Shaping academic mobility: A structuration perspective on Pakistani PhD Students at Chinese universities"

Abstract: The globalization of higher education has positioned student mobility as central to 21st-century academia, enabling transnational career trajectories. This study examines Pakistani PhD students in Chinese universities an under-researched phenomenon through Giddens' Structuration Theory, analyzing how structural and agency factors shape mobility decisions. Employing a qualitative methodology, the research utilizes semi-structured interviews subjected to thematic analysis. Structural factors include Political Structures encompassing constraining and enabling dynamics between Pakistan’s instability and China’s stability, alongside regional marginalization that reinforces spatial inequities. These are complemented by Professional Factors such as research infrastructure and skills transferability, and Institutional Factors including financial and administrative enablers like scholarships and visa access, as well as flexible doctoral admissions policies. Socio-cultural factors further shape the structural landscape. In terms of agency, Personal Factors such as career pragmatism, Credentialism, transnational degree valuation, and international exposure through peer networks interact with Educational Factors including research interests and institutional reputation. The study demonstrates that Pakistan's structural constraints limit opportunities, while China's enabling environment facilitates academic mobility. The PhD sojourn transforms students academically, professionally, and personally, fostering cosmopolitan identities. Mobility outcomes depend on the intersection of national capacity and individual agency. Chinese universities serve as platforms for career advancement, contrasting with Pakistan's systemic limitations on doctoral pursuits. The findings propose the concept of "contingent mobility" to capture Pakistani students' complex trajectories neither wholly voluntary nor forced, but emerging from structural precarity in Pakistan's higher education system, China's strategic internationalization policies, and students' tactical agency through credential accumulation and network building.

Keywords:Academic mobility, Structuration, Pakistani Ph.D. students. 

Employing a qualitative, interpretivist design, and this study used Giddens' Structuration Theory to investigate the interplay of structure and agency in academic mobility, framed as a multiple-case study of individual student trajectories (Bryman, 2016). Data were collected from February to December 2023. Two Beijing public universities were selected as research sites through maximum variation sampling to capture contexts with high Pakistani doctoral enrollment (Creswell, 2012). From these, six Pakistani PhD students (three men, three women, and aged 27-37) were purposefully sampled to ensure gender and disciplinary balance (sciences/social sciences) in English-taught programs as shown in Table 1. This sample size was deemed sufficient to achieve thematic saturation for the core research questions, prioritizing depth over generalizability (Baker & Edwards, 2012; Braun & Clarke, 2021). All were Chinese scholarship recipients from diverse Pakistani regions (Punjab, Federal area, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit). Pseudonyms ensure anonymity. Semi-structured interviews, guided by a protocol based on the research questions and structuration theory, explored core themes: perceptions of educational structures, decision-making, and mobility impacts (Dejonkheere et al., 2019). Conducted in Urdu at participants' chosen times and locations to ensure comfort and precise expression, interviews lasted 45-75 minutes and were recorded as "flowing conversations" (Gill et al., 2008; Rubin, 2005). Recordings were transcribed verbatim, translated into English, and verified for accuracy by a bilingual assistant. Data analysis followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006, 2019) six-phase reflexive thematic analysis, managed with NVivo software. The process involved: familiarization with transcripts; generating initial descriptive codes (limited access with advanced labs); collating codes into themes within and across cases; reviewing themes against the dataset; defining and naming themes; and report writing. Throughout, interpretations were checked for coherence with structuration theory's core concepts. Ethical approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board of University A. Participants received information sheets and provided written informed consent covering the study's purpose, procedures, confidentiality, and right to withdraw. Data were stored securely on a password-protected computer, with all identifiers removed.

The This study examines Pakistani students’ academic mobility to Chinese universities for PhD studies, using structuration theory to extend previous research by offering a new theoretical framework (Horta, 2009; Healey, 2006; Ding, 2016; Cenci, 2015; Schevel, 2015). It challenges conventional understandings by proposing the concept of "contingent mobility" to describe these complex realities. Rather than being wholly voluntary or forced, their transnational trajectories emerge from the dynamic interplay of structural precarity in Pakistan's deteriorating higher education system, China's strategically designed internationalization policies that create asymmetric opportunities, and students' own tactical agency manifested through credential accumulation and network building. This framework moves beyond simplistic push-pull models and deterministic concepts like "impo-mobility" by capturing three critical dimensions: the paradoxical nature of mobility as simultaneously a survival strategy and aspirational pursuit, the evolving motivations throughout different doctoral phases from initial pragmatic concerns to later epistemic transformation, and the intricate power dynamics where China's soft power initiatives interact with students' efforts to overcome marginalization. By advancing this Southern structuration perspective, the study conceptualizes academic mobility as a contested domain where macro-level structural forces and micro-level individual agency interact to produce unpredictable educational pathways. This offers new insights for promoting more equitable higher education collaborations within the Global South and provides a foundation for comprehending the mobility of other highly educated groups. The findings underscore mobility’s role as a strategic investment, with students navigating structural and agency dynamics to maximize academic, professional, and personal returns. Future research could explore long-term impacts, including brain circulation and evolving South-South academic collaborations.

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