The cosmopolitan sojourners: understanding international Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese students’ motivations to study overseas

China, Vietnam and Republic of Korea are amongst the top five source countries of international students for Australia. This chapter focuses on the narratives of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese students as globally mobile learners. It draws on a larger study on the educational experiences of 105 international students from 25 Australian colleges. Drawing on a Bourdieuian conceptual framework and the related notions of ‘investment’ and ‘cosmopolitan’, the chapter shows that international Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese students are motivated to engage in cross-border education by the aspiration for intellectual, professional, cultural, linguistic and citizenship transformations. Integrated extrinsic and intrinsic motives appear to underpin their engagement in international education. Accordingly, the traditional view that sees academic considerations as the main or sole impetus for students’ cross-border mobility to pursue an international education is no longer relevant in a more globalised age. In addition, the research highlights the association between international students’ choice of mobility and the navigation of their identity paths.