Examining the link between country-specific pull factors and international student mobility in the United Arab Emirates

Balasubramanian, Sreejith ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0475-7305, Ajayan, Shalini ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5600-1729 and Paris, Cody Morris ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0339-2471 (2021) Examining the link between country-specific pull factors and international student mobility in the United Arab Emirates. Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 32 (2) . pp. 321-324. ISSN 1303-2917 [Article] (doi:10.1080/13032917.2020.1801474)

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Abstract

Introduction
To further grow Dubai and the United Arab Emirates as a higher education (HE) destination for international students, Visit Dubai (2020) collaborated with the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) to launch the Study Dubai campaign. The campaign highlights Dubai as a safe, dynamic, future-forward study destination that is pioneering innovation in a city of opportunities. The campaign is part of a strategy to position the UAE as a leading study destination to benefit from the increasing international student mobility, which has grown substantially from 2 million in 2000 to over 5.3 million in 2017 (UNESCO, 2019). While the traditional HE markets such as the US and UK have experienced recent slowdown, emerging transnational education hubs including Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have witnessed a surge. The number of international students in the UAE has increased from 48,653 in 2011 to 77,463 in 2016 (UNESCO, 2020) along with higher education institutions (HEIs) from 5 in 1990 to over 100, including several large international branch campuses (IBCs) in designated educational free zones (Ajayan and Balasubramanian, 2020). These HEIs, especially IBCs, largely cater to international students from over 165 countries. UAE has the highest inbound international student mobility ratio in the world among major HE destinations (UNESCO, 2020).
Past studies have examined student motivation to study abroad (Nyaupane, Paris and Teye, 2010; 2011), travel behaviour at the study destination (Varasteh, Marzuki, and Rasoolimanesh, 2015), and country-specific pull factors motivating student destination choice including the culture of the host country, visa ease, cost of living, safety, employment prospects, and transportation connectivity (Ahmad and Buchanan, 2016; Wilkins et al., 2012). This research note explores the pull factors motivating international students to select UAE as their study destination.

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