The Life Experience and Satisfaction of Foreign Students in Eastern China: A Case of Anhui Province

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the migration intentions of foreign students and to have a better understanding of their life experiences in eastern China with a focus to Anhui province. A questionnaire survey sent to foreign students studying in Anhui province and depth interviews were used to investigate these migration intentions. Screening method was employed to all 527 participants and only464respondents were considered for further analysis. The results show that few students arrive in Anhui with the intention of immigrating permanently. Various factors including business opportunities, security and personal factors among many others influence them in decision- making process. The results reveal that there is no significant intentions to stay permanently however, there exist instances with a slight increase in the length of stay from 0% (initial) to 1.9% (after two years) and a steady variation of 30% of all respondents who wish to stay for short -period ranging between 2-3 years was noted. On the other hand, family and societal factors as well as length of stay was seen to be the high contributing factors leading to 58% of all respondents’ decision to go back to their home countries immediately after completion of studies. Furthermore, results show that there is a gap in Chinese education system on human racial equality leading to lower satisfaction of African students living in China which may threaten China’s sustainable economic growth image in African market. This study is helpful for policy makers and education system upgrade plans. However, following the area limitation used herein, there remains need for further studies on the subject using large scale to avoid generalizations made in this study.