ABSTRACT

The spatial mobility of students and academics as part of the internationalisation of higher education is becoming increasingly relevant in securing top-tier positions, especially within academia. While the number of doctoral candidates is rising, new positions are not created at the same rate, leading to scarcer career opportunities in academia and the need to develop alternative career paths. Previous studies have much focused on the connection between mobility and career development among junior academics in the STEM fields, but the significance of mobility for SSH PhD candidates and their career development remains unanswered. Does spatial mobility have any effects there, and if so, which? For this reason, this paper studied doctoral SSH candidates from Germany with mobility experiences in the Netherlands. The findings show that spatial mobility affects the perception of the PhD candidate's career in several, sometimes ambivalent ways. It shows that the experience of mobility narrows the planning to a career in academia, contributes to the informal learning process of the candidate, and expands the horizon for possible opportunities in academia. The perceived asset of mobility varies alongside the internationalisation of disciplines and whether the candidate plans to return to Germany or pursue an international career.

摘要

作为高等教育国际化的一部分，学生和学者的空间流动性对于确保顶级职位变得越来越重要，尤其是在学术界。虽然博士候选人的数量正在增加，但新职位的创造速度却不尽相同，这导致学术界的职业机会越来越少，需要开发替代的职业道路。以前的研究主要关注 STEM 领域初级学者的流动性和职业发展之间的联系，但流动性对 SSH 博士候选人及其职业发展的重要性仍未得到解答。空间流动性在那里有什么影响，如果有，是什么？出于这个原因，本文研究了来自德国、在荷兰有流动经验的博士生 SSH。研究结果表明，空间流动性以多种有时是矛盾的方式影响博士生职业的看法。它表明，流动性的经验将规划缩小到学术界的职业生涯，有助于候选人的非正式学习过程，并扩大在学术界可能的机会的视野。流动性的感知资产随着学科的国际化以及候选人是否计划返回德国或追求国际职业而变化。