Circulating East to East

Table 4.
Chinese International Students’ Pull Factors.
M
SD
Selectivity of institution
3.08
1.11
Parents’ and friends’ recommendations
3.01
1.18
Job market vision
2.99
1.05
Lower costs to study abroad
2.93
1.06
Geographical location
2.88
1.18
Quality of higher education in Korea
2.73
1.07
Recruitment agency recommendation
2.52
1.22
Korean Wave
2.03
1.10

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Lee 
185
difficulties in the short run, as we have seen in this study, such policies may have unin-
tended repercussions in the long term. This finding also has meaningful implications 
for higher education institutions around the globe by noting that easing or changing 
admission processes must be approached with the utmost caution because short-term 
recruitment and long-term satisfaction are not necessarily positively correlated.
Furthermore, although initially anticipated to be a significant factor, the Korean 
Wave was not determined to be important in students’ study-abroad decisions. 
Although the students in the interview acknowledged that they were first introduced to 
Korea through television dramas and music and although the Korean Wave may have 
prompted the interest of many Chinese students by helping them become more aware 
of Korea, the Korean Wave nevertheless played only a limited role in the study-abroad 
decision. As one undergraduate student noted,
I first knew and got interested in Korea because of much of the drama and music, but that 
was not the most important factor I used when I made my decision to study abroad. 
Though K-pop and Korean drama were amazing, the quality of the education and 
affordability was the top consideration when I was searching for a place to study.