General migration potential and educational migration. Hungarian students’ intentions to study abroad

Abstract

International migration is a basic principle of the European Union. It is a significant social and economic process. Based on a recent detailed survey (324 completed questionnaires by students of seven higher education institutions in Hungary), it is now possible to analyse the migratory intentions of Hungarian students. The first part of the study attempts to estimate the Hungarian and European migration potential in various ways. Methods and results of former publications on international migration are discussed. Using the survey the paper then seeks to estimate the migration potential of graduating students and establish the most important determining factors. More than 73% of the respondents have considered the possibility of studying abroad. The top three destinations are the United Kingdom, Germany, and Austria. The main reasons for choosing a destination are language skills and country image. These factors seem to be more important for Hungarian students than study or scholarship opportunities. The results of the questionnaire markedly diverge from the Tempus database. It needs to be stressed that the answers by the students should only be taken as evidence of intentions and not of real actions. This survey could serve as a good basis for further comparative analyses in the field of educational migration.