A recent quantitative study by Peeters and De Witte investigates the determinants of international students’ university choices and their decisions to remain in the host country after graduation, focusing on the Flemish region of Belgium.
This study draws on 652 usable survey responses from international students at KU Leuven, collected between February 10 and March 19, 2025, after removing 96 Belgian respondents from an initial 748 completed surveys. Roughly 15% of respondents were reached through digital channels and 85% through lecturing moments. The authors conducted two discrete choice experiments (DCEs): Deck 1 on university choice (7,824 choice observations) and Deck 2 on the post-graduation stay decision (11,736 observations), plus an embedded information experiment on perceived English use in Brussels firms.
Variables were operationalized as choice attributes. Deck 1 comprised tuition fee, university ranking, proximity to home, labor prospects, and guaranteed accommodation; Deck 2 comprised gross salary, ease of obtaining a visa or work permit, ease of social integration, employment opportunities, and quality of life. Intention-to-stay was captured through a direct survey question and linked to a visa-requiring dummy and GDP per capita. Data were analyzed using conditional and mixed logit models, willingness-to-pay measures, latent class analysis, and subgroup analysis.
The findings show that tuition fees are the most influential determinant of university choice, with students willing to forgo up to €8,597 in annual fees for a higher-ranked institution (range €4,260 to €8,597, versus €2,989 for many employment opportunities). Easing immigration procedures raised stay probability by 11.62 to 23.99 percentage points, alongside substantial preference heterogeneity across student groups. Students would give up to €761 in gross monthly salary for an easier visa process and €754 for high quality of life. Visa-requiring students had a 9 to 10 percentage-point higher intention to stay, and each €10,000 of home-country GDP per capita lowered it by 1.92 percentage points. Master’s students were 9 to 10.2 percentage points more likely to intend to stay than Bachelor’s students, and students with a student or part-time job were 4.75 to 8.12 percentage points more likely. Latent class analysis found two groups for university choice (55% cost-conscious and 45% career-oriented) and two for staying (52% quality-of-life seekers and 33% instrumental optimizers). Fast-track visas for skilled graduates were estimated to yield €27.7 to €83.0 million a year for the Flemish economy, and better labour market conditions €40.4 to €172.7 million. This study offers actionable insights for policymakers seeking to attract and retain international talent.
Source: Peeters, E., & De Witte, K. (2026). International student mobility and retention: evidence from discrete choice experiments. Studies in Higher Education, 1-18.