Refining the myth of brain drain and gain and transnational academic capital mobility: A cross-cultural ethnography of global talent scholars in sino-foreign relations

This study presents a cross-cultural ethnographic account of global talent scholars’ (GTSs) long-term international faculty member (IFM) experiences in Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs). The study used field notes, reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews with 14 IFMs from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Germany. Alongside the post-pandemic academic labor market crises and geopolitical uncertainties, this study adopted the concepts of global brain drain and gain, as well as transnational academic capital mobility, and further mapped intercultural capital as a coping mechanism. Accordingly, the study promoted scholarly conversations about these primary themes: (a) motivational factors for relocation: global academic social networks and family reasons; (b) positionalities as GTSs: strategic leaders via global political savvy and academic expertise; (c) diagnosing the current brain circulation: ambiguous loss in the in-between space; and (d) survival strategy and outlooks: loyalty and intercultural awareness in institutional capacity. The most overarching findings revealed that while participants positioned themselves as GTSs in China, they also felt anxious and ambivalent about the current global brain circulation phenomenon, as they witnessed an increasing number of academic turnovers. Nevertheless, they emphasized the social importance of fostering intercultural awareness and building mutual understanding as essential elements of sustainable academic careers in Sino-foreign relations. Therefore, this study critiqued structural problems of the current brain circulation phenomenon and offered implications for establishing coping mechanisms for IFMs in China via intercultural training and career counseling.