‘Going to study or plan to stay on?’ Mobility profiles of Angolan and Cape Verdean students in Portugal

Abstract

AbstractAlthough a relatively small player in the global arena of international student migration/mobility (ISM), Portugal hosts an increasing number of international students, the vast majority of whom are from its former colonies. This paper shifts the debate on ISM away from the Anglophone world by examining the future mobility intentions and outcomes of students and graduates from Angola and Cape Verde who are or were enrolled in Portuguese universities. Based on 85 interviews with 49 participants, we explore their decision‐making processes about the location of their future careers—back in their home country, in Portugal, or elsewhere. We pay particular attention to how their thinking about their future lives—and where they want to be—changes during the course of their study in Portugal. A close reading of the participants' narratives enables the construction of a fourfold typology of their sociospatial trajectories (fulfilled and envisaged) and the reasons behind them. We label them: (i) maximisers; (ii) dreamers; (iii) globally mobile; and (iv) runners. These categories are not mutually exclusive and, for any given individual, can change over time, demonstrating the complexity of international students' plans and outcomes.