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Cross-Border Higher Education for Identity Investment: Cases of Malaysian and Indonesian Ethnic Chinese Students in Hong Kong

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Internationalization of Higher Education

Abstract

This article reports the results of a case study involving two ethnic Chinese students, one from Malaysia and one from Indonesia, who chose to pursue higher education in Hong Kong. By placing the students at the centre of an investigation of the social, political, economic and educational contexts of their home countries and host territory, the study sought to gain a holistic understanding of cross-border mobility. The findings suggested that the students’ personal backgrounds and dispositions mediated the external push-pull factors involved in their decisions. The data showed that the two students’ cross-border mobility allowed them to redefine their ethnic identities and create global academic and professional identities. The implications of the purposes of cross-border mobility and methods for examining student mobility are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Pseudonyms were used to protect the identities of the two participants.

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Correspondence to Pik Lin Choi .

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Note This chapter was mainly adapted from the previously published article Choi (2008) with updates of the data and key references.

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Choi, P.L., Tang, S.Y.F. (2016). Cross-Border Higher Education for Identity Investment: Cases of Malaysian and Indonesian Ethnic Chinese Students in Hong Kong. In: Cheng, Y., Cheung, A., Ng, S. (eds) Internationalization of Higher Education. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 28. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-667-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-667-6_8

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