STUDYING, AND WORKING IN ANOTHER EU COUNTRY: PORTUGUESE YOUTH’S POINT OF VIEW

Detalhes

The willingness of Portuguese youth to go and study or work for some time in another EU country was assessed. Three types of questions were examined: (a) What is the overall level of willingness to go in another EU country? Does age, gender or SES (of the family) influence this overall level? Towards which kind of country do Portuguese youth prefer to go?, (b) What are the attitudes among Portuguese students concerning the four Push-Pull-Anti-Push-Anti-Pull factors? and (c) Is this model able to predict willingness to go and study or work in another EU country, in general, and for determined countries? The overall level of willingness to go was not at all high. The mean response was always located closer to the "No" pole than to the "Quite possible" pole. Gender, age and educational level of the father played a limited role. Participants preferred to go to the United Kingdom, France, and Spain than to go to Germany or the Netherlands. Globally, Portuguese students have expressed higher agreement with Push, Pull and Anti-Pull statements than with Anti-Push statements. This general fourth-factor model, with the addition of country specific Pull items, explains a substantial part of the variance of the Intent to go to the GB and Intent to go to France items. Among Portuguese lycéens, intent to go and study or work for some time in another EU country depends primarily upon the proper attraction exerted by this country, which is largely independent of economic considerations, and secondarily (a) upon the need and desire to learn one specific foreign language, and (c) upon the lack of importance given to the many inconveniences linked to having to live some time abroad.