Skills for Here or to Take Away?

The research presented in this book explores how expatriate researchers who completed a doctorate abroad evaluate and articulate their experience of academic mobility with regard to their early postdoctoral career and personal development. This study argues that expatriate researchers in social sciences embark on a doctoral study abroad without necessarily expecting any immediate career-related returns but are influenced by contextual factors, such as the opportunity structure and insecure employment conditions in the labour market for PhD graduates. The present research has not found any strong evidence showing that academic mobility directly brings immediate career-related returns. In addition, this research provides evidence of widespread agreement among expatriate researchers that the value of a doctoral degree from abroad is in gaining a meaningful personal experience resulting in personal development and skills acquisition, rather than directly resulting in career advancement. This finding contributes to the knowledge about the value of a doctoral study abroad on the individual level, suggested as an under-researched area by the scholarly literature in the field.