The influence of family on Thai students’ choices of international education

International students are key protagonists in the Australian educational system. Although much research has been conducted to better understand various aspects related to factors affecting their choices of international education, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the influence of personal sources. This study employs both qualitative and quantitative approaches to clarify this research problem. The qualitative phase identifies the influence from the Thai family into five categories: finance, information, expectation, persuasion, and competition. The quantitative phase examines the influence of five factors on five choices of international education. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for the marketing of international education to Thailand.