European students’ decision-making processes when choosing to study in Australia and their travel behaviour during their stay

This thesis aims to develop a better understanding of European tertiary students’ decision-making processes when selecting Australia as their temporary study abroad destination. In doing so the push and pull factors which influence European students’ selection of their host countries and institutions are examined. In addition, the extent to which students’ expectations about living, studying and travelling in Australia were met is assessed. The push-pull theory of destination choice, the cognitive decision-making theory, and previous research on international students’ decision-making, underpin the conceptual framework which guides this study. Within this framework a qualitatively driven mixed-methods approach to data collection was employed.