Country Image and the Study Abroad Destination Choice of Students from Mainland China.
Keeping pace with globalization, the market for cross border students in higher education has grown markedly in recent years. Increasing student mobility provides an alternative source of funding for many higher education institutions (HEIs) in a time of austerity and cuts in public funding. The potential benefits of this market can be seen in the top three destination countries: the US, UK and Australia (UNESCO, 2012) where cross border students and their dependents make a significant contribution to their host economies.Within the growing market for cross border students, East Asia has served as an important region, accounting for an estimated 20.4% of total cross border students in 2010 (UNESCO, 2012) China is the largest source country, with more than twice the number of outgoing students than India, its next closest rival (UNESCO, 2009) While such students are often referred to as international students, the term 'cross border' students may be more suitable for mainland China, given movement into special administrative regions such as Macau and Hong Kong, and the special case of Taiwan.Demand from mainland China can be traced back to high competition and quality issues in the domestic market for higher education. Mainland Chinese HEIs are under considerable pressure to meet the demand, desire for personal investment, and choice in the domestic market (Marginson, 2002) but the higher education system is still recovering from the damage it sustained during the Cultural Revolution (Guo, 2010) Though there has been progress in improving access, elitism remains a concern in judging the value of a domestic degree (Zha, 2011) The middle class has adopted an independent view of supporting their children's education (Chan Mok, 2001) and increasingly look abroad when feeling stifled by the opportunities available in the domestic system. A trend towards privately funded cross border study to a wide variety of destinations and various tertiary programs is taking root (Wu, 2014).Meanwhile, many developed countries face population decline, posing challenges that could potentially be addressed via selective migration. Stress on higher education institutions caused by decreasing local student numbers, for instance, could be remedied by attracting cross border students. Just as governments have successfully used export promotion agencies to strengthen exports (Lederman, Olarreaga, Payton, 2010) many countries seek to grow interest in their higher education systems through various marketing strategies. Without sufficient information, however, these funds may be ineffectively spent.Though political science and economics literature point to the benefits of positive country image, work continues to establish a conceptual framework for country image, how it influences individual decision making (Nadeau, Heslop, O'Reilly, Luk, 2008; Roth Diamantopoulos, 2009) how it disseminates (Yang, Shin, Lee, Wrigley, 2008) and how it influences cross border students (Son Pearce, 2005) A better understanding of the cross border student destination choice would provide greater insight into recruitment (Maringe, 2006) A deeper understanding of how the cross border student market functions (Cubillo, Sanchez, Cervino, 2006; Naidoo, 2007) would help stakeholders better understand how it might be influenced.The present study focuses on the issue of country image in destination choice, specifically examining mainland China. The study tests the hypothesis that mainland Chinese who favor a destination as their ideal first choice for study abroad have a significantly more positive view of that country's image than their compatriots with other first choice destinations. To this end, this study analyzes the presence and nature of differences in perceived country image among mainland Chinese with different first choice destinations for study abroad.LITERATURE REVIEWModels of Cross Border Student MovementPrevious work in tourism serves as an inspiration for cross border student movement models.