This article examines international student mobility (ISM) as a process of "aspiration on the go" for African students in China--a burgeoning yet under-researched international student flow. Drawing on 15 months of fieldwork at a Chinese university, we present ethnographic case studies of African students that unveil their varied…

There is a scarcity of scholarship that sheds light on international doctoral students' identity construction in quotidian encounters beyond the formal curriculum. In this autoethnographic study, based on my diary entries, via a socio-constructivist lens, I teased out my multidimensional identity construction by referring to situations, activities…

This article makes a case for analysis of romantic relationships during international education programs. Study abroad programs promise cultural immersion and place students in settings where romantic relationships may be the most accessible way to achieve this immersion. Yet programs may fail to prepare students to navigate dating and romance…

It is often assumed that the simple presence of international students and ubiquitous use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) are the main agents of internationalisation of higher education (HE), whereby English equals international education and inbound student mobility equals increased internationalisation. While there are perceived…

In a qualitative study, photo narratives from eight students covering eighty total photos were collected and analyzed to understand the existing student experience across eight short-term study abroad programs from three different institutions in Texas. Photos and their connected narrative interviews were examined for compositional focus,…

This paper reports findings from a longitudinal qualitative study that explored the ethnographic learning processes of 10 modern languages students who spent one full academic year abroad, having first completed successfully an "Introduction to Ethnography" course in the UK. It begins from the argument that although significant attempts…

This paper seeks to explore the aspects related to education and aspiration through the on-going experiences of Female Malay Muslim students in UK higher institutions. Building on an ethnographic approach, an in-depth interview with 30 female Malay students, I focus on the various aspects of the students' lives as scholarship holders, addressing…

Purpose: Work integrated learning (WIL) activities, especially internships, are essential for career preparation and development. This paper applies career adaptability and capital theories to examine how international internships help undergraduate business students in their career exploration, preparation and development.…

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the United States met the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and increased social unrest caused by George Floyd's death head on to provide quality instruction and to support students in and out of the classroom. For many of these institutions, global and intercultural efforts…

The present study takes a reflexive approach to the analysis of coordinated identity work in qualitative interviews in 2 study abroad (SA) contexts, Argentina and Germany. To do this, the authors bring together 2 autoethnographic projects and take a collaborative approach (Chang, Ngunjiri, & Hernandez, 2013; Lapadat, 2017) to the analysis of…

In this article, the idea of the 'colonial signature' is advanced as a potentially pivotal response to triggers that deepen or act as barriers to intercultural learning. From a postcolonial positioning, empirical data is then examined to consider the responses to intercultural-learning triggers of 14 UK-based student teachers on a study visit to…

It is often claimed that the international academic sojourn has the capacity to bring about personal and cultural change in the sojourner, but such claims are not often supported by empirical evidence. Using an autoethnographic approach, this article offers a first-person account of the changes wrought in an international student by their time…

Guided by the notion of 'flexible citizenship', as a strategy to accumulate and exchange different forms of capital across national borders, our ethnographic study followed eleven Chinese international secondary school students' transnational lives. This paper is focused on how instrumental goals of flexible citizenship cover over the emotional…

The present study examined differential social experiences of international students living in a residential hall called 'Nihongo House' (Japanese language house) at a Japanese university. By conducting social network analysis (SNA), as well as making use of ethnographic data collected through participant observation and semi-structured…

The literature exploring study abroad students' social networks and intercultural communication traditionally considers three categories of social ties: the co-national network, the multi-national network and the host national network. However, the data collected from a yearlong digital ethnography and the narratives on the social media posts of…