Social and Spatial Mobility of the Highly Skilled Chinese Migrants in the EU

In the age of commercialization of education, the European Union attracts a growing number of highly skilled non-EU migrants, many of whom settle in Europe after graduation. In particular, the EU universities have experienced a rapid increase in the Chinese student population. Although the Chinese students’ and postgraduates’ community in the EU grew significantly in the last decade, we know little about these individuals’ migration trajectories and labor incorporation. Thus far, studies on the Chinese in Europe mainly focused on the low skilled immigrants who found employment in the informal ethnic catering and trade business. Consequently, gaps in the research on the links between the Chinese students’ spatial and social mobility call for scholarly attention. This study aims to fill these gaps by examining whether the ties that the Chinese students and postgraduates established in different EU member states foster their spatial mobility and facilitate upward social mobility. Seizing on semi-structured interviews, I look at the mobility patterns of Chinese students that arrived to France, Poland and Spain. These states differ in the university tuition fees and in the period of Chinese students’ influx thus allowing to study an economically and socially diverse sample. My research contributes to the literature on the relations between spatial and social mobility, at the same time adding a transnational level perspective to the study of highly skilled Asian migration.