Afghan Students’ Decision-Making about Return to Homeland

Journal of International Cooperation and Development

Elite migration, in other words brain drain, is one of the most important obstacles to the development of developing countries. The brain movement and inverse immigration depends a lot on policies adopted in the countries of origin. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the Afghan students’ decision-making about return to homeland. The statistical population was the Afghan students in Iran. Cochran's formula was also used to determine the sample size. The main research tool was a questionnaire and 161 Afghan students in Iranian universities answered the research questionnaire. The result of research showed that, the decision to migrate is an issue that has several dimensions. The result of research showed that, Afghan female students have not been able to achieve good cultural homogeneity with the host community. Also, the older students are more inclined to preserve their traditional culture (Afghan culture). In addition, with the age of students, their desire to immigrate to another country (third country) has decreased. Also, graduate students are more interested in preserving their native culture and they are more inclined to return to their country. the results of factor analysis showed that. six factor such as: convergence and cultural integration in the host community, war, insecurity and lack of scientific and financial facilities in Afghanistan, students' professional status in the Afghanistan, students' professional status in the host society, freedom index in Afghanistan and students achievement motivation could be predict to 55% of students’ decision-making about migration.