With reference to capital theories and rational choice theory, this paper aims to understand how abilities and schooling ambitions are intertwined with social class, gender and ethnicity. By drawing on 16 in-depth interviews carried out with highly educated second-generation Turks in the Netherlands, the paper discusses the resources, opportunities and educational attitudes of young people, together with the role of the school system and that of teachers in perpetuating ethnic inequalities in schooling, with special emphasis on gender differences in schooling ambitions.

International student mobility, especially at doctoral level, is a largely under-researched component of international migration. This is in stark contrast with the case of credit mobility where much research has been undertaken on Erasmus students. The aim of this paper is to remedy the situation by focusing on international doctoral students who chose to study at an elite higher education institution in the UK. By analysing the role of -local, national and international -schemes of funding in shaping individual mobility decisions, the author argues against the portrayal of international students as 'rational decision makers' in favour of a more contextualised approach to mapping the graduate student migratory phenomenon. By contrasting the 'entry channels' of students with their future plans -in terms of the nature of future career and geographic location -the author challenges the assumption that internationally mobile students are coming with the intention of settling down in their study destination. The study cannot uphold the view of international students as a 'migratory elite' either; although some postgraduate students are indeed from more privileged backgrounds, many individuals undertake international doctoral mobility with the explicit aim of capital accumulation. Last but not least, the paper strongly argues for abandoning the term 'spontaneous mobility' in student mobility research because a significant proportion of degree mobility does not occur spontaneously but is a result of organised schemes of funding.

This paper examines the integration of Turkish labour migrant children in four countries across Europe in terms of their educational performance. By looking at the PISA 2003 (Programme for International Student Assessment) data pertaining to mathematics achievement of 15-year-olds, it explores the effects of ethnicity, gender and family background, on the one hand, and institutional factors (such as kindergarten attendance, grading and tracking), on the other, to offer a better understanding of the large immigrant-native gaps in educational performance. As a result, the author argues that institutional factors can have an impact on school-related integration, in addition to the effects associated with individual factors, thus adding another layer of disadvantage on the children of immigrants.

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