| International student mobility has become inseparably tied to today 's globalizing world,prompting many nations,including China to place receiving international students as a major priority.As a result,new destinations,including non-traditional English-speaking nations are emerging not only as a means of promoting international education,but also as a way of fostering economic growth and global competitiveness.Based on the huge investments by the Chinese government,China has experienced huge inbound mobility in recent years,thus transcending from outbound mobility country to the top four in the world.In spite of its fast-growing nature,literature remains scarce on the subject.Informed and guided by the Push-pull Model,U-Curve Theory and Leadership Skills Theory,the purpose of this research was to explore and examine the push-pull factors,study abroad motivation,psychological adjustment,academic satisfaction and leadership potential of African and Asian international students to better understand their motives and how they go through their study experience in China as well as the expected returns of their education.Organized in three studies,the research utilized concurrent mixed methods(qualitative and quantitative)design to explore and examine sojourners'mobility factors in China.Basically,536 bachelor's,master's and PhD students participated in study 1,which focused on push-pull factors,study abroad motivation and psychological adjustment;while 273 final year master's and PhD students tookpart in studies 2 and 3.Besides,30 participants were interviewed to satisfy the qualitative parts of the Studies 1&2.Study 2 focuses on academic satisfaction and how it relates with push-pullfactors and study abroad motivation,while Study 3 looks at leadership potential and the relationships among variables.With the use of four valid and reliable questionnaires,the data were collected from five notable Chinese universities in Wuhan,with few participations of other localities across China and analyzed,using SPSS and other soft-waresWith respect to push-pull factors,the study found perception that foreign degree is better than local one to be pivotal among the push factors,while availability of scholarship opportunities was a major pull factor for sojourners.Regarding participants'study abroad motivation,the study revealed that international students are mostly motivated by their desire for career development and world enlightenment.It also showed significant correlation between push-pull factors and study abroad motivation.Besides,the results showed moderate psychological adjustment among participants with partial support to the U-Curve Theory of Adjustment;respondents'contentment followed a U-Curve,but homesickness did not.Further,significant positive relationship was found between psychological adjustment and study abroad motivation,indicating that highly motivated mobile students were likely to be better adjustedpsychologically in China.Relative to academic satisfaction,participants showed being marginally or slightly satisfied with their academics with mean average(3.47 or 69.47%).In terms of relationship,participants motivated by career development were found to be more satisfied with the course and opportunity for development,while those with world enlightenment were better satisfied with opportunity for development.For leadership potential,the study showed that respondents have good mastery of optimism,social,global mind and leading others skills with 80%interested in becoming leaders,while 90%expressed optimism of a much brighter future.The findings also showed significant cross-cultural and gender differences as well as significant and insignificant relationships between leadership potential and other constructs.Based onfindings of this research,some conclusions,recommendations and practical and theoretical implications for policy makers,higher education institutions,especially in China,international students,scholars and all interested stakeholders are addressed. |
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