How can scholarship institutions foster the return of foreign students?

Abstract

We investigate the return decision of foreign students from developing countries who graduated in Germany and received support from a scholarship institution. Controlling for the impact of economic, political and institutional determinants, we find that individual factors in particular age and time spent in the host country have a crucial impact on the return decision. Better integrated students have lower propensities to return to their home countries after graduation. Scholarship institutions which want their students to return might, thus, consider personal characteristics like age or family status when they select their students. Also provisions for scholarship receipt should be scrutinised. Some provisions for scholarship receipt, for example time restrictions or age limits, lead to increased return rates. We further investigate the impact of cultural differences between home and host country on the return decision. Especially graduates from Africa and Asia seem to consider cultural differences when deciding whether to return or not.