Mexican students looking for master’s degrees abroad
09 Apr 2010
Most of the Mexican students who are planning to study abroad are looking for a master’s degree in economics and administration or engineering and technology. Although they do not immediately consider the Netherlands as a destination country, after discussions with other people they do see it as a very good option for studying abroad.
These are some of the results of the 2009 Nuffic Neso Student Survey, a research conducted by Nuffic Neso Mexico each year among prospective students. The survey is held at education fairs, at visits to Mexican higher education institutions, during Study in Holland seminars and during student counselling in the Nuffic Neso office.
Holland a definite option for studying abroad
Almost all students interviewed are serious about studying abroad, with 76% of the respondents being very certain about doing it, and another 22% thinking that they will probably study abroad. Most of the respondents (69%) are planning to obtain a master’s degree abroad.
The study fields that are popular amongst Mexican students are:
- “Economics, business and management” (28%),
- “Engineering and technology” (25%),
- “Arts and design” (13%),
- “Behavioural and social sciences” (9%), and
- “Medicine and health sciences” (7%).
Half of the interviewed students are planning to pay their international studies with a scholarship. However, other funds from parents and family, loans and their own savings will also be used for funding their time abroad.
Once a student starts thinking about studying abroad, he or she mostly turns to the internet for information about universities and their study programmes. Simply browsing the web and visiting universities’ websites are their main ways of finding information, followed by contacts with the embassies of different countries.
The majority (79%) does know some things about Holland and a little more than half of the respondents (56%) absolutely consider Holland as an option for their future studies. Over three-quarters (77%) know that it is not necessary to speak Dutch to be able to study in Holland.
Reaffirmation of Nuffic Neso Mexico’s experiences
A total of 506 students have been interviewed during the final months of 2008 and the first half of 2009. The locations where the survey was held did influence the results to some extent. Generally students were interviewed in a setting of international education (e.g. a study abroad fair), so the respondents there were naturally more serious about studying abroad. They had already taken the first step by looking for information at the fair or at the Nuffic Neso office.
However, the results of the survey do reaffirm the experiences by Nuffic Neso Mexico that indeed master’s degrees are more popular for studying abroad than bachelor’s programmes. Furthermore, the main fields of interest being administration, engineering and design are also a confirmation of Nuffic Neso Mexico’s perception of Mexican higher education students.
The full survey report is available upon request.
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