Understanding the Importance of English Education in South Korea and Exploring the Reasons Why South Korean Students Come to a University in the Midwest

Push and Pull Factors 
Altbach (2004), Chow (2011), and Lee (2008) briefly studied how the “push” and 
“pull” factors influenced a decision making process for international students, and they 
mentioned that these factors significantly impacted their decisions to study abroad out of 
their home countries. Generally, “push” factors make international students leave their 
home countries to explore finding better opportunities in another country. The following 
factors have been founded by three researchers. According to the three researchers 
(Altbach, 2004; Chow, 2011; Lee, 2008), first of all, some international students are not 
able to find college level specialized and training programs in their home countries.
Second, some international students cannot be admitted to prestigious colleges and 
universities in their home countries because of the competitive entry requirements. Third, 
some international students want to leave their home countries because of unstable 

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political circumstances and the overwhelming burden of their academic demands. Fourth, 
some international students wish to gain international experiences and have opportunities 
to improve their career. Fifth, many international investors have invested a large amount 
of money into many international markets around the world, so an international 
businessman must have English competency. Because of these factors, many 
international students come to American colleges and universities instead of staying in 
their home countries.
In contrast, “pull” factors make international students choose their preferred 
countries to study abroad based upon their interests. The three researchers mentioned 
that the following factors greatly impacted international students’ study abroad 
destinations (Altbach, 2004; Chow, 2011; Lee, 2008). First, many international students 
always look for the best academic programs in the world; as previously stated, many 
American colleges and universities are reputable and renowned around the world.
Second, many international students wish to work in the developed or advanced countries 
because they are able to receive more benefits and competitive compensations and to 
have better quality of life than they would have in their home countries. Third, the 
international relations between the host countries and the home countries affect 
international students’ study abroad destinations. Fourth, the strong economy and 
military power cause international students to choose study abroad destinations. Fifth, 
the successful marketing campaigns promoted by the study abroad destination countries, 
the complicated school application processes and visa procedures, and the safety issues 
influence international students to choose the study abroad destinations.

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These results and findings are very useful for the researcher of this study to 
establish the interview protocol and to find the research questions’ answers. Especially, 
the researcher of this study is able to analyze the “push” and “pull” factors that influence 
Korean students, specifically in their study abroad destinations, such as a country and a 
city. As previously stated, the three researchers only included a small part of this study.
Moreover, Lee (2008) stated that more empirical research needed to be studied regarding 
the “push” and “pull” factors. Therefore, the researcher of this study will explore this 
area of study more deeply by interviewing Korean students, and the section of the 
analysis and the implication of the collected data will be explained in this study.