Motives for Choosing to Study in International Branch Campuses in Qatar: Focusing on Nationalities in "National-minority States"

Abstract

This paper clarifies the motives of students to study in International Branch Campuses (IBCs) in Qatar. In Qatar, a lot of IBCs have been established in Education City, for example, Georgetown University, Carnegie Mellon University. And approximately 90 % of the population in Qatar are expatriates and therefore Qatar is regarded as "National-minority States". Considering this situation, a question arises; in such a society, why do Qatari and expatriates choose to study in IBCs in Qatar and what do they think the advantages of IBCs are? This paper clarifies the motives for choosing to study in IBCs for some groups of nationalities (Qatari, Arabi and other nationalities). As a result, there are some findings. First, significant differences are not observed in terms of educational quality and university reputation and they are the most important for them. Second, Qatari and Arabian students evaluate the working environment in the Middle East more than Non-Arabian. Especially, the interests of Non-Arabian were focused on university reputation and financial supports. Third, Qatari students think highly of friends and teachers when they choose to study in IBCs compared to other nationalities. On the other hand, Arabian think their families are more important in comparison with other nationalities. These show that the motives for choosing to study in IBCs include the differences of the ways of looking at IBCs, the society and their careers.