ECONOMY FACTORS INFLUENCING INTERNATIONAL STUDENT'S DECISION OF AN EDUCATION DESTINATION ABROAD

Abstract

Internationalization of higher education institutions has become a priority throughout the country and is seen as a growing industry and a major improvement specifically in Malaysia. Correspondingly, the demand and competition in the higher education sector has made the selection of international student’s study destination abroad as one of the major and important criteria in generating income in while achieving the goal to become an international level university. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence the selection of international student’s study destination abroad is very crucial in getting recognition of internationalization. This study examines one of the key factors that have a high-impact in influencing the selection of Malaysia as study destination for an international students which is the economic factors. The discussion is conducted to understand the importance of motivation and economic factors which became the cause of international student’s study destination selection. The objective of this study is to (a) identify economic factors in Malaysia that influence international students’ decision and (b) to examine the relationship between economic factors and the marketing strategy to increase the intake of international students at university