2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The purpose of this empirical full paper is to examine the factors that influence West African International Doctoral Students’ decision to study STEM programs in the United States (U.S.). The Institute of International Education’s report presents two major West African countries - Nigeria and Ghana - on its list of the leading places of origin of international students in the U.S., with each country occupying the 7th and 18th positions, respectively. According to the 2023/2024 report, there are 20,0229 Nigerian and 9,394 Ghanaian students studying in the U.S. These figures represent a 14% and 45% increase from the previous year, respectively, and accounts for approximately 3% of the entire number of international students in the U.S. While these numbers serve as proof of both countries’ prominence in the pursuit of a U.S. advanced degree, it also underscore the growing trend of West African students pursuing graduate studies in the U.S., a pattern that extends throughout the region.
Despite this growing number of West African international students studying in the U.S., there is a paucity of research focusing specifically on their stories and experiences, especially their motivations for undertaking doctoral studies in the United States. While studies that explored international students' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to pursue a graduate degree in the U.S. exist, those studies, unfortunately, merge the decision-making stories of all international students, without taking cognizance of the unique differences their diverse cultural backgrounds might present.
This study examines the influence of West African International Students’ (WAIDS’) cultural background on their motivations to pursue a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) doctoral degree in the U.S. We hope to contribute to the understanding of West African Students’ related choices by answering the research question: What are the motivations that drive WAIDS’ decision to study STEM in the U.S.?
We use the Situated Expectancy Value Theory (SEVT) as the theoretical framework, leveraging its focus on how participants’ cultural background, expectations for success, and the value they attach to a task can shape their motivations to pursue a STEM doctoral program in the U.S. The application of this framework in a West African context allows us to highlight the impact of situative and sociocultural factors on WAIDS decisions to study STEM in the US, informing related culturally responsive recruitment and support strategies. We are currently conducting semi-structured interviews with N = 6 WAIDS. We will analyze the data using thematic analysis, and our findings will be presented in the full paper.