other countries An extended comparison is available in Table 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 language 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 123 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 751 Table Top 20 expectations for higher education at four countries answered by Korean students despite low environmental expectations If students not consider monetary issues but have high academic expectations, they select the U.S or the U.K In the meantime, those who choose the U.K concentrate not only on academic expectations but also on environmental expectations such as ‘pleasant campus environment,’ ‘safe environment (low crime rate)’ and ‘exciting place to live.’ These environmental expectations were considerably lower with those choosing the U.S and China It can be interpreted that those who choose the U.S and China not consider these environmental factors as crucial when they consider studying abroad, while those who choose the U.K Students who value academic over monetary or environmental issues selected the U.S 123 752 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 Third, students who seek a combination of academic excellence and a favorable environment choose the U.K However, students who place a high priority on environmental expectations select Australian universities; these students place relatively low importance on academic factors These interpretations can be illustrated as shown in the following Figs and Korean students’ expectations for these four countries’ universities are directly reflective of how they perceive domestic education As discussed earlier in regard to the driving force factor, the primary reason for students’ dissatisfaction was the low quality of Korean college education, including difficulties in learning second languages, few world-class institutions, and so on (Table 7) Students’ expectations, especially their shared expectations, such as ‘curriculum excellences,’ ‘improving second language proficiency,’ and ‘high reputation of schools,’ directly match to the components of dissatisfaction with domestic education It can be inferred that their dissatisfactions reflect and enhance their expectations of the alternatives that propel students to pursue education in foreign countries It is also an interesting finding that the expectations for each country’s universities are correlated with students’ perceptions of images For example, even though students answered that they did not know much about Australian universities, since Australia was academic expectations U.S.: highest academic + low environmental expectations U.S - CHINA U.K CHINA: high academic + lowest environmental expectations U.K.: AUSTRALIA high academic + high environmental expectations AUSTRALIA: lowest academic + highest environmental expectations environmental expectations Fig Comparison of academic and environmental expectations in four countries U.S academic expectations low tuition, reasonable cost of living CHINA U.K environmental expectations AUSTRALIA Fig Academic and environmental expectations and choice of destination countries 123 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 753 viewed as environmentally friendly and comfortable, their expectations for Australian universities focused more on environmental aspects U.K was strongly associated with both academically and environmentally appealing images, and the expectation for U.K universities also included pleasant environment with the expectation of an exciting place to live and academically oriented at the same time Since students perceived Chinese universities as inexpensive, the expectations of a reasonable cost of living and low tuition were highly ranked and ultimately became a critical factor in their selection of China U.S universities, which are generally well known to Korean students, gained strong academic images and raised students’ academic expectations, which in turn would attract more academically-oriented students Conclusion and suggestions This study considered all Korean high school students as potential applicants to international higher education and the understanding from the research findings can be utilized as an application to the recruitment strategies of universities at each country for Korean students For example, the U.S., already the well-known destination for Korean students, may identify students who are academically oriented but who not consider the U.S due to monetary issues In such cases, providing more information about financial aid programs and other incentives for international students will induce them to make directional decision toward the U.S higher education U.K and Australian universities have not been well known to Korean students and this lack of information has resulted in projecting the countries’ social, cultural, and environmental images onto their university images Even though most of these images are positively perceived, they still lose students, who are highly academically oriented, to the U.S higher education If these countries are geared to recruiting more academically oriented Korean students, it would be necessary to establish the image management strategies such as advertising their highly developed higher education system and its academic excellence, which will eventually strengthen their academic images and expectations Chinese universities have been relatively well known to Korean students due to geographic proximity, however, their negative images, such as ‘dangerous’ and ‘restrictive,’ have impaired Korean students’ environmental expectations Providing more information that highlights the safe, reliable and comfortable environment for studying would further leverage their attractiveness to Korean students For Korean higher education, it is crucial to close the gap between Korean students’ dissatisfaction with domestic higher education and expectations for foreign higher education Research findings explain that Korean students perceive that they need to experience an excessively competitive