An ordinary journey: student self-formation at lower-tier higher education institutions in China

Thesis

In a massified and stratified higher education system, where ideologies of meritocracy and elitism prevail, what are the lived experiences of those coming from marginalised backgrounds pursuing higher education (HE)? This thesis addresses this broader question at the intersection of social inequality, HE stratification and individual agency as these structural and individual agendas are embodied in marginalised students’ pursuit and experiences of HE for a better future.

Amid the massification of the Chinese higher education system, disadvantaged rural students are more likely to attend lower-tier institutions, which are often perceived as ‘lesser’ within the highly stratified system. In contrast to the typical focus on elite spaces in higher education research, the thesis studies the experiences of 37 rural students studying at three lower-tier higher education institutions in China. Through an analysis of students’ narratives on how their lives unfold in the pursuit of higher education, the thesis explores how they understand and navigate their ongoing formation of the self along this journey, in particular, how they navigate social segmentation, institutional hierarchies, and the narratives around meritocracy, elitism and neoliberalism.

The concept of an ordinary self has emerged from student narratives. The self being ordinary embodies the relative privilege conferred by their lower-tier degree, which made them an educated rural elite, but wouldn’t take them too far in the wider meritocratic competition. It was a self that was constantly wrestling with intersecting forms of hierarchies and marginalisation as these students drifted between private aspirations, societal expectations, and state agendas from afar. The ordinary self also turned to hope in the face of disillusionment with the degree’s unfulfilled promise of mobility, through means of prolonged drifting, waiting, investing and anticipating. Such shared formative journeys shed light on the affective complexity and the nuanced forms of agency as students problematised and became part of the meritocratic narratives.

The thesis contributes to the ongoing scholarship on student experience and the role of higher education by challenging the dominant focus on merit, status, elitism, and prestige in HE research. It deepens our understanding of the enduring narrative of social segmentation, structural inequality, mobility, and individual agency, as it takes on new forms and formats.

Authors: Xie, Y

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-g79xv8dkj
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: higher education; meritocracy; agency and structure; elitism; self-formation; rural students; China; neoliberalism