The Pull Factors Influencing China Students to Pursue Postgraduate Studies in Private Higher Education Institutions in Nilai, Malaysia

Abstract

This paper proposes a research framework to investigate the pull factors that influence China students' decision to pursue postgraduate studies in private higher education institutions in Nilai, Malaysia. Based on the review of relevant literatures, this study found that China students' decision in selecting Malaysia as their study abroad destination is influenced by five factors, including lifestyle of host country, financial factors, proximity to home, visa application and acceptance and country's image.For this study, a quantitative method is used in which data was collected from 192 respondents who are China students that are currently pursuing postgraduate studies in either INTI International University, Nilai University or Manipal University. The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 24and it wasstatistically proven that all the factors have a significant relationship with students' decision. Apart from that, the result of Multiple Regression Analysis shows that country's imageis the factor which has the strongest influence, followedby lifestyle of host country and proximity to home. The findings of the research is said will deemed useful for Malaysian government to realize the goal of transforming Malaysia especially focusing in Nilai, to be ASEAN's education hub in the next 20 years.