process for college entrance and have to spend excessive time and money for private tutoring for college entrance examination, the quality of higher education that they will get as a consequence is relatively unsatisfactory, and the college diploma that they will attain at last is regarded as comparatively lower graded and less recognized than foreign diploma, which, in overall, cause Korean students’ high dissatisfaction with domestic higher education and, in turn, high demands for foreign higher education Therefore, it is necessary for Korean universities to develop a new method of college entrance examination system that can relieve students’ overheated competitions and lessen students’ undue dependence on private tutoring It is also fundamental for Korean universities to improve their quality of education in order to meet Korean students’ expectations for higher education as Korean students expressed as 123 754 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 expectations for foreign higher education For example, the shared expectations for foreign higher education were ‘curriculum excellence,’ ‘improving second language proficiency,’ and ‘creative learning environment.’ The efforts in developing new curriculums and well structured programs that will also benefit students’ opportunities for learning a second language and creating more academic and motivating environment in college education will dissolve some major components of dissatisfaction of Korean students and retain them within the domestic higher education As for the suggestions for further studies, each country would have different components of the driving force factor depending on its educational and social conditions What is certain is that the students satisfied with their domestic education are not as motivated to study abroad as those who are dissatisfied Therefore, examining the level of dissatisfaction with domestic education in various countries or analyzing the components of driving force factor itself per country would further contribute to the comparative analysis in understanding international student mobility Regarding the directional factor, images and expectations would also be situational and regional: for example, the images and expectations of U.K universities would be differently perceived by U.S students who possess relatively more abundant information than Korean students Similarly, U.K students may not be familiar with Chinese education as Koreans are Comparison of images for a particular country’s universities perceived by several countries’ students would be another topic for comparative research The analysis of image comparison would further provide in-depth applications for university image management for the rapidly developing international higher education market References Boulding, K E (1956) The image: Knowledge and life in society Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press CIA (2008) The world fact book—people http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ geos/ks.html Fiske, S T., & Taylor, S E (1991) Social cognition (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill Folkes, V S., & Kiesler, T (1991) Social cognition: Consumers’ inferences about the self and others In T S Robertson, & H H Kassarjian (Eds.), Handbook of consumers behavior Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Grunde, A (1976) Self-selection and institutional images in college admissions NASPA Journal, 13(3), 21–24 IDP Education Australia (2002) In D Bohm, D Davis, D Meares, & D Pearce (Eds.), Global student mobility 2025: Forecasts of the global demand for international higher education http://www.idp.com/16aiecpapers/program/thursday/marketing2/Bohm_2025Media.pdf Job Korea (2006) Status and perspectives of college students on study abroad Web published article http://www.jobkorea.co.kr Keller, K L (1993) Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1–22 doi:10.2307/1252054 Korean Educational Development Institute (2005) Analysis of student mobility: Perceptions and states Web published article http://www.kedi.re.kr Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (1999; 2007) Educational data and statistics http://www.mest.go.kr/ms_kor/inform/public/science/general/index.jsp Koran National Statistical Office (2008) Analysis of governmental policy for private tutoring and research in current trends and market for private tutoring http://www.nso.go.kr Kotler, P H (1994) Marketing management: Analysis, planning, and control (8th ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc Martineau, P (1958) The personality of the retail store Harvard Business Review, 36(1), 47–55 Olivier, R L (1980) A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions JMR, Journal of Marketing Research, 17(November), 460–469 doi:10.2307/3150499 123 High Educ (2009) 57:741–755 755 Open Doors (2007) Report on international educational exchange: International students by academic level http://opendoors.iienetwork.org Tucciarone, K M (2007) Community college image by Hollywood Community College Enterprise, 13(1), 37–53 UNESCO (2006) Global Education Digest 2006 Montreal, Canada: UIS http://www.uis.unesco.org/ template/pdf/ged/2006/ged2006.pdf Wilson, R (1985) Reputations in games and markets In A E Roth (Ed.), Game theoretic models of bargaining Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 123 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission  ... Journal, 13(3), 21 ? ?24 IDP Education Australia (20 02) In D Bohm, D Davis, D Meares, & D Pearce (Eds.), Global student mobility 20 25: Forecasts of the global demand for international higher education... measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1? ?22 doi:10 .23 07/ 125 2054 Korean Educational Development Institute (20 05) Analysis of student mobility: Perceptions and states... mentioned, this study regarded students? ?? dissatisfaction with domestic education as a driving force factor and investigated the linkage between students? ?? perceived dissatisfaction and their attitudes