Self-globalisation -- a new concept in the
push-and-pull theory: a study on Chinese
self-funded master students
Zilin Wang
Department of Education and International Development
Institute of Education, University of London
For Education and Citizenship 2010 conference
Topic 2: Sustainability, Development and Global Citizenship
Note: This paper is a revised version of the author’s 2010 MA dissertation at IOE.
[Word Count: 6,327]
Summary of paper:
Non-economic motivation of self-funded overseas study discussed in this paper,
namely the self awareness of globalization, shows great influence over people’s
decision making. This research attempts to draw attention on global awareness
in domestic
citizenship
education
by
identifying
the
implications
of
self-funded study abroad for changes in people’s view of the world, identity
and attitudes towards diversity. Therefore bring up the necessity of expending the
citizenship education to a globalised level.
Part One: Introduction
In the modern era of globalisation a worldwide phenomenon has developed in the
education realm: “Students migration”. Over the past three decades the number of
students engaging in tertiary education abroad has taken a dramatic rise from 0.8
(1975) to 3.0 million (2007) worldwide(OECD, 2009). These students have enrolled
in universities and colleges outside their countries of citizenship, and represented a
3.3% increase in 2007 in comparison to 2006, in relation to the total intake of foreign
students reported to the OECD and UNESCO Institute for statistics (OECD, 2009).
Reform and relaxation of regulations on foreign visa acquisition in 1978 ended
China’s prolonged period of seclusion since its establishment. Overseas studying was
quick to become popular and rapidly expanded, enabling Chinese scholars to explore
the world while displaying the country’s new image. Economical, political, social and
cultural exchanges during this period aided bilateral understanding between China and
the world, whilst increased cooperation was facilitated by increased flow of human
resources. From 1978 to 2003, a total of 700,200 Chinese students studied in 108
countries and regions covering virtually all discipline(Ministry of Education, 2010).
Overseas studying at such quantity and scale was unprecedented in Chinese history.
Chinese overseas students can be classified into three groups: state-funded,
organisation-sponsored and self-supported. During the early period, individuals
studying overseas were primarily sponsored by the state and organisation due to
political restrictions. This soon changed with political reform. Under premier Deng’s
in 1992, new regulations advocated self-funded students to study abroad, encouraged
overseas students to return to the country, and secured freedom for students’ travelling
in and out of Chinese border for the first time.
The change in policy saw a surge in the number of self-funded overseas students that
rapidly formed a major part of the overseas student population internationally. The
highest increases in number were recorded in the years 2000 – 2002, with a rise of
65%, 118% and 47% respectively in comparison to the previous years. 125 thousand
students studied overseas in 2002(Yang, 2004). In 2003, the total number of
individuals leaving the country to study abroad was 117,300, amongst whom 3,002
people were state-funded, 5,144 employer-funded and 109,200 self-funded (93%). By
this stage, self-supported Chinese overseas students have become the dominating
portion of China’s international education programme.
Alongside the increase in the number of international students participating in higher
education in foreign countries, an increasing amount of research has been conducted
focusing on the motivation of cross-border education. The Push-And-Pull theory has
been adopted in studying the mobility of students for decades. It serves as the means
through which favorable and unfavorable conditions are captured encouraging or
discouraging the decisions of studying abroad. Another popular tool is the Human
Capital Theory (HCT), which is widely employed to explain the investigation of
self-funded student population in overseas qualification.
Therefore, the author is interested in focusing on these highly mobilised Chinese UK
Master’s graduates to investigate whether economic returns act as the primary
motivating factor to studying abroad as is widely believed. In answering this question,
the current study recruited 67 UK Master’s (Chinese bachelor) graduates, with 22
Chinese university graduates (Chinese Master’s / Bachelors) as controls. The wage
premium of Master’s degrees is calculated based on the Mincerian wage function. Via
analysing cost-benefit outcomes between the UK Master’s and Chinese groups, the
importance in economic advantages is presented. Qualitative analysis of the
information provided by participants offers a new perspective in understanding the
motivations behind self-funded overseas study, and its interaction with pure economic
returns.
In order to answer the questions mentioned and fill in gaps in the current literature,
the present study has focused on two aspects: First: What is the economic return of UK
Master’s degrees to Chinese overseas students? Is monetary return the primary motivation?
