Migration plans of the international PhD students

Abstract

Within the concept of transnationalism and global development, migration decisions of international students play a vital role. This article draws on 21 in-depth interviews with PhD students coming from 16 different countries across the world, who are studying at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The study explores the diverse factors influencing migration decisions and potential intentions of return. The results suggest that there is a specific influence of the life-cycle phase and the family considerations on the predictability and direction of respondents’ future migration steps. Migration decisions of the interviewed PhD students with children tend to be strongly driven by responsibility towards their families and institutions, while a permanent return is very likely. The single and childless PhD students expressed individual freedom and professional opportunities as essential driving forces in their temporal migration decisions with their future migration destination being less predictable.

Examining change in migration strategies over the life course of international PhD students

“…Changing circumstances, including life course transitions and developments in family or relationship status, have a strong relation to the migration strategies of PhD students, as they need to continuously balance family-and careeroriented decisions. The strong influence of the transition from university to work life, and biographical status development on migration decisions identified among our informants, further expands previous conclusions of life course literature (Ackers, 2004;Glorius, 2016;Rakovcová, 2017). Work-family balance strategies described by our informants also confirm earlier findings (Gardner, 2002;Leung, 2013;Achenbach, 2016).…”

“…Moreover, Ackers (2004) argues for different leading factors influencing the mobility of scientists in the different stages of their life course, as family considerations tend to be more applicable for migrants with a partner or child, whereas economic factors are more relevant for young and single migrants. These findings were also supported by the literature on the predictability of return migration of highly educated migrants (Rakovcová, 2017), where the influence of life course and family concerns was specifically described. The migration decisions of international PhD students with children were found to be strongly driven by responsibility towards their families and institutions, unlike single and childless students who cited professional opportunities and individual freedom as essential migration driving forces (Rakovcová, 2017).…”

“…These findings were also supported by the literature on the predictability of return migration of highly educated migrants (Rakovcová, 2017), where the influence of life course and family concerns was specifically described. The migration decisions of international PhD students with children were found to be strongly driven by responsibility towards their families and institutions, unlike single and childless students who cited professional opportunities and individual freedom as essential migration driving forces (Rakovcová, 2017). There are other diverse influencing factors driving migration decisions that are not necessarily closely linked to life course events, such as social inequalities, degree of gender equality, economic development, value systems and cultural norms (Bernard et al, 2014).…”

Longitudinal and spatial perspectives on the mismatch of tertiary educated migrant workers in the Czech labour market: The case of Ukrainians

“…When focusing on highly skilled migrants, one cannot avoid studying the manifestations and impacts of the brain drain, brain gain, brain waste or brain exchange phenomena (Ness, 2013;Docquier and Sekkat, 2006; also for example, Vavrečková et al, 2008;Rakovcová, 2017). Broadly defined, analyses of migrants' human capital contribute to enriching our knowledge in the field of migratory gains and losses.…”

“…We are fully aware that this typology does not provide a comprehensive picture of the trajectories that migrants may undertake in the host country labour markets, as it was derived from a qualitative study focused on a limited number of selected migrant workers. For this reason, the typology is not capable of reflecting, for example, the position of a migrant within their life-cycle (Rakovcová, 2017), or the different ethnic affiliations of migrant workers and how these workers interact in broader social and economic contexts, resulting, for example, in implicit discriminatory practices (and their progress over time) towards particular ethnic/citizenship groups. As a result, the typology does not include, for example, a possible path where a migrant worker enters the labour market in a profession reflecting their qualifications, eventually moves downwards or becomes unemployed, and then starts again in low-level positions.…”