Research Highlighted:

Mulvey, B. (2020). “Decentring” international student mobility: The case of African student migrants in China. Population, Space and Place, n/a(n/a), e2393. doi:10.1002/psp.2393

Listen to an interview with Ben Mulvey; Read the summary of Ben’s interview

Read Ben’s other entries here and here.

A higher proportion of African tertiary students are globally mobile than in any other region, with approximately six percent undertaking higher education outside their home country (Kritz, 2015). At the same time, China hosts the second greatest number of African international students of any country, and African students are the second largest regional grouping of international students in China – there were 81,562 students from all 54 African countries studying in China in 2018. The development of China as a major destination country for African students and the growth of outbound international student mobility amongst African students are both emergent phenomena. This partly explains the lack of empirical research on this student flow, and why the bulk of research on international student mobility focuses on major sending countries in East Asia and destinations in the West. The result of the focus on “Rest” to “West” student flows in international student mobility is that existing theory around students’ mobility decisions, largely developed with reference to these student flows, are insufficient to explain some forms of South-South mobility. In this presentation, based on empirical research consisting of 40 interviews conducted with African students in Chinese universities, I analyse the decision-making processes of this group of student migrants, and explore how this new knowledge challenges existing conceptual understandings of the nature of international student mobility (ISM).

An outcome of the article is that it draws attention to under-acknowledged unequal dynamics within the Global South. I seek to situate Africa-China educational migration within the broader context of the globalisation and the global regime of coloniality, incorporating structural power relations into an analysis of student migrants’ decision making. The research aims are as follows: firstly, to understand the logics underpinning African students’ decisions to study abroad in China, and secondly, to explore how these logics may be shaped by structural forces.

In terms of the theoretical approach, this paper is concerned with how ISM is embedded within a global regime of coloniality (e.g. Grosfoguel, 2010; Mignolo, 2013). Whilst there are a number of articles (e.g. Madge et al., 2009; Stein and de Andreotti, 2016; Ploner and Nada, 2019) which examine various facets of ISM through a postcolonial lens, the approach has been developed in a very limited way. I pay particular attention to how global structural inequalities shape student decision-making, answering calls by Kelly and Lusis (2006) and others for an approach to migration studies which incorporates global structures of inequality and power into the analysis, applying an innovative approach to educational migration in the Global South specifically, thus making a theoretical contribution to the ISM literature.

Grosfoguel (2010) describes how peripheral nation-states exist under a regime of global coloniality, as non-core zones continue to exist in conditions of coloniality despite the end of formal colonialism. This is fundamentally because the exploitative global division of labour which developed as a result of colonialism is reproduced in the “postcolonial” capitalist world-system (Wallerstein, 2004). It is obvious that this global regime shapes South-to-North migration patterns, and as such postcolonial approaches to analysing labour migration are well established. For example San Juan (2011) and Eder (2016) describe how low income countries such as the Philippines become reservoirs of cheap labour and Western countries its’ clients, reproducing colonial asymmetrical relationships. Less well developed in the literature however is the notion that firstly, migrations within the Global South, and secondly, migration for educational purposes, entrenched within the same global system, can be viewed through this lens.

I give four main examples of how mobility between Africa and China is mediated by global structural forces, arguing that doing so deepens understanding of the structural drivers of student migration, and of the mechanisms through which international student mobility is related to inequality. African students have a wide variety of rationales for seeking overseas study, usually influenced in some way by China’s structural position within the (post)colonial global political economy, and by China’s reproduction of core-periphery relations in its interactions with Africa. Empirically the article makes a significant contribution to the literature by outlining four cases of student mobility decision-making which differ from those outlined in existing literature. Some are from outside the middle-class, and are able to leverage China’s soft power gambit to go beyond their “field of the possibles”. Others are pawns in China’s political manoeuvring, and are essentially forced into studying overseas by their own government. Most, unsurprisingly, appear to be middle-class. I note however that these students are not necessarily members of the affluent “global” middle class (e.g. Koo, 2016), and are excluded from the “best” educational migration opportunities in the West by the unequal distribution of capital afforded by the global (post)colonial political economy. A minority of students are social elites who are able to leverage social networks in order to take advantage of China’s courting of the political class across Africa. This example again demonstrates how China’s semi-peripheral position is reproduced in its relation with African nations (as peripheries), and in turn how this creates discrepant logics of migration. All of these examples demonstrate how China’s ambiguous political and economic relationship Africa, borne out of its position within the postcolonial world system, serve to create logics of migration that cannot be easily explained using existing frameworks which tend to be quite simplistic in their assumptions about who moves and to what ends.

