Factors Affecting Chinese Students' Decision Making toward Thai Universities

Abstract

 Abstract—Thailand has been becoming a more favorable destination for Chinese students to continue their further study. In year 2012, there were 9329 Chinese students enrolled in a Thai Higher Education Institution (46.4% of total foreign student population). Knowing why they decided to come and what affected their decision making are crucial for institutions to recruit more Chinese students, as well as for related authorizations to brain gain for further development of the country. Therefore, there were three main objects of this study: 1) to summarize main information channels which Chinese students were seeking for overseas higher education institutions, 2) to analyze the main factors those have either positive or negative effects on Chinese students' decision making toward Thai universities, and 3) to provide recommendations for both Thai higher education institutions and related authorizations. This study is both qualitative and quantitative research. The findings indicate that all factors could predict 58.9% of variance in the correctness of a student's decision, and all those factors were positively related to students' decision making.