ABSTRACT
Never before in the history has international education become such an important channel for labour migration and an integral part of the life course for young people around the world. Millions of students are studying languages, cultures, science and technologies in a foreign country. However, in spite of this rapidly expanding trend of global population mobility, international students seldom become subjects of investigation. 1 They are frequently depersonalized into a type of resource in policy debates on ‘brain drain’ or ‘brain gain’. Their actual migration experiences and labour market outcomes are largely left unexamined. By documenting Chinese students’ economic and social practices in Japan, this book presents the complexity of this mode of migration as well as the lives of these migrants. Moreover, through the case of Chinese students, this book examines the interactive process of economic globalization and population movements in the contemporary world. In this concluding chapter, I review the phenomenon of educationally channelled labour migration from China to Japan, highlight the diverse labour market outcomes of international education, and examine the advantages and limitation of migrant transnationalism. I also suggest issues begging further investigation. In particular, I draw attention to the impact of economic globalization and international migration on gender stratification and the need to examine international students’ migration experiences from a comparative perspective.
