International student mobility

The Role of Social Networks

Bibliographic Data

ID3977971
AuthorsSuzanne E Beech, Sandra Beech (0000-0003-2778-7766, University of Hull, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume16
Issue3
Pages332-350
Publication date2015-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2014.983961
OpenAlexW2095228471
LanguageEN
Citations received95
References cited65

Building upon recent work on higher education mobility, this paper contends that social networks of friendship and kinship are critical determinants for students deciding to study overseas, not just, as has hitherto been suggested, a complementary factor. It uses original data collected through interviews and focus groups with thirty-eight higher education international students studying at three UK universities and argues that students who choose to study overseas do not operate within a vacuum but rather draw upon extended networks of individuals who have chosen to do so themselves or advocate studying abroad. While this encouragement may be of an explicit and unequivocal nature – telling students that they ought to study overseas – for the majority it is rather more implicit. The students interviewed invariably related that higher education overseas or mobility more generally was an accepted practice amongst their peers, thereby leading to a normalisation of the mobility process. The paper concludes that international students come to accept mobility as a taken for granted stage within the lifecourse, and, whether intentionally or not, this is often the driving force behind their decision to study overseas

Focus group · Friendship · Higher education · International education · Kinship · Mobilities · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Social mobility · Social science · Sociology · Study abroad · Work (physics · Engineering · Gender Studies · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Higher Education Governance and Development · International Student and Expatriate Challenges · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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