Factors Affecting Choice of Destination Country

Below are some reasons that determines where an Indonesian student would go for overseas studies:

•The availability of information about the country and its system of education:
Having several information about a country eliminates unwanted mystery (about safety, way of life and other considerations) for the parents and makes them more confident to be away from their children. It also helps them and the students choose the appropriate program to take.

•The presence of family members in the destination country:
Parents usually choose to send their children to study in countries where they have other children, relatives or friends who can help look after their children in their absence.

•Financial capability of the family
Ninety-five percent (95%) of Indonesians who go abroad to study are financed by their parents, whether for university or post-graduate studies. Consequently, they choose to send their children to countries that can meet their budget. For example, those with more money might choose to send their children to study in the United Kingdom or the United States, those with medium budget might choose to send their children to study in Australia and New Zealand, and those with lower budget might choose to send their children to study in Singapore or Malaysia.

•Status symbol
Some parents would choose to send their children to countries, which they think, would uplift their image in their community. In Indonesia, the United States and the United Kingdom are still considered the most prestigious countries because of their well-known universities and very high cost of living.

•Influence from friends and peers
Some students may want to go to a specific country and a specific school because all their friends go to that particular country/school.

•Influence from the education agents
There are also a small proportion of students who want to study overseas but do not know where to go to in terms of choice of country and schools. To gather information, they would normally visit education fairs and/or contact local education agent. In most cases, however, the education agents would advise the students to go to a school or country with whom they are connected with.