Chan, A. K., & Chen, X. (2023). Study-to-work transitions of students-turned-migrants: ongoing struggles of mainland Chinese graduates in Hong Kong. Higher Education, 1-16.
About the study:
International students’ settlement experiences have emerged as a new focus in migration studies. Studies have shown that students-turned-migrants experience difficulties transitioning and getting jobs after graduating despite their domestic university qualifications. Researchers have identified structural and institutional factors, such as stringent immigration policies (Maury, 2020; Moskal, 2017) and ‘homophilous employment systems’ (Liu-Farrer & Shire, 2021, p.13), and the various human capital characteristics of student migrants (Wiers-Jenssen & Støren, 2020; Yang, 2020) as being significant barriers. Recent studies have further delineated the importance and unevenness of socio-cultural capital and institutional habitus in shaping international students’ post-study aspirations and transition experiences (Lee, 2021; Lee & Waters, 2022).
Few studies have examined the links between students-turned-migrants’ transition experiences and their adaptation challenges during their university years, especially their difficulties in acquiring new language skills, developing cultural understanding and making local social connections, and whether and how students-turned-migrants overcame their earlier socio-cultural adaptation difficulties after entering their host society’s labour market.
Moreover, the focus on current studies is dominated by the experiences of international students in English-speaking or Western European countries. While these countries remain popular destinations for international students, Asia is increasingly hosting these mobile talents (Collins et al., 2017). Intra-Asian educational mobility has been increasing steadily, especially among students in China, which is the most significant source country (Yang, 2020), as parents prefer their children to study in places such as Singapore (Chacko, 2021; Yang, 2014) or Hong Kong (Peng, 2019), which have similar socio-cultural contexts and geographic locations. However, whereas some scholars have argued that shorter socio-cultural distances between source and host societies help facilitate socio-cultural adjustment (Chan et al., 2016), others have identified unique barriers for Chinese international students in Asia. Despite the presence of the ethnic Chinese majority, migrant Chinese students must grapple with cultural precarity (Chacko, 2021), intra-ethnic othering (Yang, 2014) and even anti-mainlandisation sentiments (Xu, 2015).
Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 mainland Chinese (MLC) graduates in Hong Kong, we add nuance to intra-Asian ISM studies by scrutinising their post-university settlement experiences. We ask the following questions: How do MLC students/graduates navigate and acquire social, cultural and linguistic capital (i.e., Cantonese proficiency, cultural understanding, intercultural competence and social networks)? How do MLC students-turned-migrants’ earlier socio-cultural adaptation at university influence their post-study transition and settlement experiences?
Findings and implications:
In our study, MLC students-turned-migrants experience challenges in their university years. Adaptation difficulties in their university years, including limited Cantonese proficiency, meagre cultural understanding of the host society and weak connections with locals, continue to affect their subsequent employment and social integration. Our findings underscore the importance of student migrants’ ongoing socio-cultural adaptation difficulties. These challenges were not always resolved but intensified during the post-study transition, making socio-cultural integration and inter- and intra-ethnic cohesion a thorny problem for the social agenda.
This study also deepens the discussion on intra-Asian educational mobility, especially the social interactions between intra-ethnic groups. Other than the challenges of cultural precarity, intra-ethnic othering and anti-mainlandisation sentiments (Chacko, 2021; Yang, 2014; Xu, 2015), our study revealed other barriers, including language as a demarcation device, everyday workplace microaggressions and self-segregation as an inevitable strategy in a context where sociocultural affinity was expected. The challenges and discrimination that MLC students/graduates encounter are intimately related to the broader public (discriminatory) discourses of ‘foreign talents’ (Yang, 2014, p. 236) or ‘mainland Chinese students’ (Xu, 2015, p. 28) and the complex socio-economic, political and migration environments of the host societies (Liu-Farrer & Shire, 2021). As the study-to-work transition trend grows, we argue that the specific migration contexts and workplace microaggressions experienced by skilled/students-turned-migrants should be examined adequately.
Our findings have implications for immigration policy, university student services and local companies. Many countries have developed policies to attract international students to become skilled migrants, but few have done much to help them integrate into their host societies (Scott et al., 2015; van Riemsdijk & Basford, 2022). The HKSAR government is no exception. While it has liberalised its immigration policies, it places the responsibility on individual student migrants to adapt to the socio-cultural norms of the local society. The HKSAR government should be more proactive in supporting MLC in learning the host language to better integrate with locals.
Concerning higher education, as more non-local or international students consider becoming skilled migrants after graduation, we believe universities should strengthen their related support and career services to enhance MLC students’ socio-cultural integration and future employability by helping them learn Cantonese and understand Hong Kong’s social norms, cultural practices, workplace culture and general expectations.
Finally, employers and co-workers are vital in integrating students-turned-migrants into the workplace (van Riemsdijk & Basford, 2022). Non-local migrants’ difficulties and unwillingness to learn and speak the host language in addition to intermingling and forming ties with local colleagues are sometimes related to the responses they received at university and in the workplace. While the government must counter various forms of discrimination using policies and public education, local companies should also cultivate staff with multicultural competency, organise training against microaggressions and actively promote intercultural learning and interactions in their workplace.
References
Chan, K., Huxley, P. J., Chiu, M. Y.-L., Evans, S., & Ma, Y. (2016). Social inclusion and health conditions among Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom: an exploratory study. Social Indicators Research, 126, 657–672.
Chacko, E. (2021). Emerging precarity among international students in Singapore: experiences, understandings and responses. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(20), 4741–4757.
Collins, F. L., Ho, K. C., Ishikawa, M., & Ma, A. H. S. (2017). International student mobility and after study lives: the portability and prospects of overseas education in Asia. Population, Space and Place, 23, e2029.
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Author’s bio
Anita K.W. Chan (First author)
Anita K.W. Chan (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies at The Education University of Hong Kong. As an expert in gender and education, she has examined various gender issues in Hong Kong’s education system, including the gendered identities of school girls, university males, primary school teachers, principals, and gender differences in choosing STEM subjects among secondary school students. She is also passionate about family and migration studies and has researched parenting, motherhood, fatherhood, changing families and intimacies, cross-border students, and transnational families. She is a qualitative researcher specializing in in-depth interviews and narrative analysis. Email: akwchan@eduhk.hk
Xi Chen (Co-author and Corresponding author)
Xi Chen (PhD) is a Lecturer in the Academy of Chinese National Cohesion Research at Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. She graduated with a PhD from The Education University of Hong Kong, supervised by Anita K.W. Chan. As a former mainland China-Hong Kong student, she focuses on the student mobility research stemmed from her PhD study. She is also passionate about the topics related to international students studying in mainland China, as well as Hong Kong studies. She is a qualitative researcher specializing in in-depth interviews. Email: xichen614@163.com
Managing Editor: Tong Meng
Network for Research into Chinese Education Mobilities (NRCEM) 