Exchange Motivations In University Students, Motivaciones De Intercambio En Estudiantes Universitarios

This paper is an exploratory study that seeks to determine factors that motivate college students to opt for an exchange program, and factors that influence destination choice. For this, a questionnaire was applied to 630 college students, of which 91% were interested in participating in an exchange but only 9% had postulated. Seven factors that explain the desire to study abroad were found: new experiences, expanding the social network, influence of others, work reasons, self-realization, tourism and academic reasons. When choosing a destination eight factors were found to be important: Access and academic offerings, quality of life, costs, connectivity of the city, tourism, closeness and contacts, social motivations, and language. Finally, three cluster were identified: Conservatives, more interested in academic reasons; Travelers, open to meeting new realities, expand their social network and have new experiences; and Explorers motivated by tourism and travel at the place of destination. Future studies should focus on finding a causal model among the factors that motivate the exchange of university students