Experiencing Global Student Mobility in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia

Abstract

The chapter reports on qualitative research conducted in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia on the experience of international students. The research involved qualitative structured interviews with over 60 international students studying in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. The students interviewed were from China, Dubai, Italy, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Indonesian, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Germany, Sweden, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Jordan and were studying a mixture of postgraduate, undergraduate and preuniversity studies. The diversity of nations, languages, cultures as well as the levels of studies provides a cross section of the experience of students in these newer and emergent destinations. This chapter reports on the reasons for studying and motivations for choosing an Asian destination and their experiences of the academic and social environments of their host countries. It also explores the social and cultural challenges that students experience particularly in dealing in a multilingual environment where English is used as the language of instruction. The chapter reports on the ambitions of the students and their future plans and how studying in an Asian centre facilitates their plans for work in the global workforce. Importantly, the chapter provides evidence about the nature of associations, networks and affiliations that students develop in these newer sites for global student mobility and their perceptions about risk and security. The research conducted in 2010 provides perspective of the relationships between study, work, migration, settlement and global student mobility and the civic, communal, and national attachments emerging from it. This research in this chapter also provides some evidence of the challenges for Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia to bring internationalisation of higher education and the promise education hubs into reality.