In this paper we investigate the relationship between the development level of international students' origin countries and within‐country destination preferences. We theorize that international students from lower developed countries are more likely to choose higher quality study programmes and enrol in fields of studies that are regarded to have better career prospects. International students from higher developed countries, on the contrary, are theorized to show more variety in the fields of study they enrol, and to be more likely to enrol in institutions that are in cities with more amenities. To test these hypotheses, we make use of a full population data set containing nearly every international student in the Netherlands for the years 2016–2019. Our results suggest that students from lower developed countries are indeed more likely to enrol in fields of studies traditionally associated with better labour market outcomes. We also find evidence that master students from lower developed countries are more likely to enrol in higher quality programmes, while master students from higher developed countries are more likely to choose institutions in cities that are larger and/or have more amenities. Interestingly, for bachelor students the results are less conclusive. Together, these findings offer new insights to the existing literature and open up new avenues for research which could help us better understand the heterogeneity in international students' enrolment decisions.

中文翻译：

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国际学生原籍国的发展水平是否会影响他们的入学地点？荷兰案例研究


在本文中，我们研究了国际学生原籍国的发展水平与国内目的地偏好之间的关系。我们推测，来自欠发达国家的国际学生更有可能选择更高质量的学习课程，并进入被认为具有更好职业前景的研究领域。相反，来自较高发达国家的国际学生在理论上在他们注册的学习领域表现出更多的多样性，并且更有可能进入位于设施更齐全的城市的机构。为了检验这些假设，我们利用了一个完整的人口数据集，其中包含 2016-2019 年荷兰的几乎所有国际学生。我们的结果表明，来自欠发达国家的学生确实更有可能进入传统上与更好的劳动力市场结果相关的研究领域。我们还发现证据表明，来自欠发达国家的硕士生更有可能参加更高质量的课程，而来自较高发达国家的硕士生更有可能选择位于更大和/或设施更齐全的城市的机构。有趣的是，对于本科生来说，结果不太确定。总之，这些发现为现有文献提供了新的见解，并为研究开辟了新的途径，可以帮助我们更好地了解国际学生入学决策的异质性。