Author bio

Ben Mulvey is a PhD candidate at the Education University of Hong Kong. Ben’s research focuses on educational migration between Africa and China, and what this student flow reveals about China’s attempts to (re)shape the global “field” of higher education. He can be contacted via the following email address: bmulvey@s.eduhk.hk

Research Highlighted

Xu, C. L. (2020). (Open Access) Time, class and privilege in career imagination: Exploring study-to-work transition of Chinese international students in UK universities through a Bourdieusian lens. Time & Society, 0(0), 1-25. doi:10.1177/0961463×20951333

Watch a video on this paper.

Refer to a presentation given by Dr Cora Xu at the ‘International Mobilities and Post-Pandemic Futures in the Asia-Pacific’ conference organised by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

Abstract

Existing research and policy on international students’ study-to-work transition fall short of a temporal theoretical perspective that is sensitive to the fluid and class-stratified nature of their career imagination. Career imagination refers to how international students conceive of, enact and reconfigure their careers as they encounter novel circumstances along their life courses. Drawing on in-depth interview data with 21 Chinese international students and graduates at UK higher education institutions, this article adopts a primarily Bourdieusian framework that centres around how time, class and privilege intersect to shape these students’ career imagination. In this framework, time is conceptualised both as a form of coveted cultural capital and as an underlining mechanism that constitutes these students’ habitus. This theoretical orientation facilitates exposition of the complex rationale behind the two observed temporal career strategies, ‘deferred gratification’ and ‘temporal destructuring’ and accentuates nuanced inequalities pertaining to fine-grained familial class backgrounds and places of origin of these students. This article furnishes empirical cases that challenge extant policy and empirical literature’s tendency to consider international students and their career imagination as homogeneous, individualised and present-focused. Instead, the empirical findings reveal how these Chinese international students’ career imagination is class-differentiated, embedded within and influenced by broader temporal structures and constantly evolving. This article thus advances understanding about how temporally sensitive and better differentiated career supports should be and could be tailored for international students at policy and practice levels.

Background

Current policy discourse in destination countries such as the UK, Canada, Denmark and Singapore has often statisticised international students as lifeless figures that constitute graduate employment indicators. These instrumental approaches betray policymakers’ lack of intention to harbour international students’ subjective career wishes, plans and imaginations. Instead, there are prevalent focuses on the present, the Now of the international students’ employability and much oblivion of the ‘unpredictable’ future and impact of ‘the passage of time’ on these students’ post-study career enactment (Collins & Shubin, 2017, p. 19). Such policies also tend to consider career deliberation of international students as a linear process that could be compartmentalised in a specific period, e.g. pre-employment stages.

Within such policy accounts, international students are often individualised and homogenised. They are individualised because they are frequently assumed to be ‘individual free agents, able to respond to [migration policies] in line with their individual career or lifestyle preferences’ (Geddie, 2013, p. 204); this assumption ignores the ‘embedded’ nature of international students’ career decision-making, as shaped by their complex transnational relationship and citizenship strategies (ibid.). They are homogenised because they are typically portrayed to fit this persona:

… are financially secure; have the support (emotional and material) of family and friends (i.e. ‘social capital’); have been raised in an environment that places great value on formal education and credentials; have highly educated parents; and have experienced overseas travel as a child (Waters, 2012, p. 128).

