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‘Home Is Where the Heart Is’: The Experiences of Expatriate PhD Students and Returnees

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International Student Connectedness and Identity

Part of the book series: Cultural Studies and Transdisciplinarity in Education ((CSTE,volume 6))

Abstract

This chapter aims to analyse the motivations and experiences of researchers who leave their country to be trained abroad and those of returnees, in particular how they integrate into their workplace and community abroad and back at home. It is based on quantitative information built on administrative and survey data concerning mobility flows and reintegration modalities in the Portuguese scientific system, complemented with a set of interviews addressing motivations, career trajectories and reintegration experiences. Motivations to go abroad relate mainly to scientific drives such as to learn new theories and methodologies, to improve the scientific CV and to establish international networks, but non-scientific reasons such as cross-cultural experiences are also mentioned. Incentives to return home are twofold, either to resume a previously tenured position or to try to obtain one, depending on the generation to which the researcher belongs. However, non-scientific justifications such as being close to family or other country-related motivations play a very relevant role.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Ana Delicado

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  1. Ana Delicado
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Correspondence to Ana Delicado .

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  1. School of Education, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia

    Ly Thi Tran

  2. RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Catherine Gomes

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Delicado, A. (2017). ‘Home Is Where the Heart Is’: The Experiences of Expatriate PhD Students and Returnees. In: Tran, L., Gomes, C. (eds) International Student Connectedness and Identity. Cultural Studies and Transdisciplinarity in Education, vol 6. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2601-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2601-0_9

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2601-0

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