Homeland-Diaspora Relations in Flux

Student migration from Greece to the UK: Understanding aspirations and decision-making

This paper examines taught postgraduate students’ migration from Greece to the United Kingdom in times of economic recession in Greece. For many years the United Kingdom has attracted thousands of Greek tertiary-level students every year. However, despite the great volume and numerical importance of their migration flows, there is a gap in the study of the educational migration of this national group of students. Drawing on a series of interviews with taught postgraduate students from Greece, staff members in UK Higher Education Institutions as well as with education agents, this project investigates various aspects of this phenomenon. Specifically, it explores the patterns and trends of postgraduate students’ migration from Greece to the UK and examines their aspirations, decision-making, perceptions, motivations, experiences, and graduation plans. This paper will provide an overview of an ongoing doctoral study, including the methodology and preliminary findings on students’ aspirations and decision-making. In order to better understand how students perceive their educational migration and what factors may influence their migration and educational aspirations and decision-making, the socio-economic, family, social, and cultural contexts in which they are situated need to be considered.

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