Cross-Border Choice as Identity Investment: Cases of Malaysian and Indonesian Ethnic Chinese Students in Hong Kong

Abstract

This article reports a case study on two ethnic Chinese students, one from Malaysia and one from Indonesia, who chose to pursue higher education in Hong Kong. By placing the students at the center of investigation against the social, political, economic, and educational contexts of their home countries, as well as the host territory, the present life history study seeks to gain a holistic understanding of cross-border mobility. Findings suggest that the external push–pull factors were mediated by the students’ personal backgrounds and dispositions in their decision making. Although data show that the two students benefited from the cross-border mobility in terms of redefining their ethnic identities and creating global academic and professional identities, implications of the purposes of cross-border mobility and study methods for student mobility are discussed.

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