An exploration of the experiences and perceptions of a group of Algerian female doctoral students

: A price worth paying?

Abstract

This thesis critically examines the lived experiences of the Algerian female doctoral students in the United Kingdom, exploring how they navigate the academic, social, cultural, and emotional complexities of studying abroad in an era shaped by globalisation and neoliberal transformation. The study investigates: (1) how participants make sense of their everyday encounters within the social and academic environments of the host culture; and (2) how they reflexively negotiate new freedoms, constraints, uncertainties, and expectations within a rapidly changing modern world.

Guided by contemporary social theories of modernity and reflexivity, this research conceptualises international doctoral mobility as a process structured by intersecting forces—including linguistic hierarchies, cultural adjustment, gendered responsibilities, academic norms, and the market-driven logic of global higher education. These conditions produce contradictory pressures on international women, who must simultaneously demonstrate academic independence, cultural adaptability, emotional resilience, and self-regulation, all while contending with the structural demands of doctoral timelines and caregiving roles.

A constructivist grounded theory approach was employed to explore these experiences in depth. Twelve participants were recruited through purposive and theoretical sampling, and data were generated through online semi-structured interviews. Analysis followed iterative grounded theory procedures, including memo-writing, concurrent data collection and analysis, constant comparison, dimensional analysis, and layered coding. Theoretical sufficiency was reached as core categories stabilised across participants’ narratives.

Findings reveal that international female doctoral students encounter a series of interrelated shocks—cultural, linguistic, academic, and emotional—that shape their sense of belonging, identity, and agency. Their experiences are further complicated by structural inequalities embedded within global academia, the emotional labour associated with mothering and caregiving, and the heightened anxieties characteristic of late modern life. Despite these challenges, participants engage in reflexive strategies that enable them to persist, adapt, and reconstitute their identities in the host culture.

This thesis contributes original knowledge by providing a nuanced sociological account of how international female doctoral students negotiate the intersections of gender, mobility, neoliberalism, and modernity. It highlights the emotional and structural conditions that shape their doctoral journeys and foregrounds the need for higher education institutions to recognise the complex realities that underpin international student mobility.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Canterbury Christ Church University