And Second: Which pulling factors are significant for Chinese overseas students?
By seeking to answer the above questions, the study attempts to reveal the extent to
which the economic benefit of obtaining a UK Masters contributes as a pulling factor
for Chinese overseas students, and aims to identify the significance of self motivated
globalization in the 21st century.
Part Two: Methodology
The thesis’s empirical elements are in the form of longitudinal data of
Chinese oversees students’ distribution over the past two decades, as well as
quantitative data analysis collected from Chinese self-funded UK Master graduates.
2.1
Sampling strategies
The sample profile for the experimental group is Chinese UK Master’s graduates
who finished their bachelor study and foundation education in Mainland China.
There is no limitation in majors, schools, industries or working location, but the
sample must consist of working employees. The reasons are that firstly by
restricting the sample to students that have previous education in China with only
single overseas learning experience in UK, the influence of previous education
quality on present earring will be reduced. Moreover, people who hold a PhD are
also excluded for similar reasons. Secondly self-employed individuals are not
included as their earnings do not always reflect the market value of their education.
The link between the qualification obtained and its economic value is complex for
the group of unemployed gradates.
The sample profile for the controlled group is Chinese university graduates who are
currently employed. In order to reduce the cross influence of previous education
experience on the current income, the group consists of those who have no overseas
learning experience and have never been to a foreign country. There is no restriction
on their type or location of work.
Given the limitation of sample size and the difficulty in tracing the experimental
group and controlled group, the non-probability sampling is applied because it holds a
less probable link between sample and population as compared to probability based
sampling. A combined method of snowball sampling and self-selecting sampling is
adopted under the non-probability sampling.
While most sampling approaches adopt a “push” strategy(Newby, 2009b), the task of
the researcher is to identify data sources; self-selecting samples have a “pull” strategy.
With these samples, the research gives an opportunity for to take part. BBC conducted
a survey in February, 2007 inviting teachers to visit the survey that was posted online
and complete the survey. A web survey is convenient for the reason that completed
surveys can be fed directly into a data base for analysis. However, the problems with
this self-selecting sampling are distinct. The participants are hard to trace, not
follow-up activities are difficult to implement and therefore the validity of the data
has to be discounted. Moreover, those who take the initiative to take part in the
online-research are usually the most interested and represent, therefore, only a subset
of those who also fit the profile.
The snowball sampling is used to gain access to hard-to-reach populations. In this
research, the Chinese overseas graduates can choose whether stay or leave the host
country.
As a result, neither UK home office nor Chinese home office can make an
exact record of the information in relation to their employment. Some universities do
trace their alumnus but the information is scattered and hard to reach. Snowball
sampling is based on a referral process in which one contact identifies other contacts.
In this way the researcher can get access to the target population quickly without
wasting time on unrelated groups.
The problem with snowball sampling is that the representativeness of the group may
be biased as people are more likely to make acquaintances that hold similar
background to themselves. As a result, the participants selected using this method may
share many similarities and cannot be generalized. However, this default of snowball
sampling is covered, to some extent, by self-selecting sampling via internet. Potential
sample groups on the internet are diverse and this enhances the variability of the
sample.
In order to locate the targeted group, the questionnaire is sent around several popular
websites and BBS (Bulletin Board System) where UK overseas graduates and
Chinese people commonly visit.
Table 2.1 Websites and BBS that used to post online-questionnaire
Name
Address
Description
Popular to Hongkong/Taiwan Chinese
Hello UK
http://www.hellouk.org/
students in UK.
Accessible to people in mainland China and
Tai Sha BBS
http://www.taisha.org/bbs
is popular among students who are planning
to go abroad.
Commonly known among Chinese people
http://bbs.powerapple.com/
Power Apple
who are currently live abroad.
Popular among Chinese overseas working
http://www.6park.com
Liu Yuan
class
A Chinese version of face book which
Ren Ren
http://club.renren.com/
assembles young university students and
graduates.
