Financial, Social-cultural, Political-governance and Educational-quality Determinants of Study-abroad Decisions: An Empirical Analysis of Kerala Students in Europe and Beyond

Abstract

The increasing out-migration of students from Kerala, India for higher education abroad has drawn growing academic and policy attention, yet most of the existing evidence is descriptive in nature rather than construct-based. This study explores the financial, social-cultural, political-governance and educational-quality factors affecting the decision of Kerala students to go abroad for higher studies. Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire with 60 items on a five-point Likert scale (15 items per construct) and administered online to students with a Kerala background. Among the 115 raw responses, 103 confirmed that they were currently studying abroad. Two responses with unverifiable or facetious destination-country responses were removed, leaving a final analytic sample of 101 respondents. The respondents were mainly from Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other European and Gulf destinations. All four constructs showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha values ranging from .888 to .958). The construct scores were strongly and positively intercorrelated (r = .665 to .889, p <.001), showing that push and pull motivations operate as a mutually reinforcing decision system rather than independent motives. Social-cultural considerations (perceived quality of life, international exposure and cultural aspiration) had the highest mean agreement, while direct cost-comparison items between Kerala and Europe had relatively lower agreement. A one-way analysis of variance across destination groups revealed that students in Germany reported significantly higher financial (F = 5.84, p =.004) and political-governance (F = 3.18, p =.046) motivation scores than students in the United Kingdom or other destinations, consistent with Germany’s tuition-free public university system and stable immigration policy environment. The findings contribute to the push-pull theory of migration in a within-India, single-state context and have practical implications for higher education institutions, policy makers, and families in Kerala. The convenience-sampling design and moderate sample size are discussed as limitations and directions for larger, probability-based follow-up research are suggested.