International student decision-making and higher education marketing: a systematic literature review with a focus on Spain

Resumo

The international mobility of students and increasing competition among higher education destinations have intensified the need to understand the factors influencing international students’ decision-making. In this context, marketing, recruitment, institutional branding, and destination image play an increasingly important role in the international positioning of higher education institutions. This study analyses the existing literature on international student decision-making, with particular attention to the relationship between higher education marketing, destination choice, branding, and the Spanish context. A systematic literature review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. The search performed in the Scopus database initially identified 178 records. After the different screening and eligibility assessment stages, 31 articles were selected for the final analysis. The selected studies were classified according to their main thematic, geographical, and temporal dimensions. The findings show that destination choice and decision-making constitute the main research areas, followed by marketing and recruitment, branding, policy and institutional factors, and student experience. The review also identifies a concentration of research on traditional international education destinations, while emerging contexts such as Spain remain comparatively underrepresented. The findings suggest that international student decision-making should be understood as a multidimensional process in which destination characteristics, institutional factors, marketing, branding, structural conditions, and student experience interact. The study contributes to integrating these dimensions into a common conceptual framework and identifies opportunities for future research, particularly in the Spanish context.