A social networking website (Currently
http://www.facebook.com
Facebook
inaccessible in Mainland China)
2.2
Economic value of the degree
A revised Mincerian earnings function method(Mincer and Polachek, 1978) was
adopted in to gain the economic value of a UK Master’s degree to Chinese students. It
requires no longitudinal data but cross section data on a sample of people with
information based on the number of their year’s schooling, their wages, duration of
work experience and their age.
ln Wi= 𝛽Si+ φXi + σ(Xi⊙Si) + vi
(1)
Where:
W= wage or earnings per period (monthly, yearly)
St = number of years’ schooling, in this research it is whether people hold a
UK-master’s degree (St=1 means the participant have a UK master’s degree, while 0
shows the reverse)
E= number of years experience
X= a set of other variables that determines wages and it is a vector of several variables.
In this research it includes: age, gender, willpower level, family financial background,
school ranking, major, English proficiency etc.
In the equation, Wi is the hourly wage rate after tax; Si =(UKi, CHi) is a vector of a
dummy variable identifying the person’s Master’s qualification obtained in UK or in
China; and Xi is a vector of exogenous observed individual characteristics that affect
their income.
, φ, σ are coefficients which shows the extent to which variable would
affect Wage (W). Values for these are estimated by multiple regression techniques
using the data. The coefficient 𝛽 is the change in wages due to an increase in
schooling by 1 year, measuring the wage premium to the UK Master’s degree
conditional on Xi. In this research, it represents the wage change due to the UK master
study in comparison to those who do not hold one, namely Chinese Master’s gradates.
The σ reflects the heterogeneity in the return to qualifications according to personal
background, education background, anticipation ect.
2.3. Limitations of the study
The first default of the sample selection comes from the Mincer method assumption
that only those currently employed are taken into consideration. Those who have
received a certain level of education but unemployed are excluded. In this case,
self-employed are also excluded. The research result would be more powerful if the
result could be generalised to all employment. As in reality, education could be
negative if graduates fail to position themselves in the labour market. Therefore, by
including only employed graduates, the return to the UK Master’s degree could be
weaker in reality.
The second sample bias is that motivation itself is high related to one’s income.
People with strong motivation would be more likely to push him-or-herself to take the
UK education; similarly, these people are more likely to obtain a better-paying job,
with or without a UK Master’s degree. This selection bias has been discussed in the
CPB discussion paper on “Assessing the returns to studying abroad”(Oosterbeek and
Webbink, 2006//May) The research tries to avoid the selection bias of the self section
of students by focusing on a sample of students who applied for a government grant to
study abroad.
Thirdly, the disadvantages of the internet-based data collection include: a)
Uncontrollable of the data source and difficult to identify the reliability of the data
given b) May easily be misused due to the lose control of the access c) Difficulty in
obtaining the cross-sectional data from the participants later on;
Considering the defaults of the two sampling method used, the results should be
treated with caution.
Part Three: Research Findings
All earnings are adjusted with PPP (purchasing power parity) to US dollars to enable
comparisons between data collected from UK and China, using Penn world tables,
(2006). Moreover, there are issues with regards to the representativeness of data
concerning UK graduates, as websites users who responded to the questionnaire were
primarily based in Britain. This creates a sample bias, as not all of Chinese overseas
students were able to find jobs after completing their higher education in the UK.
Figure 3.1 Working location and earnings
profile
3%
22%
＄1627/month
＄2827/month
75%
UK/EU/HK
Mainland China
Uncertain
Figure 3.1 demonstrates earnings of monthly net pay according to geographical
locations. Amongst the 72 surveyed UK Masters graduates, 22% returned to China,
with an average monthly pay of $1,627. 3% had difficulties defining their working
locations or had jobs with high mobility. This leaves 75% of the observed Masters
graduates with employment in the UK (a small number of EU and Hongkong
employees were also included in this category, given the similarities of the economic
and political environment), receiving an average of $2,827 per month. Compared with
the average income differentials, the UK employees enjoy a 73.7% higher net
monthly income.
Despite the fact that salaries differ across industries, this distinctive pay gap revealed
is a potential incentive driving Chinese graduates to stay in UK. The relative better
wages provides evidence of the favourable conditions of working in the host country,
and this economic incentive may serve as one of the most influential factors that
attract people to come to UK to study in the first place.
