Asiatische Bildungsmobilität: Eine vergleichende Studie der internationalen Migration von japanischen und chinesischen Studierenden
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
The Bielefeld team focused on the analysis of network effects on the students. The data collected indicates that experiencing negative emotions, such as loneliness, is less dependent on being a native or international student. Experiencing negative emotions is more about network structure and density. A higher density furthers emotional support. It should be remembered, however, that density is a good indication of social control. A high density may therefore indicate that students' attitudes are strongly influenced by other network participants and remain more stable over time. Our analysis shows that being an international student does not determine how the networks are structured. Rather, we revealed different types of networks, which are relatively independent of the students' nationality. This connection is of enormous importance for the understanding of the students' experiences and living and learning conditions, since differently structured networks not only influence the types of experiences, but also provide possibilities for dealing with problems and challenges. This is the main outcome of our network analysis: an understanding of the experiences of international students, based not on ethnicity or country of origin, but mainly on the types of networks in which they are embedded. These types of networks differentiate in forms of density, transnational orientation, and emotional attachment. The secondary focus, which gradually became necessary and gained significance over the course of the research, pertains to the methodological questioning, which became a primary goal of Takuma Fujii’s dissertation. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's field and habitus theory, he argued that it is not nationality and national factors, but the specific logics and rule of artistic fields that affect the mobility practices of cross-border mobile art students. Takuma Fujii’s dissertation indicates that the national category “Japanese students” is not appropriate to analyze the mobility patterns and practices of the individuals defined this way. In migration research, there are loud demands to overcome methodological nationalism. However, the actual, thoughtful implementation of this demand can be found significantly less frequently. Our research highlighted the necessity of rethinking the interplay between national and other social factors such as networks and fields, as well as their impact on mobility. One of the main goals of "Bright Futures" and „Asian Educational Mobilities” was to create a meaningful dataset, that could be used by the scientific community for research purposes related to international student migration, in particular of Chinese and Japanese students. This goal has been achieved in two ways. First, we gathered data on 814 Chinese, 58 (+33) Japanese and 425 native students in Germany. Second, we succeeded in merging the dataset from Germany with the data from our partners in the UK and China. This resulted in a representative dataset for all three countries, and now also plus Japan, which can be used for various comparative analyses. With the 35 (+1) qualitative interviews we have an additional source of information for the experiences and living conditions of Japanese students in Germany. Then there are the eight interviews with Japanese parents, which add another dimension and deepen the understanding of the circumstances and conditions of the international students.
