Proposed

DPhil Research Outline

Transna5onal Higher Educa5on in Singapore: Cultures of Educa5on, Youth, and Mobility

YiEn Cheng School of Geography & the Environment University of Oxford

Presenta5on Outline
Introduc)on Overall Objec)ve/Ques)on Research Ques)ons Theore)cal Engagements Methodology Signicance & Contribu)on

Introduc5on
- Transna)onal Higher Educa)on: twin programs (local & overseas universi)es), branch campuses, overseas degree program franchise by private ins)tu)ons

- Recent research on H.E. tends to focus on issues related to policy trends, ins)tu)onal management, organisa)onal paLerns in both western and asian contexts (e.g. Altbach & Knight, 2007; Mok, 2003)
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Overall Objec5ve/Ques5on
To what extent can young people mobilise educa5on to create change in their lives? - Exis)ng literature show that educa)on is a key site through which iden))es, mobili)es, and social rela)ons are (re)produced - Poten)al of educa)on under debate: A contradictory resource (Jerey et al., 2004); with paradoxical poten)ali)es (Levinson & Holland, 1996) Inven)on of new subject posi)ons and broaden opportuni)es through social and cultural capital (Bopal, 2011; Huang & Yeoh, 2005; Waters, 2006) Sediment inequali)es and limit future life chances through school curriculum, surveillance, cultural resistance (Jerey et al., 2004; Margolis, 2010; Reh et al., 2011)

Research Ques5ons
1. How do young people understand (higher) educa)on and what are their past and current experiences of educa)onal ins)tu)ons? 2. What are their personal goals and how are they being pursued in rela)on to dierent opportuni5es and obstacles in their lives? 3. What poli5cal ac5on and cri5que might arise from their experience of educa)on in trying to create change? 4. What is the role of social rela5onships, such as family, peer, community, and beyond, in shaping their past and current experiences?

Theore5cal Engagements
- Educa5on, knowledge, and power (sociology of educa)on; cri)cal educa)onal studies) Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Basil Bernstein - Youth iden55es and cultures (geographies of children, youth and families; youth studies) - Cultures of mobility (interna)onal student mobili)es; migra)on studies) - Develop conceptual framing surrounding the rela)onship across educa5on, youth, and power

Methodology
- Qualita)ve study over course of 12 months; Ethnographic approach (aLen)on to local histories, contemporary context, ins)tu)ons and beyond, everyday life) - Primary research subjects: local and interna5onal full-5me students on programs leading to overseas degrees in one selected private ins5tu5on
Local Interna)onal 10 10

n = 20

- Ini5al interest in how these 2 groups of students experience interna)onal/ transna)onal educa)on; missing angle in educa)onal ethnographies

Time line

Methodology
- Analy5cal angles: (i) gender, class, race/ethnicity, other lines of fragmenta)on (past ins)tu)ons, degree programs etc.) to be analysed as part of educated personhood approach (Levinson et al., 1996) (ii) Rather than taking par)cular social background as star)ng point of analysis, focus will be on what the experience of students, as embodied individuals, reveal and contribute to theorisa)on power rela)ons and iden)ty forma)ons. (iii) Loca)ng researcher in the eld: complicity in the making of power rela)ons and iden))es - Secondary research for contextual understanding: newspapers, ministerial speeches, educa)onal ins)tu)on websites, policy report and working papers (aLen)on on discourses about educa5on and youth)

Signicance and Contribu5on

A) Geographies of Educa5on 1. Role of local histories/past experiences in shaping contemporary experience related to educa)on and learning; historicising current experiences 2. Contribute to debate on social (re)produc5on of iden55es and inequali5es: how do cultures of educa)on and youth produce localised iden))es and power rela)ons; tradi)onal vs hybrid iden))es (Youdell, 2006; Nilan & Feixa, 2006)? 3. Address young peoples poli5cs in spaces of educa5on: role of changing knowledges, poli)cal impulses/orienta)ons, and resources in doing poli)cs (Jerey, 2012; Skelton, 2010)

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Signicance and Contribu5on

B) And beyond 1. Cri)cal ethnographies in universi)es and postcolonial urban context (Deem, 2012); what it means to do cri)cal educa)onal research / what is cri)cal educa)on? 2. In situ experiences of interna)onal/transna)onal educa)on programs (Waters and Leung, 2012); challenge migrant/mobility vs non-migrant/ sedentarism 3. Policy & prac)cal implica)ons: Educa)onal experience? Curriculum design? Priva)sa)on vs Governance? Student welfare/rights?

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References
Altbach PG and Knight J (2007) The Interna)onaliza)on of Higher Educa)on: Mo)va)ons and Reali)es. Journal of Studies in Interna4onal Educa4on, 11(3-4), 290305. Bhopal K (2011) Educa)on makes you have more say in the way your life goes: Indian women and arranged marriages in the United Kingdom. Bri4sh Journal of Sociology of Educa4on, 32(3), 431447. Deem R (2012) Sociology and the sociology of higher educa)on: A missed call or a disconnec)on? Interna4onal Studies in Sociology of Educa4on, 14(1), 2146. Huang S and Yeoh BS a. (2011) Naviga)ng the terrains of transna)onal educa)on: Children of Chinese study mothers in Singapore. Geoforum, Elsevier Ltd, 42(3), 394403. Jerey C, Jeery R and Jeery P (2004) Degrees without Freedom: The Impact of Formal Educa)on on Dalit Young Men in North India. Development and Change, 35(5), 963986. Jerey C (2012) Geographies of children and youth III: Alchemists of the revolu)on? Progress in Human Geography. Levinson, B.A., Foley, D.E. and Holland, D.C. (1996) The Cultural Produc4on of the Educated Person: Cri4cal Ethnographies of Schooling and Local Prac4ce, Albany, State University of New York Press. Margolis, E. (2001) The Hidden Curriculum in Higher Educa4on, London, Routledge. Mok K (2003) Globalisa)on and Higher Educa)on Restructuring in Hong Kong , Taiwan and. Higher Educa4on Research & Development, 22(2), 117129. Nilan, Pam. and Feixa, Carles. (2006) Global Youth? Hybrid Iden))es, Plural Worlds, London, Routledge. Reh S, Rabenstein K and Fritzsche B (2011) Learning spaces without boundaries? Territories, power and how schools regulate learning. Social & Cultural Geography, 12(1), 8398. Skelton T (2010) Taking young people as poli)cal actors seriously: opening the borders of poli)cal geography. Area, 42(2), 145151. Waters, J. (2006) Geographies of cultural capital: educa)on, interna)onal migra)on and family strategies between Hong Kong and Canada, Transac4on of the Ins4tute of Bri4sh Geographers, 31, 179-192. Waters J and Leung M (n.d.) Immobile transna)onalisms? Young people and their in situ experiences of interna)onal educa)on in Hong Kong. Urban Studies, Forthcoming. Youdell, Deborah (2006) Impossible Bodies, Impossible Selves: Exclusions and Student Subjec4vi4es, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Springer.

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