This stereotype is counterproductive as it may falsely lead policymakers and institutions to believe that a one-size-fits-all approach is sufficient for supporting all international students’ study-to-work transition. In fact, research has revealed that international students can be highly diversified and socio-economically stratified.

Nevertheless, there has been little empirical understanding about how time features in and shapes the career imagination of international students. Take the case of Chinese international students with British higher education degrees for example: much existing research on these students has been focused on their perceptions about employability and approaches to getting hired immediately after graduation.

To redress the above gaps, this article investigates the career imagination of 21 Chinese international students and graduates with British higher education degrees who are from middle- and upper middle-class backgrounds. It has two aims: firstly, to provide a theoretical vocabulary for understanding how time features in and shapes these Chinese international students’ career imagination; secondly, to pinpoint how class, privilege and time intersect to underpin these participants’ temporal career strategies. By achieving these aims, this article can serve as an anchoring point for informing better differentiated career supports for international students at policy and practice levels.

Theoretical framework

This article is informed primarily by Bourdieu’s (1986, 2002) conceptual tools of capital, field, and habitus as well as his writings on the social structuring of temporal experience (Bourdieu 2000). Specifically, I first conceptualise time as a form of coveted cultural capital (following Cheng 2014), the possession and free deployment of which can be highly stratified along class lines and shapes the adoption of career strategies such as ‘waiting’ (to be elaborated) among these Chinese international students. Second, I draw on Atkinson (2019), Snyder (2016) and Adam (1990, 2006) to expound how time is integral to the field and sedimented within these Chinese international students’ habitus, thus inclining them towards certain career preferences, attitudes and approaches over others, reinforcing and reproducing forms of class privilege. While Bourdieu’s theoretical framework facilitates an incisive set of tools for unpicking the structural factors that impact on these participants’ temporal understanding of career imagination, I have turned to concepts such as ‘deferred gratification’ (Adam, 1990) and ‘temporal destructuring’ (Leccardi and Rampazi, 1993) from the cannon of sociology of time as specific conceptual vocabulary that can depict observed career strategies among participants.

Temporally sensitive research approach and implications

This study employed both pre-employment anticipation and on-the-job reflection and retrospection from participants to highlight that their career imagination is an ongoing and evolving project. The data reveal that some participants have substantially recalibrated their career ambition, e.g. Chang and Jing both realised that their initial career ideal of working in the UK did not match their temporal expectation of enjoying high quality personal time. Instead they found that working in Switzerland and Australia respectively fit their overall career temporal rhythms better. Qie’s initial decision of rejecting the overwork-culture in China was reinforced after three years of work in the UK where he could enjoy better work-life balance. However, as his career progressed, his began to see new resources and opportunities (e.g. the high-end talent schemes) in China that could serve his temporal ideal while advancing his career. Li’s deferred gratification strategy eventually allowed him to subvert the temporal structures imposed on him back in China and embraced the alternative work and lifestyle in Britain. He thus appeared to experience fewer adjustments in pursuing his career ambitions. Inclusion of on-the-job reflection, retrospection and prospection of international students is thus a useful way to unpack the embedded temporal dimension of career imagination, which has been missing in career support policy and practices, as well as empirical research (Huang & Turner, 2018; AGCAS, 2016).

These lively career imagination trajectories also demonstrate that international students are much more than lifeless graduate employment figures (HESA, 2018). Their career imagination is fluid and contingent upon their specific personal and familial circumstances, and sensitive to alternative temporal structures that they are exposed to. It is, therefore, pivotal to devise career support services that are conducive to supporting these students to understand their longer-term career needs and priorities. Importantly, it is advisable to cultivate their exposure to alternative temporal structures and pinpoint possible routes to achieving their career ambitions. The use of career case studies, such as the ones discussed in this article, could serve as useful reference points for international students to ascertain their own circumstances and devise corresponding temporally sensitive career strategies.