This is in line with Maringe, Felix and Carter, Steve’s conclusion following research
on the motivation of overseas students, which suggested higher income to be the
strongest motivation for foreign graduates to pursue employment in their hosting
country(Felix and Steve, 2007).
Additionally, the finding suggests that a majority of participants are employed by the
private sector, particularly working for multinational corporations (86%). This is more
apparent amongst graduates returning to China, of whom 95.6% are employed in
foreign companies. This is a result of the fact that UK graduates are more proficient in
English, as well as being more aware of other culture backgrounds compared to their
counterparts graduated in China, with little or no experience living in foreign
environments and dealing with people of other cultures and nationalities.
Compared to the Chinese master, the wage premium can be further divided into the
table below. (See table 3.2).
Table 3.2
Wage premium of groups with different education background
Males
Females
Group
Coeff.
(S.E)
Coeff.
(S.E)
UK_Master
0.2842
0.2573
0.2429
0.2646
CH_Master
0.1482
0.2790
0.2049
0.4188
In comparison to Chinese bachelor graduates who are not exposed to the experience
of living or studying overseas, UK Master’s graduates earn 28% more than local
Chinese bachelor students from investing in an extra year’s overseas studying. Male
graduates receive 4% higher return than their counterparts. Moreover, compared to a
Chinese Master degree, a UK Masters degree has many advantages. When taking the
length of study into consideration, the UK Master degree becomes a more attracting
choice as it saves time and is more cost-effective.
The economic return obtained from studying overseas reflects the economic value of
an UK Master’s degree to Chinese overseas students. This is far more than the
average returns to education at each level(Altbach, 1998). It is important to note at
this point that the income varies of individuals who have obtained a UK masters
qualification varies depending on what they studied. However, this is not the solely
explanation of the motivation.
For the UK Master’s graduate group, when being asked what have the participants
gain most, the answers various.
Figure 3.3 The most valuable factor given for the UK Master’s experience
Dependant
thinking and
living(8)
Changed Values
and broaden
views(8)
Degree and
advantages in
job market(6)
Cultrual
experience(14)
The
Most
Valuable
Academic
facilities(1),
envrionmen
t(3), learnin
g skills(2);
Working
related
experience(
3)
Nothing/ Don't
know(6)
Networking(4)
The numbers in brackets indicates the number of people that have taken that particular
point as their most valuable achievement obtained during their stay in UK as Master’s
students. Other factors that have been mentioned are: Improvement in self-discipline
(2 person); Enhanced self motivation (2 people); Better opportunity (1 Person); Better
understanding of cooperation (2 people); and Finding belief in religions (1 person).
The phrase that appeared most frequently was cultural experience indicating the
significance of the influence cultural awareness had on students during their study and
living experience in UK. As Chinese students who finished their undergraduate in
China, they are more familiar to the oriental way of thinking and the values the
government imposed on them. With a relatively complete value system and the views
of the world, these students may experience a huge difference in UK. It is not
surprising to know that the factor of culture experience is also one of the most
attractive factors that attracts international students to their host country(Felix and
Steve, 2007).
From the perspective of the specific group of overseas Chinese students, the cognition
and compassion of an unfamiliar society and culture, and the ability and willingness
to participate in culture exchange serves as an influential factor that more or less
determines their experience when they actually live with a foreign community. As a
matter of fact, putting a country in the context of a global world offers a better insight
into the understanding of a country’s current policy and status and it inspires more
profound thought of being patriotic with justice and without biases. Therefore the
impact of awareness of being a global citizen, as captured in this study, is one of the
influential motivations of student migration.
The research indicates that the cultural experience of studying overseas is more
favoured and more widely recognised among Master’s graduates in comparison to the
market value of the certificate. The research is not suggesting that the importance of
monetary returns in relation to obtaining a certain qualification is declining, but it
shows that it is no longer a dominant pulling. This can also be seen as the endogenous
to earnings in the sense that the overseas cultural experience is attractive to high
paying employers in China. The desire of self-globalization becomes a thriving
driving force for Chinese students and scholars when they are faced with the
opportunity of studying abroad. Therefore, the raising awareness of self-globalization
can be added as one of the pulling factors in the student migrant study.
