How international study is carried home: a mechanism-based account of returnee engagement

Journal article

International student mobility is increasingly framed through economic and security logics, yet less is known about how international study becomes consequential for civic and institutional practice after return. The analysis draws on in-depth interviews conducted between May 2023 and September 2024 with 393 internationally educated returnees across 68 countries, spanning social, political, and economic contexts. Return is treated as an analytic vantage point that reveals how comparative experience is carried into familiar institutional settings. The study identifies five generative mechanisms through which international study becomes consequential after return: reflexive agency, civic understanding, knowledge translation, transnational social relations, and intercultural understanding. These mechanisms operate in varied combinations, shaping how returnees judge what is possible and legitimate within constrained contexts. The analysis also introduces presence as a sustained reflexive and relational stance through which engagement, shaped by these mechanisms, may be held over time, even when institutional responsiveness is limited. The findings indicate that international student mobility matters not as a guarantee of transformation, but as a source of capacities that may support sustained judgement and engagement in the slow, cumulative work of institutional life.

[国际学生流动日益被置于经济与安全逻辑的框架下研究，而留学生回国后海外学习经历 如何影响公民和制度实践却仍鲜为人知。本分析基于2023年5月至2024年9月对68个国家393名留学回国人 员进行的深度访谈，涵盖多样化的社会、政治与经济背景。以归国作为分析视角，揭示了比较的经验如 何进入既有的制度环境。研究识别出国际学习在归国后发挥作用的五种生成机制，即反思性能动、公民 理解、知识转化、跨国社会关系和跨文化理解。这些机制以不同的组合形式发挥作用，塑造了归国者如 何在受限制的环境中判断什么是可能和正当的。分析还引入“在场”概念，将其界定为一种持续的反思 性和关系性立场。通过五种机制塑造的参与即使在制度响应有限的情况下也可能长期维持。研究表明， 国际学生流动的重要性并非是变革的保证，而是作为一种能力来源，支持留学回国人员在缓慢而累积的 制度生活中持续进行判断和实践。]

Authors: Chankseliani, M

• Alternative title: 国际学习如何带回本土
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: School of Education, Tsinghua University
• Journal: Tsinghua Journal of Education
• Volume: 47
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 25－37
• Publication date: 2026-02-20
• Acceptance date: 2026-02-01
• DOI: 10.14138/j.1001-4519.2026.01.002513
• Language: English, Chinese
• Keywords: international student mobility; reflexive agency; intercultural understanding; knowledge translation; transnational social relations; 国际学生流动; 反思性能动; 跨文化理解; 知识转化; 跨国社会关系