WAYS TO GO: A grounded theory study of how the laboratory culture in the applied sciences impact on international doctoral students' career paths in the STEM/applied sciences

• Author / Creator

  Olugbade, Olukemi

• As Canadian Universities join in the global realization of the Third mission and become more entrepreneurial, international students’ participation in this agenda is pivotal to its success as they form about a half of STEM doctoral students in the country. Extant studies have either been positioned as studies on international students, studies on race or gender, or wholly on the doctoral students’ community. This is a study of the international doctoral students’ community within the academic community of practice designed to understand the impact of the research laboratory cultures these students find themselves immersed into on their career trajectory after graduation. This research will study mid-program international students in years three to five of their STEM doctoral programs through a grounded theory study. The research studied international students STEM and applied sciences doctoral programs in years three and above using a constructivist grounded theory methodology. The study was designed to understand these students perceptions of the research laboratory cultures, their self-description and assessment of their lived experiences in these laboratory cultures, the impact of the culture on them and their career trajectories since resumption of their programs of study, and other nuances that are elicited by the outcome of study by applying the international student lens on career theories.
  The finding from the study indicated additional factors beyond the academic socialization on international STEM and applied sciences PhD students post-graduation career choices. The relevance of additional internal and external factors such as family, international-ness, language and accentedness, and academic socialization experiences, are grounded in personal contexts and deployed to determine how these students make their post-graduation career decisions.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • International Students
  • Doctoral Students
  • Immigration
  • Doctoral Careers

• Graduation date

  Fall 2023

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-01ty-vt65

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.