The collected data from 68 validate samples provides the statistic support for wage
premium date of this particular group. Although the sample size is not large enough to
draw universal conclusions and some of the patterns are lack of generality, the data
and some of conclusions are of importance to the study in relation to this group and
builds on the foundation for further research that targets this population. With the
growing population of these self-funded international students, more research on this
specific type of students is expected to gain a better understanding of the motivational
factors behind raising awareness of Chinese overseas students in relation to obtaining
a UK higher education.
Part Four: The Theory Analysis
4.1
The pull-and-push Theory
The characteristics of particular groups of international students, including possessing
high mobility, the necessity of adapting to foreign cultures and living in foreign
nations contribute to the image of immigrants. Factors relating to home countries,
including poor employability and inadequate education resources, also exist and
motivate students to migrate to foreign countries.
Considerable number of research has focused on the distributions of migrating groups
and their motives behind migrating. From the neo-classical equilibrium perspective,
the Pull-and-Push theory, other than its original role in marketing application, was
introduced to the human behaviour study of immigration by Ravenstein (Ravenstein,
1889). As an English geographer, he used a census data of England and Wales and
developed "Laws of Migration" and generated the conclusion that migration was
governed by a "push-pull" process, where unfavourable conditions "push" people out
of the current inhabit place, whilst favourable conditions in an external location "pull"
them out simultaneously. Unfavourable conditions in one place are represented by
oppressive laws, heavy taxation, etc. whilst other locations with advanced local
economic development and better living conditions are big allures. This dynamic
process explains the incidents where individuals opt for migration and leave their
homelands. Further findings were made based on the observed migration pattern,
indicating the population movements to be bilateral; and that individuals’ mobility is
influenced by migration differentials (e.g., gender, social class, age).
Many theorists have followed Ravenstein's paths to further expand his conclusions.
Amongst the dominant theories in contemporary scholarship, Sjaastad (Sjaastad, 1962)
and Todaro (Todaro, 1969), based on the perspective of neoclassical economic theory,
suggested that international migration is related to the global supply and demand for
labour. Based on their observation, the demand for a labour force worldwide was one
of the driving forces for migration, pulling people out of their usual habitats by the
prospects conveyed. This influential “Harris-Todaro model” has remained the basis of
neo-classical migration theory and was originally applied to explain the rural-urban
immigration. The driving forces, i.e. attraction from better job opportunity, are
nevertheless seen at the international level too. Later, the Harris-Todaro model was
refined by Bauer and Zimmermann (Zimmermann and Bauer, 2000). In their more
realistic model, the costs and risks associated with migration were taken into
consideration, especially at the international level. This explains why it is generally
not the poorest people who migrate and why social networks are so crucial in
lowering the material and psychological thresholds to migration (de Haas, 2007).
Everett Lee (Lee, 1966) emphasised on the pushing (or internal) factors through the
reformulations of Ravenstein’s theory. In addition to the dissatisfaction of working
and living conditions, factors including a harsh environment, political fear and
persecution, lack of personal and property safety, poor medical care, lack of political
or religious freedom, discrimination and even the reduced opportunity for marriage,
all contribute driving individuals away from home. Lee also stated that migration is
relates to the characteristics of migrants; people respond differently to the “pull” and
“push” factors
before and after reaching their destinations and have different
abilities to cope with intervening variables (Reniers, 1999). Since then, the
Pull-and-Push theory has been widely used in the study of migrating populations,
shedding light on the reasons behind the phenomenon of immigrations and
emigrations.
In relation to more specific phenomena of overseas study, Altbach (Altbach, 1998)
uses the Push–And-Pull theory to explain the reasons behind such behaviour. The
push (unfavourable) factors in home countries and pull (favourable) factors in host
countries act as the two forces that affect the decision making on learning abroad. In
the recent research, Mazzarol and Soutar (Mazzarol, Soutar and Seng, 2003) further
reached the conclusion that there are four main pull factors that attract people to study
abroad: the market value of the degree offered by the foreign school; better education
opportunities; the desire of experiencing a foreign culture and finally the student's
intention to migrate after graduation(Liu, 2001). In terms of pulling factors from host
country, student mobility between countries increases when the domestic supply of
education cannot meet the domestic demand satisfactorily in terms of quantity and/or
quality(Fan-sing, Bin and Yue-ping, 2009). Factors such as a better education
environment, advanced teaching facilities and ideas and a more pleasant education
experience (compared to Chinese rigid rooted learning style) are among the factors
most considered by mainland Chinese students (Huang, 2007; Li and Bray, 2007).
