한국 학위의 효용성 인식과 경제활동 경험이 외국인 유학생의 졸업 후 진로에 미치는 영향

초록

This study empirically analyzes factors associated with international students’ post-graduation career plans in Korea. In particular, it examines how the perceived career utility of a Korean degree and economic factors, such as methods of financing tuition and living expenses, are related to post-graduation career choices. Using data from the 2023 Survey on Immigrants’ Living Conditions and Labour Force (N = 2,705), this study conducted a multinomial logistic regression analysis. The results show that a positive perception of the utility of a Korean degree is significantly associated with domestic retention, with a one-unit increase in perceived utility corresponding to a 32.6% decrease in the odds of returning to one’s home country rather than staying in Korea. Notably, financing living expenses through part-time work in Korea reduced the likelihood of returning home by 54.2%, suggesting that local work experience may be related to settlement intentions. Conversely, STEM majors were 3.5 times more likely to plan to migrate to a third country, indicating heterogeneity in post-graduation pathways. These findings suggest the need to move beyond simple financial subsidies and toward policies that enhance the labormarketvalue of Korean degrees and link work experience with institutional settlement support systems.

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