The working lives of migrant professionals : exploring the case of migrant academics

Abstract

This thesis examines the working lives of foreign-born academics who come to work to the UK. Its main aim is to understand the degree and conditions of migrant scholars’ inclusion in professional practice abroad. The thesis fulfils this aim by developing a conceptual approach to encapsulate how migrant professionals’ working lives are conditioned by the pre-existing professional structures. Grounded in the principle of social closure, this framework proposes that migrant professionals’ employment abroad is influenced by the different forms and rules of closure, as well as by the sites in which closure rules are applied. The synthesis of the theoretical framework with findings from sixty-two interviews with foreign-born scholars employed in thirteen British universities shows that migrant academics’ working lives are explained by ‘modes of incorporation’. ‘Modes of incorporation’ designate the distinct ways in which the academic profession has reacted to the increased presence of foreign incomers, and comprise integration, exclusion, subordination and indifference. The proposed framework extends the understanding of the demographic change in professions, and offers a way to capture migrant professionals’ movement across countries.