How Do Life Goals and Motivations of International Students Studying in Australia Impact Their Achievement Outcomes?

Many international students aim beyond their country boundaries by moving away from home and studying abroad. This longitudinal design addressed a gap in current research, by linking together antecedent life goals and motivations on entry to students' studies, to predict exit achievement scores, to provide information concerning optimising international students' engagement and learning. Participants were international students (N = 342) from South-East Asian backgrounds who at arrival to Australia did not meet university requirements and therefore enrolled in a university preparatory course. At its beginning and end, they completed ethically approved reliable psychological survey measures which elicited information on a range of study motivations; a measure of general life goals was purpose-developed and validated. Exit achievement data were provided by course administrators. The stereotypical view that international students' goal is to migrate to Australia was not supported, being the lowest rated life goal. Students rated future career and life enjoyment highest, and also family related goals were regarded highly. Regression analysis showed these goals impacted academic "task value", which subsequently was the sole motivational factor significantly predicting course achievement. Promoting and sustaining these life goals should foster academic task value and actual achievement. (Contains 5 figures, 5 tables and 1 footnote.)