Latvian students abroad, evolving cultural capital and return intentions

Abstract: This paper visualises tertiary-level students who study abroad as simultaneously both international students and members of an emerging diaspora. Coming from a country (Latvia) which is small, peripheral and relatively poor by European standards, students go abroad for multiple reasons not necessarily directly connected with study (eg. family reasons, labour migration); yet their evolving diasporic status is instrumentalised by the Latvian government which wants them to return and contribute to the country’s development. Based on 27 in-depth interviews with Latvian students and graduates who have studied abroad, our analysis focuses on three interlinked dimensions of inequality: access to education at home and abroad; the varying prestige of higher education qualifications from different countries and universities; and the inequalities involved in getting recognition of the symbolic and cultural capital that derives from a non-Latvian university. Within a setting of neoliberal glob

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 25 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: COMCAD Working Papers ; Bd. 142

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Bielefeld
• (when): 2016
• Contributor: Universität Bielefeld, Fak. für Soziologie, Centre on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD)

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-50709-6
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:50 AM CEST