Determinants in Attracting International Students to U. S. Host States

Abstract

This study empirically investigates the determinants that attract international students in higher education to the United States at the host state level. Factors identified in literatures on international higher education and student migration of U.S. students to out-of-state higher education are merged to develop hypotheses to explain the attractive forces of an international student when choosing a host state study destination. A panel dataset consisting 3,438,993 international students enrolled in 50 host states, across 1781 higher education institutions and 202 countries was used to conduct our investigation. Results showed that academic opportunities, academic quality, bilateral student flows, and social support have significant influences. This study also finds that host states could play a critical role in planning and coordinating state-level information to attract international students. Vigorous efforts at the national, state and campus levels need to be combined to ensure the long-term competitiveness of U.S. higher education institutions.