International Student Mobility: International Student Recruitment at the University of Saskatchewan

Abstract

The number of international students studying at the University of Saskatchewan has not seen the same growth trends as the rest of Canada and has actually decreased in the number of international students from a peak of 2,542 in the 2015/2016 academic year to 2,516 in the 2017/2018 academic year (University of Saskatchewan, 2017). The University of Saskatchewan ranks near the bottom of the U15, the premier group of research universities in Canada, for the percentage of international students as part of its student population and last in overall international student population in Western Canada (U15, 2017). The goal of this mixed methods study was to determine what factors influenced the current international students at the University of Saskatchewan and compare the results with the university’s initiatives and structures supporting the recruitment of international students so the university may become more efficient in attracting international students. Quantitative data was collected from an online survey. Qualitative data was collected through document analysis and follow-up interviews from the online survey. The data collected from the documents was analysed in relation to migration theory proposed by Lee (1966) and the push-pull factors identified by Lam, Ariffin, and Ahmad (2011); Lee and Tan (1984); Mazzarol, Kemp, and Savery (1997); and Mazzarol and Soutar (2002) to see if the structures and initiatives are in alignment with earlier research. Both qualitative and quantitative data was analysed using a side-by-side comparison approach outlined by Creswell (2014); the qualitative findings were reported so that themes were drawn and then compared to the quantitative results.