Reimagining selves abroad: Arab international students’ motivations, identity negotiation and intercultural engagement in Türkiye

This qualitative study examines how Arab international students experience studying at a Turkish-medium university in Türkiye, focusing on motivations, identity negotiation, and intercultural engagement in a non-Anglophone context. Drawing on poststructuralist theory and a phenomenographic research design, the study analyses in-depth interviews with eight students to identify qualitatively different ways of experiencing international study. Findings show that decisions to study in Türkiye were shaped by affordability, cultural proximity, and accessibility, alongside aspirations for globally recognised qualifications. Students’ identity negotiations were marked by both agency and constraint: some developed intercultural awareness and new forms of belonging, while others encountered linguistic racism, exclusion, and limited institutional support. These tensions shaped students’ investments in language learning, social participation, and imagined futures. By centring Arab voices and mobilising phenomenography within a poststructuralist framework, the study advances international student mobility scholarship beyond Anglophone destinations and demonstrates how power, language, and context shape intercultural engagement globally.