Institutional habitus and individual postgraduation plans: an analysis of Chinese students in transnational higher education
通过对两所中外合作大学78名毕业生和10名教职工的访谈，研究制度惯习如何影响中国学生的毕业规划，发现西方化组织实践和新自由主义文化增强了学生留学倾向和灵活职业态度，但也加剧了竞争中的边缘化。
This paper focuses on an emerging group in Chinese higher education – students in transnational higher education (TNHE). Recent research has documented much about students’ motivations for attending TNHE institutions. However, the impact of such institutions on student outputs remains under-researched. This study conducted interviews with 78 final-year undergraduates and 10 staff from two Sino-foreign cooperative universities (SFCUs) to understand how their plans for postgraduate study and career, as well as their relevant preparedness, were affected by their in-situ experiences. Using institutional habitus in conjunction with the concepts of capital and field as a conceptual framework, the study showed that the students negotiated a complex mix of institutional sociocultural status, Westernised organisational practices and neoliberal climate as they projected and prepared their postgraduation plans. The transformative outcomes of TNHE experiences are intertwined with the institutional habitus of SFCUs. The findings indicated that institutional forces strengthened the students’ educational disposition to pursue postgraduate studies in Western countries. The new culture and norms experienced by Chinese students at these institutions modified their sense of constraint, enhanced their cosmopolitan orientation towards the workplace and were manifested in more flexible career attitudes. The findings also revealed that neoliberal culture has penetrated the institutional environment, influencing the extent to which students enacted agency in their preparation for the future, with some students developing enterprising selves while others felt marginalised and disempowered by competition. This study has implications for TNHE practitioners to support their students’ transition to next stage.