Home is Where the Heart Is? Factors Determining International Students' Destination Country upon Completion of Studies Abroad

Using a multinomial logit model on a sample of 623 international students studying in New Zealand universities, this paper examines the factors determining which country the students intend to go to after completing their studies. The determining factors are found to be the initial return intention, family support, length of stay in New Zealand, work experience, and level and discipline of study. Other factors included students' perceptions of their home country, including those of the work environment, the opportunities to use their acquired skills, the lifestyle and their family ties. This paper fills two gaps in the literature, first by shifting the focus to New Zealand as the host country, and second, by examining the destination countries rather than the more typical issue of whether or not students return to their home country on completion of their studies.