South–South student mobility and the myth of easy adaptation: lessons for higher education institutions in the Global South
研究叙利亚和尼泊尔学生在印度攻读管理教育的经历，发现文化相近但制度陌生的环境中，适应并非轻松，而是受互动、文化距离和制度结构影响的复杂过程，对全球南方高校有启示。
Literature on international student mobility has predominantly centred on Global North–South flows, leaving South–South student mobility underexplored. The present study explores the lived experiences of Syrian and Nepali students pursuing management education in India, a context with regional proximity yet institutional unfamiliarity. Based on the analysis of the in-depth autobiographical transcripts, the research investigates how acculturation evolves in a culturally proximate yet institutionally unfamiliar setting. Findings reveal that though integration emerged as a strong acculturation strategy for both groups, it did not emerge as a straightforward outcome. It is rather a complex interplay between host–student interactions, cultural proximity/distance, and institutional structures, producing diverse pathways of adjustment across affective, behavioural, and cognitive dimensions. Syrian students, who were visibly marked as foreign, experienced structured forms of institutional accommodation alongside challenges related to language, religion, and food. In contrast, Nepali students—despite cultural and linguistic proximity—reported an ‘invisibility paradox’, wherein their perceived similarity to Indian peers reduced institutional recognition of their needs. By juxtaposing these experiences, the results extend Berry’s acculturation theory to South–South higher education mobility, contributing a nuanced understanding of how students navigate cultural terrains that appear to be closer yet divergent. Implications are drawn for the host institutions, highlighting the need to move beyond symbolic diversity toward structural support in language, religion, food, and gender-sensitive mobility to foster inclusive intercultural environments in the Global South.