The Emergence of Young and Mobile Labour Subjects among the Increasing Flows of Transnational Students in Asia

Economic globalisation and advanced technology, have created an unpredictable job environment with intense competition and frequent changes in job requirements all over the world. This has exerted a significant impact on young workers as they are now faced with a less structured and more uncertain job market. When jobs are moved from one location to another or to multiple other locations, and when the number of transnational corporations grows continuously, the willingness and capacity to move are identified as a kind of required skill or a condition for employability in a globalized economy. In response to the needs as well as opportunities offered by global capitalism, young people are called to better prepare themselves through study abroad, and the number of internationally mobile students has been booming for the past 20 years. This is particularly evident in parts of Asia where the massification of education has made university study more common, raising the stakes for aspirant middle-class students and families. Studying abroad is regarded as a kind of ‘transnational investment’ and ‘mobility asset’ that advances one’s future economic return.

This paper examines the trends of student mobilities and their relations to labour migration in Asia. It aims to reveal the complex interplay between the requirements of mobility, or even ‘hypermobility’, among young workforces and the massification of higher education mediated through the changing structure of a globalized job market with great uncertainty. Higher education is a critical and important site to craft the ideal labour subject for the globalized neoliberal economy. When increasing number of students voluntarily mobile geographically in response to the needs of transnational capital, a new young mobile labour subjectivity in Asia is emerged. Heavily influenced by the discourse of ‘global war for talent’ and the glamorized representations of globally mobile professional elites, these mobile youth treat the transnational education as only one point in their ongoing migration trajectories. While facing the unstable, precarious, and risky working conditions in the local labour market, they constantly use new ways to adapt and compete with others for survival. In order to be successful, they bear full responsibility to seek opportunities elsewhere, be constantly in motion according to the needs of the economy. Transnational mobility for education and work is becoming an important marker and maker of transitions for Asian youth.