‘It was always the plan’: international study as ‘learning to migrate’

Abstract

International student mobility has mainly been theorised in terms of cultural capital accumulation and its prospective benefits on returning home following graduation. Yet, despite a growing body of work in this area, most research on post‐study mobility fails to recognise that the social forces that generate international student mobility also contribute to lifetime mobility plans. Moreover, these forces produce at least four types of post‐study destination, of which returning ‘home’ is only one option. Our findings challenge the idea that a circular trajectory is necessarily the ‘desired’ norm. In line with wider migration theory, we suggest that return may even be seen as failure. Instead we advance the idea that cultural and social capital acquired through international studies is cultivated for onward mobility and may be specifically channelled towards goals such as an international career. We contribute a geographically nuanced conceptual frame for understanding the relation between international student mobility and lifetime mobility aspirations. By building on studies that highlight the role of family and social networks in international student mobility, we illustrate how influential familial and social institutions – both in the place of origin and newly encountered abroad – underpin and complicate students’ motivations, mobility aspirations and life planning pre‐ and post‐study. We argue for a fluidity of life plans and conclude by discussing how geographies of origin matter within students’ lifetime mobility plans.

Studying to Stay: Understanding Graduate Visa Policy Content and Context in the United States and Australia

“…This discussion of visa policies and the legal structures that enable and constrain experiences beyond study, contributes to existing literature that has sought to grapple with the issue of what happens to international students when they complete their studies (Findlay et al., ). While it is important to recognize how students’ “motivations, mobility aspirations and life planning pre‐ and post‐study” are shaped by cultures and geographies (p. 192), we must also recognize how these options are enabled and limited by visa policies and immigration options in intended destination contexts.…”

“…A deeper analysis of policy content and context, however, reveals that these programmes are situated in divergent immigration regimes, with the U.S. consistently reluctant to create a clear student to permanent resident pathway and Australia pulling back from a more liberal direct student to permanent resident pathway while still retaining a points-based system. This discussion of visa policies and the legal structures that enable and constrain experiences beyond study, contributes to existing literature that has sought to grapple with the issue of what happens to international students when they complete their studies (Findlay et al, 2016). While it is important to recognize how students' "motivations, mobility aspirations and life planning preand post-study" are shaped by cultures and geographies (p. 192), we must also recognize how these options are enabled and limited by visa policies and immigration options in intended destination contexts.…”

“…() describe the supply side of international student mobility, and call attention to study abroad as being a possible springboard to migration trajectories that take individuals beyond home or host countries to become a “precursor to global citizenship” (p. 153). These authors also identify pathways for post‐graduation migration trajectories for international graduates, including returning home, remaining in the host country or exploring mobility in “a way that blurred and transcended borders” (Findlay et al., : 198).…”

Conflicting framings: Young Ghanaians’ and Dutch education professionals’ views on the impact of mobility on education

“…More marginal framings hardly receive academic attention (Davies, 1999;Welsh & Chesters, 2001), for example, little is known about migrant youth's own framings because very few studies investigate how youth perceive the role of mobility in their educational pathways (Skrbis, Woodward, & Bean, 2014). Some studies show that youth perceive formal education and mobility as positively intertwined because they hope and expect that education elsewhere will prepare them for the futures to which they aspire (Adeyanju, 2017;Findlay, Prazeres, McCollum, & Packwood, 2016;Skrbis et al, 2014). Although these studies show that youth have thoughts on the impact their mobility has on their education, research has mainly focused on youth's first international move or on more privileged youth in industrialised countries.…”

Understanding Post-study Migration Plans of International Students through the Lens of Family Business Strategies: Evidence from Thailand-to-China Students

“…Thus, staying in the host country does serve pragmatic aims, but will they stay long? It is well likely that some students from developing countries may follow a study-migration pathway into a developed country (Findlay, Prazeres, McCollum & Packwood, 2017). In reference to Thais studying in China, study-migration pathway is rather unlikely given that wages in China may not be very attractive.…”