Resilience and Symbolic Violence: Navigating Cultural and Structural Constraints in Chinese Students’ Transnational Higher Education Experiences

Transnational Higher Education (TNHE) is increasingly recognized as a valuable pathway for students to engage with different higher education systems. However, there is limited understanding of how students agentically and strategically engage with the TNHE field. It is crucial to examine how cultural and structural factors within TNHE shape students’ experiences across different educational systems. Employing Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus, and capital as analytical tools, this study re-examines the resilience processes of TNHE students while acknowledging the structural constraints that are created and sustained. This study conducted 35 in-depth interviews with Chinese students studying in TNHE programs. The findings reveal distinct dispositions in participants’ resilience-building processes within TNHE, including self-reliance, self-exploitation, self-retreat, and self-instrumentalization. These dispositions are shaped by the influence of symbolic violence exemplified by the implicit expectations regarding language proficiency and academic progression. It further criticizes the internalization of neoliberal expectations and the instrumental nature of TNHE programs.