Destined for Hong Kong: A Systematic Review of China Students Mobility in Higher Education

The Covid-19 has had an impact on higher in mainland China, particularly student mobility. From 2010-2019, the number of Chinese students studying abroad continues to rise. By 2019, the number of students studying abroad has exceeded 170,000. However, more than 84% of students showed no interest to study abroad after the outbreak. The most popular countries to study abroad (North America) have been replaced by Hong Kong. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing Chinese students' choice of studying in Hong Kong. A systematic search of seven academic-based research databases was conducted to select articles related to all factors of Mainland China students flow to Hong Kong from associate to doctoral level between 2020 and 2023. Out of an initial set of 94,682 publications, a final sample of 12 key publications was identified, according to predefined inclusion criteria. Studies have found that student mobility is composed of many complex factors These factors can be divided into three levels: 1) national, 2) university, and 3) individual. Under the classification of these three levels, these factors cover the five fields of a) politics, b) economy, c) culture, d) society, and e) other areas. Nonetheless, student mobility has been profoundly affected after the COVID-19 outbreak, with new influencing factors coming into play when students choose to study abroad destinations. This study made efforts to deepen the push and pull factors analysis in recent days by finding out some uniqueness of factors such as distance and safety consideration, which influence the choice of Mainland Students who want to study in Hong Kong, especially between 2020-2023 period. Furthermore, these analysis shows the direction for the future policy making in higher institutions such as the strengthen of virtual cooperation among universities to solve some problems shown in the recent trend of student mobility.