Post-degree Completion Plan of Chinese and Korean Graduate Students in the STEM Field

• In Event: Poster session III
  In Poster Session: Poster session 3

Proposal

International students are an essential form of human capital, the source of diversity, intellectual revenue and the bridge to the global network (Le and Gardner 2010; Moglen 2017; Terrazas-Carrillo et al. 2017). The number of international students in the US is steadily rising and according to the report authored by Open Doors (2012), a large number of international studies in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, math) (Moglen 2017). Half of the entire international students’ population major in Engineering (21.4%), Math and Science fields (15.5%) and Physical and Life Sciences (7.1%). Among the entire international population, China and Korea are two East Asian countries that send a large number of international students every year to the US, and many of them are concentrated in STEM.

Both external and internal factors influence international students’ decision to study abroad. The hegemony of academia in the US may contribute to the massive flow of international students to the U.S., while it may also be due to life sources or “contextual factors” (Bernard et al. 2014:233.; Kõu et al. 2015:1650). However, it is crucial to acknowledge that the educational decision-making process of international students are multidimensional and hardly limited to a single factor.

Hazen and Alberts (2006) argue that students who believe that there are better opportunities in their home countries are likely to decide to go back. Interestingly, students who struggle to adjust to the lack of professional networks are “more hesitant to leave, preferring to remain—even if adjustment to the U.S. has been difficult—until they feel more fully established” (Hazen and Alberts 2006). Students also decide to return to their home countries or stay at the US based on “professional reasons concerned with wages, work conditions and facilities, and opportunities for professional advancement”, “societal factors connected with students’ feeling comfortable in a particular social, political or cultural environment” and “personal reasons relating to interactions with friends and family” (Hazen and Alberts 2006: 206). While professional reasons are the most influential motivation to study abroad, multifaceted factors including, societal, political, cultural and personal reasons contribute their decision of return/stay.

While many studies focus on international students’ current adjustment issue on campus (Petress 1995; Tseng and Newton 2002; Le and Gardner 2010), there is a growing scholarly demand for students’ post-degree completion plan. The international students’ population is often considered to be a homogenized group although their major and nationality are different (Le and Gardner 2010). Therefore, I aim to specifically study how Chinese and Korean graduate students in the STEM fields decide whether to return to their home country after degree completion. I utilize a mixed methodological approach by analyzing the secondary data, the international STEM Graduate Student in the United States Survey in 2015. After the broader pattern of post-degree completion plan is studied, the interviews with students in Upstate New York will be conducted for more in-depth narratives.

Author

• Crystal Lee, Syracuse University