ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on a longitudinal qualitative study which explored the employability-related experiences of 32 UK-educated Chinese students during their overseas higher education. This chapter tells the story of one particular participant (a single mother) who was accompanied by her daughter, mother and mother’s mother during her one-year taught Master’s course in the UK. The in-depth narrative analysis is based on the data collected by pre- and post-diary interviews and diary entries over the course of nine months, all of which were designed to trace the entire overseas journey of the participant. The chapter primarily aims to explore how caring responsibilities impacted this participant’s decision to study abroad, her learning and living experiences in the UK, and her future career plan. The story of this participant, although a relatively unusual case, indicates many concerns shared by student carers and common challenges that Chinese students in the ‘One Child Policy’ generation need to face. This chapter argues that caring responsibilities can bring about women’s self-sacrifice with regard to their personal pursuits to satisfy their family’s and extended family’s collective well-being, with cultural value, structural factors, and personal circumstance, intensifying the conflict between Chinese women’s personal development and family duties.