However, the pull and push contest has never been a one-direction movement. Li and
Bray
brought up the question that there might also exists some reverse push
(positive) factors in the home country and reverse pull (negative) factors in the host
country. Unfavourable factors of the home countries include high tuition fees and
costly living expenses, discrimination due to political and religious reasons and
unfriendly migration regulations.
The graph below summarises the common pulling and pushing factors based on
contemporary research and theory studies. The graph also includes the reversed model
and self motivation in the centre.
Figure 4.1 the pull and push factors for international student migration
Host County
1.Financial support
2.Advanced education
3.Prospersous job
prospect
4.Better social/
political/economic
environment
5.High value of obtained
degree
Pull Factors
(Favourable
Conditions)
1.Low education quality
2.Inadqute education
opportunity
3.Inactive domestic
market
4.Disatisctory in
social/political/economic
environment
Push Factors
(Unfavourabl
e Conditions)
SelfMotivation
1.Fewer position for
overseas student
2.Increasing fees & costs
3.Restricitve policies on
foreign students/ tight
immigration policies
4.Uncertaniteis in visa
approvals
5.Discrimination
1. Family connections and
social existing network
2.Internationalzaiton of
domestic institutions
3.Familiar culture and
living environment
4.Enlarging local labour
market
Home County
Figure 4.1 summarizes the pulling and pushing factors between host and home
countries. The upper two quadrants represent the conditions that “pull” individuals to
attend overseas education, as opposed to the lower quadrants representing factors
from the home country. From another perspective, the left two quadrants indicate the
favourable conditions attracting people from host and home country respectively
while the right two list the unfavourable ones that push people out.
Amongst the pulling factors in the host country, the factor of obtaining a prosperous
job in a better economic environment and a valuable degree qualification are clustered
together, to consider their interaction in terms of economic returns against the
backdrop of the labour market. Normally the higher value the degree is, the better the
payment one would get from their jobs (Mincer and Polachek, 1974). Researchers
have shown that the economic benefit and market value which is attached to a degree
are the most decisive factors that encourage students to choose where to go for their
higher education(Paulsen and John, 1997) . Thune also observed the fact that the
value of the degree and whether it is worth the cost are the questions that Chinese
people seek answers for before they made the decision into overseas education
(Thunø, 2001).
In the centre of the graph, it can be seen that self-motivation drives mobilisation
between nations and regions. In previous studies, researchers found that the
self-motivation and self-interest casted a positive influence in the migration process
and recruited students with these traits from the host countries(Chirkov et al, 2007) In
the current research, the impact of self-motivation is given great attention and is
believed to be one of the most important driven forces, potentially more significant
than the economic factor in leading Chinese students towards UK.
The present Pull-And-Push theory is based on regional migrating studies which is
more than a century old. It used to be employed as a tool of understanding individuals’
mobility between states and regions within a country. Later it evolved into an
international tool with which the population’s migration between nations has been
studied. It is not sufficient to simply “transplant” the theory from a national level to an
international level, despite them sharing certain similarities. Under the current
globalization era, people in different regions with different cultures share the same
identity of a global citizen. Under these conditions, people are more willing to travel
to foreign countries to study or live, as there is less culture shock and less
incompatibility between their old and new home.
Moreover, people are curious about other cultures in foreign lands and are therefore
willing to interact with other people from different cultures. This offers a feasible new
explanation for the pulling factors in the push-and-pull theory, which belongs neither
to the home country nor host country. It helps to broaden the existing perceptions of
students’ migration.
As in the specific case of Chinese overseas students, the awareness of globalization is
growing stronger but yet been captured by literature. In the previous research on the
Chinese overseas students, the awareness of “globalized world “and “view of the
world” is normally been regarded as the outcome of the experience of living and
studying abroad (Wang, 2009) and is rarely treated as the motivation of going abroad
and having higher education.
This research extends the concept of globalization to an individual level, where
individuals employ their initiative to participate in international communications.
