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Studying abroad and migration motivations : a case study of Chinese students at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Academic mobility and migration of knowledge workers are two concerns in international migration studies, so how academic mobility transforms into immigration has received much attention as well. There are two commonly held approaches to the explanation of immigration of international students: the classic Push and Pull theory and its derivative studies as well as Rational Choice Theory (RCT). However, both sets of theories have their drawbacks, that their analysis is either exclusion of the micro-level decision-making process or neglect of the macro-level social structure. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative data are collected, and Giddens structuration theory has been applied to mediate micro and macro level factors for constructing a framework to understand migration motivations of Chinese undergraduate students in Canada. The major conceptions and themes drawn upon from structuration theory include agency and structure, the effects of rules and resources within structures, the capacity and knowledgeability of agent, time-space context, and the theme of duality of structure. Because gender differences are significant in this study, two models are built for female and male students respectively. The practical aim of this study is to generate more policy interests in Canada in Chinese undergraduate students in order to make Canada the foremost destination for them not only for studying abroad but also for settlement.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-09152006-104948
Date15 September 2006
CreatorsLu, Yixi
ContributorsZong, Li
PublisherUniversity of Saskatchewan
Source SetsUniversity of Saskatchewan Library
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-09152006-104948/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

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