14:00-15:30 pm, April 21, 2025

This presentation is structured in three parts. Firstly, it provides an overview of previous work carried out on Chinese immigration to Europe, based on the latest special issue of the Journal of Chinese Overseas dedicated to this topic (Wang eds. 2023). Then, the talk will continue with a focus on international education spillovers, challenging the idea that foreign diploma only brings advantages for the students going through it (Astarita, 2023). Grounding on data collected among a small group of Chinese students based in France, this presentation discusses to what extent an international education experience and regular exposure to an alternative educational, social, and working environment could provide opportunities for students to broaden and deepen their views and perceptions of the world, and to use cultural capital gained from international mobility to increase their employability in the global job market. The goal is clarifying when, how, and under which circumstances students’ mobility capital becomes a new source of economic opportunities among Chinese international students in France.

Finally, the presentation suggests a number of ideas based on the article presented above, by proposing possible extensions, deepenings and perspectives for the future.