Transnational connections, competences and identities: experiences of Chinese international students after their return ‘home’

Abstract

International students constitute a substantial and growing mobile population globally. However, as yet, the experiences of returnees and the ways in which their overseas studies impact on their identity and professional and personal lives over time have been under-researched areas. In this article we employ concepts from theories of transnationalism as a framework for the analysis of the experiences of Chinese graduate returnees. The empirical basis for the article is a 20-month, twostage, mixed-method study of 652 Chinese students who returned home for work on completion of their degrees in UK universities over the last 25+ years. Evidence suggests that their journeys of studying abroad and returning home are dynamic and interconnected transnational experiences. Such experiences are avenues for diverse social networks that reinforce a complex cosmopolitan identity and awareness. They are, also, avenues for transnational(ised) new competences, skills and worldviews, which are increasingly valued by the students themselves upon return home. Irrespective of differences in their demographics and backgrounds, studying and living abroad was perceived by most returnees in our research as a profound identity transformating experience. These new connections, competences and identities enabled them to view and live life with a new sense of self at 'home' and, as a result, function in ways that continued to distinguish themselves from those around them over time. The findings have implications for higher education institutions and agencies that are concerned with enhancing the quality of university internationalisation. They also have implications for a broadened empirical and conceptual understanding of transnationalism.

An emotional journey of identity change and transformation: The impact of study-abroad experience on the lives and careers of Chinese students and returnees

“…The Chinese students' experiences cited in this article reinforce our earlier conclusions that studying abroad and returning home are dynamic and interconnected transnational experiences (Gu and Schweisfurth 2015). Such experiences are typically characterised by Chinese students' constant negotiation, reproduction and expansion of their social, cultural and professional identities in an attempt to enact meanings 'in the course of their everyday lives within and across each of their places of attachment or localities of perceived belonging' (Vertovec 2009: 77).…”

“…As the experiences of students in our research show, such desire to establish social and cultural connections with people 'here' and 'there' is deeply associated with a search to belong in the locality. Gu and Schweisfurth (2015) argue that the awareness of these in the transmigrant student-self facilitates a range of bonds that they build and maintain with others who have similar experiences, or whose identity or identities overlap in any number of ways with their own. In so doing, their attachments are 'decentred', marked by a sense of being at 'home' in more than one place (or, potentially, no particular place).…”

“…For many international students, the triadic relationships are the cross-border social worlds or spaces in which they learn to negotiate their individual identities and 'an enhanced "bi-focality" of outlooks' (Vertovec 2004: 970), which may continue to influence their perceptions of a transnationalised self, the makeup of their social and professional networks, and their transnational practices upon return to their home countries. Gu and Schweisfurth (2015) argue that for Chinese students especially, reaching this stage from monocultural roots is not simply a question of skill acquisition. Rather, it is fundamentally a process of identity transformation.…”

“…The third study (2008)(2009), funded by the British Academy, investigated the impact of study-abroad experiences on the lives and careers of Chinese returnees (Gu and Schweisfurth 2015). This twenty-month two-stage research project also combined quantitative and qualitative methodologies.…”

“…The complex and heterogeneous composition of this group and the diverse and dynamic nature of their experiences have attracted scholars from different disciplines, driven by their distinct theoretical, methodological and ideological concerns, to unravel this relatively nascent field (e.g. Cushner and Karim 2004;Glass and Westmont 2013;Gu 2009;Gu and Schweisfurth 2015;Smith and Khawaja 2011;Suspitsyna 2012;Ward and Kennedy 1993;Waters and Leung 2013;Zhang and Goodson 2011).…”