Leveraging National Prestige : A Mixed Methods Case Study Investigation of China’s Position on the Global Field of Higher Education

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to investigate China’s role in global higher education. It did so through focusing the investigative lens on global student mobility. The thesis followed a mixedmethods case study design, using interviews with Nordic students about their motivations to illuminate some of the features of Chinese higher education in a global context. A framework drawing concepts from the oeuvre of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu was used to analyze figures on global student flows and interviews with Nordic students. The study found that China is becoming an increasingly popular destination for international students and that Nordic students are motivated to study in China by the attractiveness of Chinese culture and a belief in the country’s increased importance in the world. Taken together, these results were used to suggest a dipolar structure of the global field of higher education, where nations are able to improve their position in the global hierarchy by relying either on an autonomous principle of academic quality or a non-autonomous principle of national prestige.