Has excess epidemic prevention changed Chinese students’ willingness to study abroad: three rounds of the same volume survey based on the new “push–pull” theory

Abstract

After the outbreak of COVID-19, unlike other countries in the world, China has always taken strict prevention and control measures, and even formed a trend of excessive epidemic prevention. Influenced by traditional culture, Chinese students’ willingness to study abroad has been greatly reduced, but long-term strict prevention will also lead to the public weariness of the epidemic. Therefore, our research group has formed a new “push–pull” theoretical analysis framework, carried out three rounds of the same volume investigation in the early (2020), middle (2021), and late (2022) stages of the epidemic, and 12,248 students from more than 270 universities in mainland China were investigated. Through tracking and investigating the changes in the willingness of Chinese students to study abroad at different stages of the epidemic, this study fills the gap in existing research that has not yet conducted a dynamic survey on the willingness of Chinese students to study abroad because of the epidemic. The results show that COVID-19 profoundly reversed the four influencing factors: study abroad pull, study abroad push, domestic pull, and domestic push. The epidemic and related factors have become new components of push–pull factors influencing Chinese students studying abroad. Under the government’s guidance of strict epidemic prevention measures, COVID-19 has dramatically reduced the willingness of Chinese students to study abroad, and effectively changed the preference for their studying destinations, which is related to national political ideology. However, under the excessive epidemic prevention, Chinese college students’ willingness to study abroad rebounded as the public’s acceptance of the epidemic increased in the latest period. This study has added new factors to the push–pull theory, providing inspiration for the advancement of the push–pull theory with the times. It also provides deeper thinking on the new pattern of talent mobility faced by different countries.