Proximity or language: factors attracting international doctoral students to the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)factors attracting international doctoral students to the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)

Abstract

Doctoral studies represent a journey filled with many challenges and, along the way, international doctoral students are especially vulnerable since they may experience problems with supervisors and academic isolation. In addition, there is an acculturative stress moving abroad, grappling with different academic and socialization expectations, and building social networks. Despite this, more and more students are moving to another country to do their doctoral studies.According to the Shanghai ranking, the five most important universities in the world are located in English-speaking countries (USA and UK) and have percentages of international students ranging from 16.9% at the University of California (Berkeley) to 36.9% at the University of Cambridge. At the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), this percentage is much lower in the degree (4.5%). However, it is considerably higher for doctoral studies. Specifically, at the UPV/EHU, almost 25% of our doctoral students are international and come from more than 85 countries around the world.The UPV/EHU is a generalist university in a region where it is the only public university, and two languages are spoken (Basque and Spanish). In this context, the aim of this work is to find out the parameters that explain why the UPV/EHU is attractive to international students. To this end, the methodology used consisted of analysing the origin of almost a thousand international doctoral students in terms of their geographic proximity and native language. The results were also analysed by gender and show that the most important factor in attracting students is undoubtedly the native language.