Will Chinese students stop coming to the UK? A push–pull analysis among Chinese graduates from UK’s taught master’s programs 20 years apart

ABSTRACT China is a major source country of students in the UK’s taught Master’s programs. The reliance on China as a major source country has caused some concerns over its sustainability. Will the Chinese students continue to come? To answer this question, a push–pull factor analysis is conducted on the perceptions of Chinese students who graduated from the UK around the year 2000 and 2020. The goal is to explore the major pull factors for Chinese students’ mobility to the UK and whether there have been changes in the past 20 years. The findings of this pseudo longitudinal study suggest that, though most of the UK’s pull factors have stayed stable, the declining weight of the UK’s higher education reputation should be concerning. To sustain the UK’s attractiveness, the UK universities should slow the neoliberal expansion of international recruitment and strengthen the desirable Socratic approach to teaching and learning.