SOCIO-CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF STUDENT MIGRATION MOBILITY ON THE AXIS OF PUSHING AND PULLING FORCES: THE EXAMPLE OF IZMIR

Migration has been a significant part of human history, shaping civilizations, economies, and cultures. It has moved out of the national dimension also become an international issue. Migration has multidimensional dynamics in which all actors take part with the increasing impact of globalization. With the expansion of internationalization in higher education, there has been an increase in the tendency of university students to study abroad. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the attitude of university students mobility especially who migrated to İzmir for various reasons. Studying abroad presents both significant challenges and exciting opportunities for international students. Students study abroad to learn about cultures in different countries, develop foreign language skills, and learn to live in multicultural environments as well as gaining a new academic experience in different universities. However, it is also known that the experience of studying in a different country brings various opportunities and challenges to students. From this point of view, this qualitative study examined the factors that push and pull university students to study abroad and their perceptions about the possible challenges of this education. In this study, a survey techniques will be used to explain these attitudes. This study results in pulling factors for students to study in Izmir were more prominent than the push factors.