Mobility in an Imagined Global Knowledge Space: Chinese STEM Undergraduates’ Decision to Study in Europe

This paper examines how the “imagined global knowledge space” influences the mobility of Chinese STEM students in Europe, based on interviews with 28 participants. It finds that, firstly, Chinese students perceive a diverse global knowledge landscape, acknowledging China's rapid progress and questioning the traditional “center-periphery” model. Secondly, students’ views on the global knowledge space vary by their exposure to this space, career plans, and disciplinary background, impacting their motivations to study abroad-whether knowledge-seeking, pedagogical, or consumer-oriented. Thirdly, this study finds that Chinese STEM students in Europe view destination choices through a triadic “US/Europe/other countries” perspective, moving beyond the traditional “center-periphery” dualism model. With rising geopolitical tensions between China and the US, Europe emerges as a favorable alternative for education. The findings highlight that students’ study-abroad decisions are shaped not by fixed global structures but by subjective, imagination-based perceptions of the global knowledge space.