Transnational journeys: changing identities, perceptions and experiences of Malaysian doctoral students studying in the UK

[摘要] The main questions that the present study seeks to answer are why and how do Malaysian international doctoral students experience their living and learning experiences in the UK, particularly in Scotland, United Kingdom. The study explores participants’ motivations, experiences and future trajectories through Bourdieuian social theory and through the lens of transnational theory. An interpretative, multiple qualitative methodology was used, including semi-structured interviews, email interviews, and online narratives, to explore the participants’ experiences as sojourners. The study found that Malaysian doctoral students pursued their study abroad for the purpose of acquiring a wide range of formal and informal knowledge, as well as for the benefits of self and others. The participants’ microlevel experiences suggest that their ‘habitus’ are fluid, and they are constantly renegotiating their knowledge, perceptions and identities. They also portrayed reflexivity in negotiating their perceptions and experiences by drawing upon previous and present knowledge from both their home and host countries when abroad. It was also found that the participants’ future career pathways and mobility imaginings are influenced relationally by not only family and employment obligations but, also, present experiences as globalized transnational individuals, and also changing mobility imaginings that are bounded by ‘assemblages of powers’ (Robertson, 2013) of both their home and host countries. Finally, the findings suggest a range of intersectional nuances of experience in relation to social identity dimensions such as gender, ethnicity and religion.

[发布机构] University:University of Glasgow;Department:School of Education

[关键词] Higher education, student experience, transnationalism.