Investigating the Contributing Factors to Emigration Intension from Iran among Postgraduate Students at University of Isfahan

Emigration or the intention to emigrate from Iran, among specialist groups can be a thorny problem if it continues to spread. Therefore, the article aims to investigate the extent of the intention to emigration and its contributing factors among postgraduate students at University of Isfahan. The research is a survey by method and the statistical population consisted of 6258 students studying during the academic year 2021-2022 in postgraduate level. The data analysis was performed according to a sample comprising of 215 students, in which quota sampling (sex, study program, and educational department) was used.  The findings revealed that the mean score of the intention to migration is larger than the average of the scale (3.2 out of 5). Likewise, it was found that in the Humanities department, the intention to emigrate is less than engineering and basic science departments.  economic condition had no contribution to the intention to emigration. As for Furthermore, there was no significant difference between males and females in terms of the intention to emigrate. The diagram of the structural equation model shows the indirect effect of religious belonging and institutional trust on the intention to emigrate while a direct effect of social belonging on the variable could be distinguished in the same time.  As religious belonging increases, intension to emigrate declines while institutional trust increases. However, as institutional trust grows, emigration declines and so does social belonging and the intention to stay.