Reasons for choosing Iran universitis as a destination university by foreign students (Case study: Tehran, Iran and Shahid Beheshti Universities of Medical Sciences)

Introductions : Attracting and enrolling the overseas students is a vital element in international universities. It seems necessary to know the factors affecting students' enrollment in the universities. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the reasons for choosing Iran medical sciences universitis by foreign students. Methods : The present study is a qualitative study with a conventional content analysis approach. 17 foreign students studying in Tehran, Iran and Shahid Beheshti Universities of Medical Sciences who were studied the second semester of the academic year of 2018-2019. They selected by purposive sampling method and interviewed by semi-structured method. The collected data were analyzed currently based on five Griesheim steps. Results : Findings of the thematic analysis of the interviews showed that 3 categories of scientific, cultural-social and economic components with seven subcomponents including "high rank and reputation of the university", "competent professors", "proximity of the country-neighborhood", "common religion-Religious similarity", "High security-especially for girls", "Loving Iran-Iranian culture", "Scholarship-appropriate tuition", "common language" and "Friends' recommendation" are the reasons for choosing Iran as a university destination by foreign students. Conclusion : According to the findings, scientific, cultural and economic factors are the most important reasons for choosing Iran universities as a destination for studing by foreign students.