ERIC Number: EJ1456880
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2151-0393
EISSN: EISSN-2151-0407
The Lived Experience of Internationally Mobile Students: A Longitudinal Study
Megan M. Siczek
Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, v16 n5 p33-44 2024
In response to calls for more individualized research on international student mobility (ISM), this article reports on a hermeneutic phenomenological study into the lived experience of two participants, one from Inner Mongolia, China and one from Ecuador, who migrated internationally for higher education. Within a constructivist epistemological framework, this study reveals how these participants describe and interpret their international mobility experience across four semi-structured interviews over a ten-year period. Four key themes were identified through interpretive data analysis: (1) study abroad as self-initiated and self-fulfilling; (2) characterizations of key moments shaping the ISM experience (10-year lens); (3) construction of self through international student mobility; and (4) complex perceptions relating to "home." A key contribution of this research is substantiating how individuals display agency within the context of ISM, both in their practical responses to circumstances and in their growing sense of self-actualization.
Descriptors: Foreign Students, Student Mobility, Student Attitudes, Educational Experience, Asian American Students, Hispanic American Students, College Students, Study Abroad, Self Concept, Student Development, Family Environment
Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education. 3107 B Hampton Highway, Yorktown, VA 23693. e-mail: oic213@lehigh.edu; Web site: https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jcihe/index
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A