International Student Mobility Aspirations: The Role of Romantic Relationships and Academic Motivation
Abstract
The academic literature on the determinants of international student mobility so far has largely ignored the influence of romantic relationships and study motivation in the development of aspirations to participate in temporary learning experiences in another country. However, young adults might take considerations about investments in individual development (via academic training and thus study motivation) and romantic relationships into account in their decision-making process. Consequently, we apply a life-course perspective analyzing the relationships between having a romantic partner, study motivation, and aspirations to participate in an international exchange program among first-year university students, based on a survey conducted among 603 freshmen in Brussels. As female students are more likely to participate in student exchanges compared with male students, we pay special attention to gender differences. Our results show that a romantic relationship is negatively correlated with aspirations to participate in an international student exchange among female students. In contrast, intrinsic academic motivation is significantly associated with such aspirations among female and male students. Overall, our findings indicate the need for the consideration of different life-course domains in academic studies on international student mobility.
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Biographies
Tom De Winter is a doctoral researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and University of Groningen. His main research interests focus on intra-European mobility and migration.
Christof Van Mol is assistant professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. Prior to joining Tilburg in 2017, he worked as a senior researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Institute (NIDI, the Netherlands) and the University of Antwerp (Belgium). His main thematic interests are international migration processes, patterns and outcomes, with a specific focus on international student mobility and migration.
Helga A. G. de Valk is director of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) in the Hague and professor of Migration and the life course at the University of Groningen. Her research interests focus on migration and integration issues, the transition to adulthood of immigrant youth, union and family formation, the second generation and European mobility. She currently leads an ERC Consolidator Grant.
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Article first published online: February 13, 2021
Issue published: November 2021
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