A Second Chance at ‘Success’ UK Students and Global Circuits of Higher Education

TLDR: This paper explored the choices and motivations of UK students who choose to study abroad for the whole of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree, and found that for many of their respondents, overseas education offered a second chance at accessing elite education.

Abstract: While the literature on highly skilled international migration has grown substantially over recent years, the motivations and experiences of an important sub-group — the internationally mobile student — have remained under-researched. In an attempt to redress this gap, this article draws on in-depth interviews with 85 young adults, to explore the choices and motivations of UK students who choose to study abroad for the whole of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. While studies of east to west migration have typically emphasised the importance of an international higher education as a high-prestige, first choice option for those students who can afford it, we argue that, for UK students, choices are configured differently. For many of our respondents, overseas education offered primarily a ‘second chance’ at accessing elite education. There is an erratum for this article at: http://soc.sagepub.com/content/43/6/1085/suppl/DC2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038510373333