Combinatorics

Sociology

Archaeology

Pure mathematics

Cultural capital

Mathematics

International relations

Social science

Economic growth

Politics

Political science

China

Economics

Geography

Social reproduction

Economic geography

Human capital

Symbolic capital

Mobilities

Scholarship

Centrality

Capital (architecture)

Field (mathematics)

Social capital

Compare A Journal of Comparative and International Education

The global landscape of higher education is an uneven field where players like nation-states are placed in hierarchical and centre-periphery relations. This paper focuses on the global field of international student mobility (ISM) and investigates China's place in the field using an analytical framework consisting of three key categories of 'capital': economic, human, and symbolic. Drawing on existing scholarship and author's first-hand ethnographic research, the paper examines the case of China as both a source and a destination of ISM, and analyses the flows and accrual of these three forms of capital as consequences of outbound and inbound student mobilities. Analyses show that in a global ISM field characterised by asymmetries and inequalities, China's place is arguably semi-peripheral economically and symbolically. It is argued that this country-focused macro perspective complements existing ISM scholarship's emphasis on social reproduction at individual and private levels.

China in the global field of international student mobility: an analysis of economic, human and symbolic capitals