An Empirical Analysis of Transnational Migration and Post-Study Decisions of Kerala’s Educational Migrants

As the migration of students from Kerala goes on unabated, the current paper focuses on the factors that motivate students to migrate. Migration decisions of students to a certain extent are influenced by their aspirations to take advantage of better employment prospects in the destination country. This is obvious from their post-study plans which in turn depend on the push factors especially those relating to bleak employment prospects and poor quality of lives in their home state. Post- study decision plans of the students are also inextricably linked to their choice of destination country. Those who have emigrated to the United Kingdom and the European Union have expressed their preference to stay back in their host country to further their career prospects and enjoying a better quality of life. Contrarily, those who have emigrated exclusively for securing higher education in countries like China and Russia prefer to return to their home state. Amongst the emigrant students who prefer to remain abroad, the majority are aspiring first-generation learners from urban areas belonging to low-income families. This establishes the role of unfavourable local conditions in determining the post-study decisions of emigrant students.