International Education, Migration and Development: A comparative study of educational migration to Denmark and New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis explores the experiences of migrants who moved to Denmark and New Zealand through education-for-immigration pathways. Using a comparative approach and mixed methods, comprising an online survey (n = 322) and semi-structured interviews (n = 36), the study finds that relative to those who moved to Denmark, education-for-immigration transpired better for those who moved to New Zealand through such pathways. Educational migrants in New Zealand landed their preferred job earlier, earned more, reported less education-job mismatch, experienced occupational mobility, and expressed a greater sense of belonging to their host country than their counterparts in Denmark. And though they earned less, educational migrants in Denmark made more financial remittances to their home countries compared to those in New Zealand. The thesis uses Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework to account for these findings. It argues that the difference in the outcome of the migration projects of educational migrants in Denmark and New Zealand can be attributed to the way that sociocultural and institutional configurations of a place illuminate what the study articulates as the ‘migrant habitus’. The migrant habitus is defined as a set of socially constituted dispositions that shape the migrant as one who has yet to sync with the social and cultural settings of a particular place, giving rise to a sense of alienation, life stuck in transition, and a hyper-awareness of a condition of otherness. The degree to which the migrant habitus is illuminated in a place conditions the opportunities and abilities of migrants to recognise, mobilise and convert their various capitals in the host country, shapes their place-making projects and practices, and impacts on their transnational engagements. This argument is elucidated by comparing study respondents’ experiences and practices.