Dr Cora Lingling Xu, Durham University

Conclusion

This article makes three contributions to the literature. Firstly, its Bourdieusian temporally sensitive theoretical framework provides necessary conceptual vocabulary to understand how international students’ career imagination is shaped by their class, privilege and access to time. This theoretical orientation facilitates exposition of the complex rationale behind the two observed career strategies, ‘deferred gratification’ and ‘temporal destructuring’ and accentuates nuanced inequalities pertaining to fine-grained familial class backgrounds and places of origin. Secondly, this article provides empirical cases that illustrate the evolving nature of international students’ career imagination. Such cases challenge extant policy and empirical literature’s tendency to consider international students and their career imagination as homogeneous, individualised and present-focused. Thirdly, consequently, this article advances understanding about how temporally sensitive and better differentiated career supports should be and could be tailored for international students at policy and practice levels.

Author Bio

Dr Cora Lingling Xu (PhD Cambridge, FHEA) is Assistant Professor at Durham University, UK. Her research interests include educational mobilities, identities and social theories. She has researched cross-border student and academic migration, ethnic minority and rurality topics within contemporary Chinese societies. She is an editorial board member of the British Journal of Sociology of Education, Cambridge Journal of Education and International Studies in Sociology of Education. She is founder and director of Network for Research into Chinese Education Mobilities. Her publications have appeared in The Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology of Education, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Time and Society, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Policy Reviews in Higher Education, Review of Education, Journal of Current Chinese Affairs and European Educational Research Journal. You can access her publications here. She can be contacted via Email: lingling.xu@durham.ac.uk; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3895-3934; Twitter: CoraLinglingXu

Watch a video on this paper.

Research Highlighted:

Chen, H., Akpanudo, U., & Hasler, E. (2020). How Do Chinese International Students View Seeking Mental Health Services? Journal of International Students, 10(2), 286-305. doi:https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v10i2.765

The COVID-19 global pandemic has taken an emotional and physical toll on individuals cross countries, and many university international students have been facing the challenges of uncertainties in their academic degree plan, living arrangements in between semesters, lack of social interaction due to quarantine, and unexpected financial adjustment. Prior to the current stressors, international students encounter various cultural barriers that are often overlooked, such as language barriers, identity conflicts, and unfamiliar cultural norms (Jibreel, 2015), which all can impact their mental wellness. While international students may be aware of their anxiety level, they tend to focus more on pressing concerns like academic performances. Though mental health plays an important role in students’ self-identity, there seems to be a disconnect between feeling it and attending to it. Unfortunately, such disconnect extends to the international student affairs units where many schools do not prioritize addressing the mental health concerns and meeting the mental health needs of international students (Qu, 2018). Therefore, this article aims to understand specifically the Chinese international students’ attitude toward seeking mental health services and intends to advocate for these students to higher education practitioners. The article proposes the following research questions: 

1. To what extent does gender and length of stay in the United States influence the attitudes toward seeking mental health services among Chinese students?

2. To what extent does gender and awareness of on-campus counseling services influence the attitudes toward seeking mental health services among Chinese students?

Method

The researchers used convenience sampling and were able to obtain responses of 113 Chinese international students from two southeastern universities in the United States. Attitude Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale – Short Form (ATSPPH-SF) was utilized as the assessment to collect students’ responses, and a total of 110 valid responses were included for data analysis. Of the participants, 57 were males and 53 were females. 34 participants reported to be in the U.S. for less than one year; 57 participants stayed between one to two years, and 19 residing in the U.S. for more than 3 years. The ATSPPH-SF is a widely used instrument for assessing attitudes toward seeking mental health treatment (Elhai, Schweinle, & Anderson, 2008). The ATSPPH-SF comprises 10 items on a four-point Likert scale (0 = “Disagree”, 1= “Partly Disagree”, 2 = “Partly Agree”, 3 = “Agree”) of which five are reverse scored (Picco et al., 2016). Scores on the scale range from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating a more favorable attitude toward seeking mental health services (Elhai et al., 2008).

