Back to the Philippines: Connecting aspirations, return and social remittances in international student migration. (September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liao, Karen Anne; Asis, Maruja
• Other Names: Aksakal Mustafa guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Asian and Pacific migration journal. Volume 29:Number 3(2020)
• Page Start: 402
• Page End: 421
• Publication Date: 2020-09
• Subjects: international student mobility -- student migration -- social remittances -- return migration -- Philippines; Asia -- Emigration and immigration -- Periodicals; Pacific Area -- Emigration and immigration -- Periodicals; Migration, Internal -- Asia -- Periodicals; Migration, Internal -- Pacific Area -- Periodicals; Emigration and immigration; Migration, Internal; Asia; Pacific Area; Periodicals; 325
• DOI: 10.1177/0117196820964999
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0117-1968

Abstract

The growing volume of international students has attracted research interest on their return experiences and the potential impacts of their overseas education in their home countries. This paper uses the notion of aspiration to investigate international students' return experiences in connection to their motivations and perceived gains from studying abroad. Interviews with Filipino returnees who completed their postgraduate studies in Europe suggest that their plans to study abroad involved aspirations to return to the Philippines for different reasons, including career and family-related factors. Their aspirations also reflect their desired contributions to their respective occupational fields in the country. Their narratives of returning to the workplace, however, reveal institutional factors that either facilitate or constrain the transfer of ideas, knowledge and practices gained from their experiences abroad. Findings point to how returnees' workplace experiences, in turn, reshape their career aspirations and migration intentions.