To challenge deficit thinking concerning immigrants and refugees in urban schools, we engaged members of local immigrant and refugee communities from China, Mexico, Liberia, and Sudan in focus group discussions about their prior educational experiences, their hopes and aspirations for education, and the supports and challenges they encountered in…

A significant increase in internationally mobile students has been observed in the past decades. With the strong intention of enhancing their competitiveness in the global labour market, a growing number of students have embarked on their learning journeys through studying abroad or enrolling in transnational Higher Education programmes. These…

This article complicates dominant instrumentalist understandings of international student motivation by focusing on Chinese female tertiary students in Australia. Based on longitudinal fieldwork with 56 such students, it analyses motivations described by students and their parents in interviews, showing that these far exceed instrumentalism and…

Drawing on in-depth interview data from 31 mainland Chinese (MLC) students in a Hong Kong university, this article conceptualises MLC and Hong Kong higher education as two dissonant but interrelated subfields of the Chinese higher education field. The article argues that these MLC students' habitus, one that possesses rich economic, social and…

This article explores how graduates of a junior high school in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China, chose their high school and college major subject of study and the extent to which their majors fit with their work trajectories. We found that most interviewees considered the likelihood of a major and degree leading to better job opportunities…

The rise of China as the world factory in the last few decades has been accompanied by a rapid expansion in vocational education. A growing number of youth from rural backgrounds now have the chance to receive post-compulsory education in vocational training schools. Using human capital theory as an analytical focus, this study examines their…

Scholars who study volunteer activities are attaching ever greater importance to the motivations of volunteers who participate in volunteer activities. However, deficiencies are, on the whole, to be found in the empirical studies by scholars in China on the participating volunteers' motivations. To make up for the deficiencies in the research on…

This paper presents a study of 428 youths who participated in service-learning projects in developing countries in South-East Asia, China and India. Using mixed-method approach, this study examined the reasons for their participation in the YEP (youth expedition projects) and the impact of their service-learning experiences on their civic…

Security is an integral component of the relationships that shape the lives of students hosted by foreign countries. International student security became a source of contention between nations in 2008 when China's Government charged that Australia was failing to adequately provide for the safety of Chinese students. We discuss Beck's theorisation…

Internationally, higher education has expanded greatly since the closing decades of the twentieth century. China was no exception. This study is intended to examine the status quo of issues relating to equity and access to higher education in the context of educational expansion and differentiation in China. Two research questions are addressed in…

This study used interviews and questionnaires to survey 770 no-fee preservice students. Its findings were as follows: (1) Their employability encompasses five dimensions: teaching skills, ability to learn specialized knowledge, ability to grasp elementary and secondary teaching materials and methods, communication skills, and ability to apply for…

Lifelong learning and professional development have been the focus of government organisations after the 21st century was declared the "learning century", amidst the impact of globalisation and growth of knowledge-based economies. Although lifelong learning and professional development opportunities are available in most government…