Understanding international student migration: the case of Nigerian Christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education
This thesis explores the motivations and lived experiences of Nigerian Christian women engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education based on 20 semi-structured interviews. For this group of women, their educational quest abroad is happening at the phase in the normative life course when th...
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| Format: | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English |
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2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35116/ |
| _version_ | 1848795005948264448 |
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| author | Oluwaseun, Stella |
| author_facet | Oluwaseun, Stella |
| author_sort | Oluwaseun, Stella |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This thesis explores the motivations and lived experiences of Nigerian Christian women engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education based on 20 semi-structured interviews. For this group of women, their educational quest abroad is happening at the phase in the normative life course when they are expected by Nigerian society to be wives as well as mothers. Such cultural expectations carry social sanctions for non-conformity.
This thesis investigates the immense social pressures the women come under as their educational achievements are not considered as important as the fulfillment of their social roles in their home country, and the strategies/negotiations they engage in to gain and maintain support for their educational pursuit. Being that they are studying and living in an egalitarian society like the UK, the thesis also examines why the women remain attached to Nigerian patriarchal values.
Using empirical data, the thesis attempts to challenge and critique the current debates on international student migration that portray it as an individualized process and international student migrants as a homogenous group. It argues that the participants’ motivations and migration experiences are gendered and embedded in social relationships and processes. Furthermore, the thesis claims that the set of women interviewees are not just engaged in academic study alone as the literatures tend to portray international student migrants, they are also family members (wives/mothers/daughters) and workers, who consciously juggle their multiple roles in an order that seems to prioritize their social roles above the rest. The thesis asserts that the women are not victims; rather they are agentic beings whose compliant attitudes to patriarchal gender structures and roles are rooted in their religious and cultural beliefs. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:25:13Z |
| format | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-35116 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:25:13Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-351162025-02-28T11:50:06Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35116/ Understanding international student migration: the case of Nigerian Christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education Oluwaseun, Stella This thesis explores the motivations and lived experiences of Nigerian Christian women engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education based on 20 semi-structured interviews. For this group of women, their educational quest abroad is happening at the phase in the normative life course when they are expected by Nigerian society to be wives as well as mothers. Such cultural expectations carry social sanctions for non-conformity. This thesis investigates the immense social pressures the women come under as their educational achievements are not considered as important as the fulfillment of their social roles in their home country, and the strategies/negotiations they engage in to gain and maintain support for their educational pursuit. Being that they are studying and living in an egalitarian society like the UK, the thesis also examines why the women remain attached to Nigerian patriarchal values. Using empirical data, the thesis attempts to challenge and critique the current debates on international student migration that portray it as an individualized process and international student migrants as a homogenous group. It argues that the participants’ motivations and migration experiences are gendered and embedded in social relationships and processes. Furthermore, the thesis claims that the set of women interviewees are not just engaged in academic study alone as the literatures tend to portray international student migrants, they are also family members (wives/mothers/daughters) and workers, who consciously juggle their multiple roles in an order that seems to prioritize their social roles above the rest. The thesis asserts that the women are not victims; rather they are agentic beings whose compliant attitudes to patriarchal gender structures and roles are rooted in their religious and cultural beliefs. 2016-07-14 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35116/1/StellaOluwaseunThesisFinal.pdf Oluwaseun, Stella (2016) Understanding international student migration: the case of Nigerian Christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. International student migration Nigeria gender lived experiences |
| spellingShingle | International student migration Nigeria gender lived experiences Oluwaseun, Stella Understanding international student migration: the case of Nigerian Christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education |
| title | Understanding international student migration: the case of Nigerian Christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education |
| title_full | Understanding international student migration: the case of Nigerian Christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education |
| title_fullStr | Understanding international student migration: the case of Nigerian Christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Understanding international student migration: the case of Nigerian Christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education |
| title_short | Understanding international student migration: the case of Nigerian Christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in UK higher education |
| title_sort | understanding international student migration: the case of nigerian christian women students engaged in postgraduate studies in uk higher education |
| topic | International student migration Nigeria gender lived experiences |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35116/ |