Students’ Perceived Purposes of Higher Education: A Transnational Perspective

• In Event: AERA Research in Progress Roundtable Session Two
  In Invited Roundtable: Research-in-Progress RT057 (Thursday)

Abstract

The study explores how Chinese international undergraduates studying business and social sciences in the U.S. perceive the purposes of higher education, and how these perspectives are constructed by their experiences before and during college. In particular, it examines how students articulate higher education’s purposes beyond themselves, and how they situate these purposes—and themselves—within broader sociocultural contexts.
This study provides a micro-level lens for understanding the shifting purposes of higher education at the macro-level and seeks to transnationalize discussions of higher education’s purposes both empirically and methodologically. It also highlights students’ perspectives on (global) citizenship, offering insights for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners at a time when the meaning of citizenship and civic engagement is under debate, domestically and beyond.

Author

• Mianmian Fei, The Ohio State University