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

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McCollum_2016_Area_LearningtoMigrate_AAM.pdf (321.7Kb)
Date
06/2017
Author
Findlay, Allan
Prazeres, Laura
McCollum, David
Packwood, Helen
Keywords
Pre- and post-study mobility
Lifetime plans
Negotiating transition
International students
Global mobility
Milieu of place of study
H Social Sciences
G Geography (General)
NDAS
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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.
Citation
Findlay , A , Prazeres , L , McCollum , D & Packwood , H 2017 , ' ‘It was always the plan’ : international study as ‘learning to migrate’ ' , Area , vol. 49 , no. 2 , pp. 192-199 . https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12315
Publication
Area
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12315
ISSN
0004-0894
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2016 Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12315
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12291

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