Based on increasing linkage observed between nations and its impact on individual’s
and the society as a whole, it comes to the point that citizenship education should not
be restricted to a national scope, in which case the sensorial and settings are limited to
domestic issues. This intension of self-driven globalisation is cultivated from
domestic consensus and in turn, as in the form of practicing and corroborating the
image of a foreign place, it affects individuals’ perception of the outer world other
than their habitats. The previous understanding of the foreign society will greatly
influence the way of responding to and interacting with the host country. And vice
versa, the experience from the participators will become one of the sources of
understanding between Chinese and people elsewhere. Therefore, an unbiased and
healthy public opinion on overseas issues will bring mutual benefits to both Chinese
society and the foreign society, despite the differences in political ideology, economic
system, or culture awareness.
4.2
The Human Capital Theory
Human capital is viewed as the market value of individuals’ abilities and skills
acquired at cost. It also indicates the potential productivity of workers (Hartog, 2000).
In its narrowed definition, it refers to the skills stock embodied in an individual that
influences his ability to perform labour and produce economic values. From the
perspective of HCT, moving to a foreign country either for work or education is an
investment decision made to increase one’s employment perspectives, and to reap the
return of overseas education. A trained labours force is viewed as an investment in the
national human capital stock (Blundell et al, 1999). In addition, obtaining an overseas
higher education, especially in desirable countries and regions, is considered a conduit
for migration. This is due to the tendency for graduates to stay and work in host
countries upon completing their courses.
According to HCT, on the microscopic level, human behaviours are based on
economic self-interest in freely competitive markets. This is classically represented by
migration, where the decision to stay in the host country should not made if the
benefits fail to outweigh cost and investments. As Gary S. Becker (Caire, 1967) and
Jacob Mincer (Mincer, 1958) suggested, after equalising other factors, personal
incomes are adjusted according to the amount of investment in human capital. In other
words, education is adopted as a primary criterion when applicants are assessed by
their employers, since qualifications reflect the mark of knowledge, abilities, or sets
of valued traits acquired through schooling and training (Kroch and Sjoblom, 1994;
Spence, 1973). Greider, P, et,al (Paul, Denise-Neinhaus and Statham, 1991) also
suggested that skilled, highly qualified candidates put themselves in an advantaged
position when entering the labour market, and subsequently experience a lower cost
of displacement (Swaim and Podgursky, 1989). Indeed, Chinese students with the
goal of studying abroad are well aware of the fact that through education, especially
the acquisition of a desirable overseas qualification, they may obtain knowledge and
skills that may widen their career options as well improving future pay.
The high return to tertiary education has led to the rapid development of credit
markets for higher education in certain developing countries in the past decade,
represented by India and China. There is evidence from the demand side for
skill-based technological changes in both developed and developing countries during
the 1980s and 1990s (Berman, Bound and Machin, 1998) that obtaining a degree in
higher education desirable in the labour market. The career prospect is a 3 percent
higher salary for working graduates in Norway holding a foreign degree in
comparison to students holding a domestic degree (Wiers-Jenssen and Try, 2005).
Therefore, being regarded as the most common and practical way of creating and
cultivating human capital, the level of education, or the overall education background
has become a strong indicator of
an individual’s personal ability and has been
favoured by employers’ screening process.
HCT encourages investment in education by identifying the benefits gained from
education and training, as well as by recognising the productivity from workers’
knowledge and experiences (Becker, 1975; Mincer, 1958; Schultz, 1960; Schultz,
1961). The decision of obtaining a UK Master’s degree is a valuable investment in an
individual’s accumulation of human capital in terms of benefits derived from t degree
and the potential for better future income. Alongside potential migration, overseas
students become part of the educated workforce of the host country, and consequently
enhance the human capital stock at the international level.
4.3
Globalization and self-Globalization
The World-systems Theory (Sassen, 1988). On the other hand, argues that
international migration is a by-product of global capitalism. A new concept of global
citizen was refers to individuals that are capable of working in multiple cultural
environments, and view the world as a community that shares mutual resources and
development results. Broader experience is becoming an increasingly common motive
for studying abroad. Thompson et al. (Thompson, 2000) connected increased cultural
awareness to the experience of overseas studying. King and Ruiz-Gelices viewed
international students’ mobility as being motivated less by traditional economic
factors and more by a mixture of educational, leisure, travel, and/or experiential
benefits (King, 2002; King and Ruiz-Gelices, 2003).
