Impact of Tertiary Education Performances and Other Institutional Factors on International Student Mobility: The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa

Rabelais Nkounawa, Université Catholique de Louvain
Philippe Bocquier, Université Catholique de Louvain

Although tertiary education performance is considered a major determinant of international student mobility, its relative impact has not been tested against geographical, historical and linguistic proximity, and other economic, political and social determinants. We analysed ISU (UNESCO) stock data, constructed a composite indicator of tertiary education performance and used Courgeau's relative migration intensity index that accounts for stocks both at origin and at destination. Focusing on students from Sub-Saharan Africa, our results show that the existence of a stock is determined by HDI but not by tertiary education performance, while the importance of the stock is due to linguistic proximity, to HDI at destination, and marginally to tertiary education performance at destination. However country-specific factors prevail on general determinants of migration. After controlling for these determinants, we identify four categories of African countries depending on the volume and diversity of international student stocks.