Macro Factors Determining Transition of Vietnamese International Students Mobility

With constant increasing in numbers of students studying abroad, Vietnam is on the way to become one of the largest contributors to the world’s international student mobility. The overall picture was changed from several thousand students sent to the Eastern bloc during the cold war to about 200,000 students currently studying in Japan, Australia, US, Europe etc. This paper reviews the factors that affect the transition of trends and mobility of Vietnamese international students in the modern time. By examining related studies and literature, we demonstrated that transition of studying abroad in Vietnam is not subjectively resulted by decision of the students themselves or of their families, but it is strongly influenced objectively by external determinants including cultural, social, political, foreign relation, economic, educational factors in the country. The results found five macro factors that influence the transition trends of Vietnamese international students over time, including number of students, study destinations, career after graduation and impact on society.