Intellectual capital and student mobility

ABSTRACT

This paper advances the conceptualisation and application of intellectual capital, a key concept in the intellectual migration framework, to understand international student mobility. The intellectual migration framework contends that higher-education and highly-skilled migrants acquire, upgrade and utilise intellectual capital for upward career and social mobility. This paper argues that intellectual capital is not the sum of different forms of capitals, but a complete package with human, cultural and social capitals working in synergy through the agency of migrants. Focusing on higher-education students at the beginning of the intellectual migration continuum, it analyzes how intellectual capital is differentially accumulated at various stages of the educational process. Drawing on 51 semi-structured interviews with Chinese international students in North America, we learn that pre-migration intellectual capital, due largely to parents and family, reflects social inequality in contemporary societies whereas that obtained while studying abroad reveals more on individual agency. As such, intellectual capital accumulation abroad serves as a mediating process, especially for those with less privileged backgrounds. Supportive international higher education sectors in both sending and receiving countries can also assist students in their intellectual capital cultivation process and contribute to alleviating educational inequality.

KEYWORDS:

• Intellectual capital
• mobility
• intellectual migration
• Chinese international students
• North America

Acknowledgement

We appreciate all research participants for sharing their stories. We are grateful of the reviews and comments from the editor and the anonymous reviews. We also thank Dr. Elaine Ho of National University of Singapore for the feedback to the early draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). A US National Science Foundation grant (BCS-1660526) and a Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant (435-2017-1168) funded the research project that this article is based upon. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies.

Additional information

Funding

A US National Science Foundation grant (BCS-1660526) and a Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant (435-2017-1168) funded the research project that this article is based upon. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies.