IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joimai/v25y2024i2d10.1007_s12134-024-01116-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unfamiliarities, Uncertainties, and Ambivalent Long-Term Intentions: Conceptualizing International Student-Migrant Settlement and Integration

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa Ruth Brunner

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Karun Kishor Karki

    (University of the Fraser Valley)

  • Negar Valizadeh

    (University of Ottawa)

  • Takhmina Shokirova

    (University of Regina
    Reception House Waterloo Region in Waterloo)

  • Capucine Coustere

    (Université Laval)

Abstract

International students (IS) are increasingly positioned as “ideal” economic immigrants for their supposedly limited settlement and integration needs, resulting in a growing number of education-migration, or edugration, immigration pathways. However, the settlement and integration experiences student-migrants undergo during edugration are undertheorized. Using collaborative autoethnography (CAE), we examine five graduate student-migrants’ edugration experiences in Canada. Our interest is not whether student-migrants are sufficiently integrated or settled through the eyes of the state, but rather the experiential impacts of edugration; in other words, we examine not the process of assimilation but the experience of being positioned as “easily” assimilated subjects. Our findings suggest three distinct experiential categories produced by edugration: unfamiliarity, uncertainty, and ambivalence. Together, these experiences form a unique settlement and integration experience due to extended periods of temporariness. Through this conceptualization, we argue that the recruitment of IS through multi-step migration pathways like edugration presents ethical questions for both the state and higher education. While we support strategic calls for more coordinated, cross-sectoral efforts to improve the lived experiences of student-migrants, we caution against justifying these calls based on neoliberal, econometric, or (neo)colonial rationales regarding (1) the value of IS as human capital, and (2) assimilationist notions of settlement and integration. We instead encourage more critical, nuanced discussions of student-migrant experiences which actively resist such logics.

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa Ruth Brunner & Karun Kishor Karki & Negar Valizadeh & Takhmina Shokirova & Capucine Coustere, 2024. "Unfamiliarities, Uncertainties, and Ambivalent Long-Term Intentions: Conceptualizing International Student-Migrant Settlement and Integration," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 973-996, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:25:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s12134-024-01116-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-024-01116-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-024-01116-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12134-024-01116-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arnaud Chevalier, 2022. "How to attract international students?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-36, May.
    2. Paloma E. Villegas & Breanna Barrie & Serriz Peña & Jilanch Alphonso & Alveera Mamoon, 2020. "Integration, Settler Colonialism, and Precarious Legal Status Migrants in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1131-1147, December.
    3. Mattoo, Aaditya & Neagu, Ileana Cristina & Özden, Çaglar, 2008. "Brain waste? Educated immigrants in the US labor market," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 255-269, October.
    4. Sandra Schinnerl & Antje Ellermann, 2023. "The Education-Immigration Nexus: Situating Canadian Higher Education as Institutions of Immigrant Recruitment," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 599-620, December.
    5. Garnett Picot & Feng Hou, 2023. "The Effect of Pre-immigration Canadian Work Experience on the Returns to Human Capital Among Immigrants," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 661-679, December.
    6. Huyen Dam & Joyce Chan & Sarah Wayland, 2018. "Missed Opportunity: International Students in Canada Face Barriers to Permanent Residence," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 891-903, November.
    7. Vibha Kaushik & Julie Drolet, 2018. "Settlement and Integration Needs of Skilled Immigrants in Canada," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-14, May.
    8. Emma Flynn & Harald Bauder, 2015. "The Private Sector, Institutions of Higher Education, and Immigrant Settlement in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 539-556, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rupa Banerjee, 2023. "Introduction to the Special Issue—Canada’s Economic Immigration Policy: Opportunities and Challenges for the Road Ahead," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 585-597, December.
    2. Udo Kreickemeier & Jens Wrona, 2017. "Two-Way Migration between Similar Countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 182-206, January.
    3. Anghel, Remus Gabriel & Botezat, Alina & Cosciug, Anatolie & Manafi, Ioana & Roman, Monica, 2016. "International migration, return migration, and their effects. A comprehensive review on the Romanian case," MPRA Paper 75528, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Dec 2016.
    4. Simone Bertoli & Hillel Rapoport, 2015. "Heaven's Swing Door: Endogenous Skills, Migration Networks, and the Effectiveness of Quality-Selective Immigration Policies," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(2), pages 565-591, April.
    5. Mohammad M. H. Raihan & Nashit Chowdhury & Tanvir C. Turin, 2023. "Low Job Market Integration of Skilled Immigrants in Canada: The Implication for Social Integration and Mental Well-Being," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-13, March.
    6. Léa Marchal & Clément Nedoncelle, 2019. "Immigrants, occupations and firm export performance," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 1480-1509, November.
    7. Valentine Fays & Benoît Mahy & François Ryckx, 2024. "Do migrants displace native-born workers on the labour market? The impact of workers’ origin," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2024004, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    8. Sharron Xuanren Wang & Arthur Sakamoto, 2021. "Can Higher Education Ameliorate Racial/Ethnic Disadvantage? An Analysis of the Wage Assimilation of College-Educated Hispanic Americans," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    9. Sharpe, Jamie & Bollinger, Christopher R., 2020. "Who competes with whom? Using occupation characteristics to estimate the impact of immigration on native wages," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Sahoo, Pravakar & Dash, Ranjan Kumar, 2014. "India's surge in modern services exports: Empirics for policy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1082-1100.
    11. Herbert Brücker & Albrecht Glitz & Adrian Lerche & Agnese Romiti, 2021. "Occupational Recognition and Immigrant Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(2), pages 497-525.
    12. Commander, Simon & Nikolaychuk, Olexandr & Vikhrov, Dmytro, 2013. "Migration from Ukraine: Brawn or Brain? New Survey Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 7348, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Frédéric Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2012. "Globalization, Brain Drain, and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(3), pages 681-730, September.
    14. Tijan L. Bah, 2018. "Occupation-skill mismatch and selection of immigrants: Evidence from the Portuguese labor market," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp1804, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.
    15. Debora Pricila Birgier & Eyal Bar-Haim, 2023. "Language Used at Home and Educational–Occupational Mismatch of Migrants by Gender," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 265-290, November.
    16. Mariele Macaluso, 2022. "The influence of skill-based policies on the immigrant selection process," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 595-621, July.
    17. Biavaschi, Costanza & Burzyński, Michał & Elsner, Benjamin & Machado, Joël, 2020. "Taking the skill bias out of global migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    18. Nejad, Maryam Naghsh & Schurer, Stefanie, 2022. "Cognitive and non-cognitive abilities of immigrants: New perspectives on migrant quality from a selective immigration country," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 107-124.
    19. Frederic DOCQUIER & Çaglar OZDEN & Giovanni PERI, 2010. "The Wage Effects of Immigration and Emigration," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2010044, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    20. Calogero Carletto & Jennica Larrison & Çaglar Özden, 2014. "Informing migration policies: a data primer," Chapters, in: Robert E.B. Lucas (ed.), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 2, pages 9-41, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:25:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s12134-024-01116-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.