DOI: 10.11648/j.edu.20261504.12 ISSN: 2327-2619

Quest for Quality Education and Anticipation for Permanent Settlement: Nepalese Students’ Migration to the UK as a One-way Trajectory and Brain Drain

Dinesh Poudyal
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Unlike the existing education related migration literature, this study argues that higher education factors alone may not be the main reasons for Nepalese students’ migration motivation to the UK. Through a rigorous qualitative analysis of thirty-five in-depth interviews with diverse cohorts of Nepalese students in the UK, this study illuminates the multifaceted processes by which educational migration transitions from temporary sojourning experiences into long-term permanent settlement pathways. Grounded on framework of push and pull factors, this study identifies Nepal’s unstable political situation, lack of employment opportunities and unsecured future as the key push factors, while revealing the perceived value of British education, enhanced global employment opportunity and prospects for secured future as the primary pull factors. In addition to this, the study further highlights limited return intention among Nepalese students, instead, the study reveals their deep-seated residential intention in the UK. Thus, on the one hand, this study signals Nepalese students’ migration as a predominantly one-way trajectory, indirectly functioning as a mechanism of one-way trajectory and systemic brain- drain. Simultaneously, the findings underscore the necessity of comprehensive and effective policy intervention designed to mitigate long-term socio-economic consequences linked with such persistent unidirectional migration. Thus, this study offers a necessary re-evaluation of established narratives regarding international students’ migration patterns.

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