Exploring expectations, experiences and long-term plans of Chinese international students studying in the joint Sino-Russian degree

Sablina, S., Soong, H., & Pechurina, A. (2018). Exploring expectations, experiences and long-term plans of Chinese international students studying in the joint Sino-Russian degree. Higher Education, 76(6), 973-988. doi:10.1007/s10734-018-0256-z

Dr Hannah Soong, University of South Australia

Essentially, the paper contributes to a relatively unexplored area on the growing Sino-Russian educational partnerships and the increasing desire of Chinese local students to search for a less exam-oriented education overseas. Using in-depth interviews as the main method of data collection, the paper investigates a group of Chinese students’ experiences and perceptions of their educational experiences during the course of their joint Chinese-Russian educational programme (from 2013-2014) which involves residing in both countries. This paper also offers an example of an innovative methodological approach to researching international students’ experiences: one that is not limited to context of Sino-Foreign university partnerships. The paper has shown that Chinese students value the experiences and opportunities that their international education can provide them. Over time, not only have the Chinese student participants developed confidence to compete in both regional and international labour markets, they have also maintained a heightened ‘robust’ sense of self-identity and a deeper understanding of and respect for one another with local student communities.

Author Bio

Dr Hannah Soong is a senior lecturer at the University of South Australia. Her research interests lie in the sociological study of the transnational mobility through education. Her key research disciplines include migration and identity studies, social imagination, teacher education and the intersubjectivity of self and society in postmodernity. By using socio-anthropological lenses in her doctoral work, Hannah has developed a conceptual framework to deepen one’s understanding on the meaning of mobility of students who are on the verge of migration through education processes. She is author of ‘Transnational Students and Mobility: Lived Experiences of Migration‘.