Determinants of Studying at “Home” while Living “Abroad”: A Grounded Theory Study on College-Choice among Western Expatriate and Transnational Distance Students in the Republic of Korea
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32865/fire202171221Abstract
Since the mid 1980s to today, the Republic of Korea has experienced significant immigration. The influx of various forms of migrants has started changing the makeup of an otherwise ethnically homogenous society. Despite such demographics changes, commensurate adjustments to government policies or institutional services have not necessarily occurred. Globalization and related technological advancements, however, have made it possible to sidestep limitations/obstacles resulting from a lack of recognition or change. In the case of education, the Internet has enabled, at least for some, the ability to continue pursuing education “home”, while continuing to work and live “abroad”. Nevertheless, the determinants of distance education in such instances has not been adequately investigated. Though college choice literature is plentiful, it is largely traditional student oriented and based on face-to-face instruction. Few studies have investigated distance education college choice, which is largely composed of non-traditional student groups. As a result, the motivations and influences on this population’s college enrollment are poorly understood. This grounded theory study investigated the college choice process of long-term foreign residents in Korea who were enrolled in distance education programs in their home countries or abroad elsewhere. Eight expatriate and two transnational distance students participated in interviews where themes of repatriation as a determinant for the impetus to study surfaced, with local educational ecosystem inaccessibility, and home country ecosystem convenience as mediating factors. Implications for policy and directions for local Korean educational institutions are discussed as well as for institutions “abroad”. Future areas of research are suggested.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 William H. Stewart
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. FIRE ISSN: 2326-3873.