Findings

There was no statistical significance found on the interaction between gender and the length of stay in the U.S. for Chinese international students’ attitudes toward seeking mental health services. Neither the main effect of gender nor length of stay yielded statistical significance. However, there was a general pattern in both genders that as students’ length of stay increased a more positive attitude was presented. In addition, the standard deviation for the total mean score for both genders decreased when a longer length of stay was reported, which possibly indicates that students who have spent a longer time in the U.S. resulted in a more unified and positive attitude toward mental health. 

Among the 110 responses, 88 reported their acknowledgment of counseling center on campus, and within those 88 responses, a statistical significance was found on the interaction between male and female students’ attitudes toward seeking professional mental health services and their awareness of a counseling center on campus. There was a significant difference in attitude among gender for students who were not aware of the on-campus counseling center. Among those who are unaware of the availability of on-campus counseling services, male students have attitudes that are significantly less positive toward seeking mental health services than do female students. 

Conclusion

The findings of this study are particularly relevant as these add to the literature regarding the influence that gender, cultural adjustment, and knowledge of on-campus opportunities to receive mental health services may have on mental health help-seeking among international students. Baer (2017) reported that though universities have interventions in place for students who need academic support, typically a narrower range of interventions exists for students with difficulty adjusting to campus life and feeling safe on campus. Academic performances and integrity remained the priority of higher education’s concerns. However, universities are aware of the emotional needs of their international students by placing providing resources on cultural differences between China and the United States, as well as hiring Chinese-speaking international student services staff/counselor following after the academic requirements. Several recommendations were presented in the implications of this article. 

By attending to the emotional needs international students have for their continuous growth in academic settings, universities ought to consider offering mental health care-related events to raise students’ awareness of the importance of mental health. Institutions might also provide opportunities for students to feel personally cared for by recommending support groups or individual counseling therapeutic relationships. As international students are already conceiving of themselves as the minority population on campus, they may have been underrepresented in the campus climate, and the responsibility falls on the international student affairs office to advocate for those students as well as implementing effective interventions. 

References:

Baer, J. (2017). Fall 2017 International Student Enrollment Hot Topics Survey. Retrieved from https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Data/Fall-International-Enrollments-Snapshot-Reports

Elhai, J. D., Schweinle, W., & Anderson, S. M. (2008). Reliability and validity of the attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help scale-short form. Psychiatry Research, 159(3), 320-329.

Jibreel, Z. (2015). Cultural identity and the challenges international students encounter (master’s thesis). Retrived from http://repository.stcloudstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=engl_etds

Picco, L., Abdin, E., Chong, S. A., Pang, S., Shafie, S., Chua, B. Y., … & Subramaniam, M. (2016). Attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help: Factor structure and socio-demographic predictors. Frontiers in psychology, 7.

Qu, H. (2018). International student engagement in American higher education: Perspectives of international students toward services provided by the Office of International Services. [Dissertation] ProQuest LLC.

Authors’ Bio:

Huan (Lillian) Chen is a doctoral student focusing her studies in Counselor Education at the University of North Texas. Her clinical experiences in counseling include play therapy, filial therapy, young adult counseling, and multicultural counseling. She has strong research interests in the effectiveness of Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) among families cross culture, Chinese speaking population’s perspective on counseling, and training and supervising counselors-in-training. She hopes to continue her pursuit in advocating for multicultural competency and the development of mental health awareness in Chinese-speaking cultures. She can be contacted: huanchen@my.unt.edu, hchen2@harding.edu

Dr. Usenime Akpanudo is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Director of Research Initiatives at the CannonClary College of Education, Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. His research interests include schools as organizations, the intersection of schools and culture, and social vulnerability. Contact: uakpanud@harding.edu

Erin Hasler graduated from Harding University receiving a B.S. in Psychology, an M.S. and an Ed.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counselling. During her time in graduate school, she developed an interest in research and data analysis, using those skills in her work as a graduate assistant for Harding’s Educational Leadership department. Erin currently works in education in the state of Maine. Contact: ehasler@harding.edu

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