It is acknowledged that accelerated growth in internationalisation of tertiary education
mirrors the advancements in the globalisation of economics and societies (Blundell et
al, 1999). With additional disposable money, students are able to freely share the
global education resources. The reduced economical differences between advanced
and less developed countries make studying abroad more feasible for individuals of
the developing world. China is a good example of country where an economical boom
led to a wealthier population capable of affording their studies abroad.
Liberated from political restrictions and obligations, Chinese self-funded students are
now able to make decisions concerning destinations and fields of study. Students can
make decisions about pursuing paths in overseas studying, staying in their host
country post-graduation, or simply travelling around the world to experience foreign
cultures. Such behaviour was regarded as Individual Internationalization by Philip G.
Altbach and Jane Knight (Altbach and Knight, 2007). Angela W. Little also suggested
that human motivation should not be taken for granted when education investments
are made, and questions relating to the motivations of students and learning are
central to the concept of human capital (Little, 2003). In the context of choices for
globalised learning, individual motivation urges people to invest time and wealth in
the international education market; it is the end-product of sharing global education
resources, and serves as a driving force for accelerated globalisation.
A new concept of global citizen is brought up in this research to refer to people that
are capable of working in multicultural environments. Such individuals view people
all around the world as a big interest community that share resources as well as the
results of development. From the perspective of the specific group of overseas
Chinese students, the cognition and compassion of an unfamiliar society and culture,
and the ability and willingness of participation in the culture exchange serves as an
influential factor that more or less determines their experience when they actually live
with a foreign community. As a matter of fact, putting a country in the context of a
global world offers a better insight into the understanding of a country’s current
policy and status and it inspires more profound thought of being patriotic with justice
and without biases. Therefore the impact of awareness of being a global citizen, as
captured in this study, is suggested to be further extended to a level of the whole
population, making global citizen a chapter of the domestic citizenship education.
Apart from the necessity and significance of involving sections of international
relationships into citizenship education, the extension of national identity is also
essential to meet the changing globalised society. By emphasising on the
self-identified culture complex, the consistency in the sense and image of being
Chinese shall be cultivated from the citizenship education, regardless where people
live later on in life. Given the increasing number of graduates choosing to work at
their host countries after graduation, the inevitable phenomena of “brain drain” has
been the challenges the mobile knowledge economy must face. Especially for
developing countries like China, who is confronted with the fact that high-end talents
being ripped off by developed courtiers in many ways. The migration of students,
especially at the tertiary level, can case potential talents loss. However, the term
“brain flow” is used and advocated in the study, to reflect the advantageous nature of
the bi-directional flow of human capital to and from a country when dealing with the
topic of talent mobility. During this flow process, the awareness of globalisation is an
increasing decisive factor.
In conclusion the research helps to fill the gap in the current literature in relation to
the pull and push theory that applies to the population immigration study. In particular
it applies to the current world system where the economic development gap between
countries and regions are diminishing thereby making the self-driven globalization a
new factor that contributes to the migration of population worldwide and also
replacing the former dominating factor of economic prosperity for individuals. With
the convergence of the different levels of development and standards of living
between China and the UK, it may as well be the case that the economic factors
become less of pull factors than the cultural and globalization factors. This would also
mean that the motivation to study abroad is now being driven by a combination of
factors different from those previously studied.
The global vision and cultural integration emerges through education at the
international level provide new elements to the pull-and-push theory, as well as to the
studies on the externalities of education. It is worthwhile to take note that education at
the international level has a more comprehensive and profound influence. It can
change one’s values and his or her perspective of viewing the world in a different way,
as compared to classic practice of domestic education. The interacting between
student’s perception and action is discussed and therefore bring up the necessity of
expending the citizenship education to a globalised level to advocate world peace and
harmonious development. More research should be done to discover the full meaning
and potential function of international education exchanges and interactions; Research
should also focus on the integration of the vision and awareness of globalization into
the domestic citizenship education.
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