Wednesday, 19 February, 4pm
Location: Room 122, 29 Bute Gardens, University of Glasgow

Sophia Woodman, "What are Chinese students seeking from higher education? Quality education, global experiences, independence . . .  adulthood?

Dr Woodman is Senior Lecturer in the School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh

Her talk will draw on quantitative and qualitative data generated by the Bright Futures project, a study of Chinese students conducted in China, the UK and Germany. Overall, the project findings show that the transnational field of higher education structures the aspirations and expectations of students – whether Chinese, British, or German – in broadly similar ways. Following an outline of this overall picture, the talk will focus on how higher education is also reframing the life course by enabling and normalizing a transition to independent adulthood that occurs prior to appearance of the conventional markers of adult status: economic independence, leaving the family home, marriage, and child-bearing.