Leveraging international education to advance women’s leadership: reflections of Indonesian alumnae of their Australian education experiences

Abstract

ABSTRACT The link between international education and the extent to which it enhances women’s leadership aspirations calls for a more situated and nuanced approach to internationalisation theory and practice. Although international education is a significant capacity-building investment and is typically assumed to advance individual and collective leadership, there is scant attention to modalities of leadership aspirations and experiences of women post-international study. The paper draws on our research exploring post-study experiences of a cohort of Indonesian women to highlight the complexities and challenges of navigating leadership post-study in Australia. The study design incorporated a mixed-method approach of individual semi-structured interviews, focused group discussions and an online survey of a diverse cohort of alumnae. The findings show that international education has the potential for advancing women’s leadership aspirations where culture and individual women’s characteristics and circumstances are considered. Indeed, alumnae report that consolidating and advancing leadership calls for successfully navigating between societal norms, family pressures and institutional contexts whilst also tapping into their international education experience.