Studying at home or abroad? Evidence from Ghana and Senegal

Lama Kabbanji, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Antonina Levatino, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Fofo Ametepe, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Literature on students’ mobility does not offer precise information about who are “International students”. Very few studies have addressed individual-level evidence on the impact of variables affecting the decision and possibility to study abroad and the comparison with people who never migrated to study. The aim of this presentation is to understand the main factors explaining the choice to study abroad. Four main questions are being asked: 1) Who are international students? 2) Are they different from other students of their origin country in terms of socio-economic characteristics, education and mobility profiles? 3) At which moment of the life course does the decision to migrate for tertiary education occur 4) What are the main factors explaining the choice to study abroad? This article relies on new longitudinal data collected in Ghana and Senegal within the Migration between Africa and Europe project.