卑诗大学 (UBC)一名华裔博士生发表研究报告，指留学生毕业后选择回国或留在本地生活，与他们对于“家”的观念有关。报告指16%的学生决定留下来，是因为已与加国产生连结，有27%的留学生决定回国，是因为心结原居地的家人朋友。但是超过半数的学生表示未有决定，指自己可以“四处为家”，甚至觉得“无处为家”。报告解释，随着大学生的国际视野不断扩阔，他们有信心可以在任何国家落地生根。另外，决定回国的中国留学生较选择留下来的多近一倍，但未有决定的仍佔大多数，达到43%。
撰写该报告的卑大华裔博士生吴志明本身也是一名中国留学生，他说学界已经有很多关于留学生到哪国升学的研究报告，但甚少探讨留学生毕业后的去向，因此触发他展开研究。他的研究团队访问了232名来自50个国家的卑大留学生，以了解他们毕业后的打算及有关原因，结果发现16%的学生选择留下来，27%决定回国，而多达57%的人尚无决定。
“家”的观念影响去留抉择
吴志明表示，受访者在决定去留时十分着重“家”的观念，选择留下来的学生指在本地建立了人脉和感情的联繫，而愈感到受欢迎，毕业后继续在本国生活的意愿会愈大。
吴志明说，这显示若加拿大政府希望吸引更多留学生成为本国公民，就必须在大学、社区等营造一个欢迎留学生的气氛，同时在移民政策上亦要帮助他们实现家的愿望，例如放宽留学生申请移民的条件或签证限制等。
报告指出，选择回国的留学生佔27%，主要原因是心繫原居地的家人和朋友，又或者有一种要回国作出贡献的爱国情操。在受访的35名中国留学生当中，有13人、即37%选择毕业后回国，比率是所有受访国家之中第二高，仅次于日本的50%，而会留下来的虽然只有7人、即20%，但亦较平均比率高，而受访的18名日本留学生中，并无一人表示会留下。
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报告指，来自中国和日本的留学生倾向回国，是因为无法衝破语言障碍以及未能融入本地文化，甚至感到受歧视。其中一名受访的中国留学生称，不懂得如何成为加拿大或西方文化的一分子，又认为这是留学生普遍的感受。
中国一孩政策亦成影响因素
吴志明并认为，中国的一孩政策令留学生有一种要回国照顾父母的责任感。
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报告指多达57%的留学生表示对去留未有决定，中国留学生在这类别的比率也有43%，佔了大多数。吴志明表示，以前留学生毕业后只会决定留下来抑或回国，但随着大学生的国际视野不断扩阔，不少人曾于多个国家留学，因此不再局限于上述两个选项，有信心可以“四处为家”。吴志明又指，若中国留学生希望到新加坡工作，他们会先到美加留学深造，之后再到新加坡找工作，流动性较以前大。
但是报告亦指出，部分未有决定的留学生是因为觉得自己“无处为家”，因此未决定去留，亦对自我身分认同感到混乱。一名来自也门的受访留学生说，她曾“停留”过太多国家，对她而言，“家”只是一个能安睡的地方，因此从来没有一个国家能让她有家的感觉。
来源：明报
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英文原文
International students’ concept of “home” shapes post-graduation plans
Media Release | February 16, 2017
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How international university students think about home significantly influences their migration plans upon graduation, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia.
“A lot of research focuses on where international students go to study, but few focus on where they go after graduation,” said study author Cary Wu, a PhD candidate in UBC’s department of sociology and an international student from China. “Our study shows that migration plans for international students are far more complex than this binary of stay or return.”
Wu analyzed data from interviews with more than 200 international students from more than 50 countries who attended UBC from 2006 to 2013. He found that students had four ways of thinking about home: as host, as ancestral, as cosmopolitan and as nebulous. These concepts of home influenced the students’ decisions to stay, return, be open to either option or move to a new or third place in which they have already lived.
“We tend to think people migrate based on a single factor like a job offer or a family obligation,” said Wu. “But these factors alone aren’t enough. What’s more important in their decision-making is how they think about home. It determines where post-grads look for jobs and where they establish close relationships.”
If students thought of their host home as “home”, their plan was to stay. Of the 232 students interviewed, 16 per cent planned to stay in Canada, citing emotional attachments, interpersonal relationships, family or political unrest. The more welcomed they felt, the more likely they were to stay. Neema, an undergraduate student from Tanzania, said: “A lot of the times I tell people this, that I spend more time here than I actually do at home. So this is home again.”
If home was seen as ancestral, the plan was to return. Roughly 27 per cent of the students said they would return home. Students from the United States, France and Australia planned to return largely due to social and family ties. For some students from China and Japan, the decision to return was partially due to language barriers, difficulties fitting into the local culture, or discrimination. Meili, an undergraduate student from China, said: “I don’t know how to be a part of Canadian culture or Western culture. Like adapt. I think that’s a problem for most international student(s).” For African students, many planned to return out of a sense of obligation to their town or village.
Almost 57 per cent of students were open to any migration plan, including moving somewhere else. Wu said many international students have actually lived in two or three different countries prior to studying in Canada, so they can perceive home to be in multiple places. “For cosmopolitan types, they are people who feel like they could fit in anywhere,” he said.
For a large group of students who saw home as nebulous, or unclear, they did not feel like they fit in anywhere and have experienced identity confusion, displacement and rootlessness. Saya, a student from Yemen, said: “Home is the world. I feel like I identify with so many different countries and so many different places that I can’t call one place home. Home is where I have a bed to sleep on, for me. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt at home anywhere.”
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Wu said understanding the motivations and experiences of students who study abroad, especially in the context of the global competition for talent, helps inform scholarship and policy on migration.
“Our study shows international students are not a monolithic group,” said UBC sociology professor Rima Wilkes, Wu’s co-author and supervisor. “Their ideas of home are as diverse as who they are as people. There’s a lot to learn from that.”
Background
The study, “International Students’ Post-Graduation Migration Plans and the Search for Home”, was published online today in the journal Geoforum.
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Names of the international students who participated in the study are pseudonyms. They are not available for interviews.
UBC sociology professor Wendy Roth provided the study’s data set.
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More than five million students are currently enrolled in higher education outside their country of citizenship, a number estimated to increase to seven million by 2020, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Study: https://www.scribd.com/embeds/339511430/content?start_page=1&
Source: https://news.ubc.ca/2017/02/16/international-students-concept-of-home-shapes-post-graduation-plans/
