A Case Study of Chinese Female Doctoral Students in a Malaysian University

Abstract

Studies have proven the negative influence of stress both on doctoral students’ academic performance and their well-being from different contents. The stress sources were also well investigated in the past literature. However, the situation of female Chinese doctoral students, especially those who have married with children and left their families behind to study in Malaysia just after the reopening of post-pandemic was still rare. To bridge the gap and understand the challenges faced by them, this case study investigated the current situations faced by female doctoral students from China studying in a public Malaysian university with a purposeful sampling method. Five purposefully chosen participants were interviewed and the transcripts were analysed thematically. The findings indicate that their lives in Malaysia are satisfactory. In general, their lives as doctoral students in Malaysia are relatively less stressful, which contradicts the findings from some past literature. The specific characteristics of these five participants of this case study such as the identity transformation to be a full-time female doctoral student and the similarity between local culture and Chinese culture can be utilized to explain the different findings.