Institutional habitus and individual postgraduation plans: an analysis of Chinese students in transnational higher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on an emerging group in Chinese higher education – students in transnational higher education (TNHE). Recent research has documented much about students’ motivations for attending TNHE institutions. However, the impact of such institutions on student outputs remains under-researched. This study conducted interviews with 78 final-year undergraduates and 10 staff from two Sino-foreign cooperative universities (SFCUs) to understand how their plans for postgraduate study and career, as well as their relevant preparedness, were affected by their in-situ experiences. Using institutional habitus in conjunction with the concepts of capital and field as a conceptual framework, the study showed that the students negotiated a complex mix of institutional sociocultural status, Westernised organisational practices and neoliberal climate as they projected and prepared their postgraduation plans. The transformative outcomes of TNHE experiences are intertwined with the institutional habitus of SFCUs. The findings indicated that institutional forces strengthened the students’ educational disposition to pursue postgraduate studies in Western countries. The new culture and norms experienced by Chinese students at these institutions modified their sense of constraint, enhanced their cosmopolitan orientation towards the workplace and were manifested in more flexible career attitudes. The findings also revealed that neoliberal culture has penetrated the institutional environment, influencing the extent to which students enacted agency in their preparation for the future, with some students developing enterprising selves while others felt marginalised and disempowered by competition. This study has implications for TNHE practitioners to support their students’ transition to next stage.