Returnees as Transnational Diaspora: Exploring Transnational Academic Connectivity from the Experiences of Internationally Educated Chinese Academic Returnees

Transnational migration brings to the fore the various social and professional connections migrants maintain with their home and sojourn countries. This paper explores how such connections gained through doctoral studies abroad affect Chinese returnee academics’ work and learning in the transnational setting, as well as their senses of belonging. This study employs the methodology of a qualitative case study of 12 internationally educated Chinese academics from the social sciences and humanities within three higher education institutions in Beijing, China. Through the theoretical lens of diaspora, it identifies that the academic and social connections returnee academics gained and maintained with their supervisors and former colleagues in their host countries of doctoral studies have become significant ties that orient their intention and predilection for transnational research and academic collaboration. Returnee academics have also indicated to have actively engaged overseas academics of Chinese origin in research collaboration. The study suggests that Chinese academic returnees seem to have formed a virtual transnational diaspora, and have contributed to strengthening the inter-dependence of academics across borders through academic and research collaboration.