The Move to Moscow: Analysis of the factors that influenced the decision of international students to study in Russia.

The USSR in 1980 was the third popular host country for international students and the collapse of the union saw the decline in international student recruitment. Post-soviet has made giant strands in becoming an attractive option for international students. In 2016, Russia had 4.5% of the enrolled international students, making it the sixth-largest host country for international students. Presently, about 330,000 international students are enrolled at Russian higher education institutions (OECD, 2019) with the majority of the students from the CIS countries. Russia is keen on recruiting international students because international student recruitment improves higher education internationalization and ensures support for the long term economic and political interests of Russia in the world. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors that informed the decision of international students to study in Russia. An explanatory sequential mixed method design was used, and it involved collecting quantitative data first, followed by the qualitative phase defined by the quantitative results. In the first quantitative phase of the study, survey data was collected from international students at HSE to assess whether push and pull factors influenced their decision to study in Russia. The second, qualitative phase was conducted as a follow up to the quantitative results to help explain the quantitative results. In this explanatory follow-up design, the tentative plan was to explore the specific push and pull factors that influenced the decision of international students to study in Russia. The study established that international students in Russia were strongly ‘pushed’ by the perceived advantage of an international degree and the benefits of studying abroad. Similarly, the study established that international students were attracted to Russia because of the quality and reputation of HSE, availability of scholarship, HSE position on the international universities ranking, HSE strategic alliances as well as the support offered to international students in HSE. The students highlighted that this push and pull factors were important in their decision to study in Russia because studying abroad translated into personal development and improved chances for employment after graduation. Keywords: international students, mixed methods, host country, push and pull factors.