Academic markets and policy arrangements: International students in Japanese higher education

This study explores the nature of international mobility of university students and investigates the influence of educational policy on the mobility. Among various educational policies around the world, it focuses on Japanese educational policy from 1980 to 2000.;Previous studies on the international mobility of students show that the global pattern of the mobility can be explained by a combination of push and pull factors. This push-pull model indicates that the economic and social conditions of home countries set up the circumstances which "push" individuals to study abroad, while the condition of host countries including host institutions provide "pull" factors for these individual decisions. However, few efforts have been made to understand how much of the flows are simply a result of market mechanisms, while how much is influenced by policy arrangements set by various policy entities, such as universities. Therefore, this study intends to provide a new perspective to the push-pull model through considering the influence of particular educational policies.;This study provides analyses from two different approaches. The one is a quantitative approach which analyzes the factors that influence the volume of international students sent to Japan from a given country and its change over about twenty years. Several regression models are developed using statistical data from selected countries. The second approach is a survey approach. Drawing on the findings from a survey of international students at one of the Japanese universities, the second approach explores two issues: the factors that influence international students' decision of their destination; and how policy arrangements facilitate their decisions.;Although the results of my study indicate that a large part of worldwide flows is still driven by academic market mechanisms, they also illuminate the important role of educational policies. First, supports provided by educational policy help keep mobility relatively free from other factors, including the socio-economic relationship between a host and a home country. Second, policy arrangements through establishing exchange programs certainly help to facilitate the decisions to study abroad.;This study also suggests that comparisons with other host countries will contribute to a better understanding of global flow patterns of students.