Abstract:
Purpose: In the Chinese context, the concept of involution has mostly been applied in rural studies, institutional innovation, and social relations/cultural studies to understand the intensification of activity within a system, but without increased outputs or benefits as a result. Despite obvious parallels, the concept has not, until now, been applied to education. Hence, this study explored Chinese international students’ motivations and expectations of pursuing higher education overseas in order to understand their sense and awareness of education involution in China. Also, while a large amount of literature has emphasised students’ decision-making processes in education associated with theories of forms of capital, including human capital theory and cultural capital theory, this study found relations between individuals’ understanding of involution and their social and cultural forms of capital.
Methodology: This is a qualitative study that adopted semistructured interviews as the main tool with six Chinese international students who are pursuing either a bachelor’s or a master’s degree in New Zealand. All interviews were audio-recorded and analysed using thematic analysis.
Findings: The research findings show that most students recognised the value of human capital and closely connected their education background with their future career prospects. However, findings also indicate that cultural capital influences students’ motivations and expectations of pursuing overseas study. Cultural capital highlights the importance of an individual’s family background and it shapes students’ attitudes towards both the activity of study internationally and the circumstance of education involution.
Values: This study addresses the gap where there was almost no literature that discussed education involution. It should also raise awareness of education involution and address a version of the image of involution in students and their families’ eyes. In practice, this study highlights several issues of the current education system in China and also helps foreign education institutions to better promote their programmes to prospective students.