The Role of Social Networks as External Resources in Student Migration to Malaysia: Interaction of Bangladeshi with the Host Society as Transnational Migrants

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the role of social networks as external resources for development by revealing how student migrants from Bangladesh studying in Malaysia maintain student life and give meanings to their stay as migrants by utilizing the networks. This study focuses on Malaysia, an emerging country where the rate of international students in higher education institutions reached 7.8 %, which is higher than Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries' average rate of 6.0%. The author conducted life story interviews in Malaysia, Australia, and through online settings, of 18 former and current students who had been natives of Bangladesh and pursued or were pursuing study or research in Malaysia.

To examine the social networks during their stay in Malaysia, Reference Group Theory was applied where individuals' behavior is affected by the groups to which they refer for an evaluation of their actions or normative guidelines for their behavior. Reference groups were considered in terms of educational perspectives, job hunting and career development, and employment and residency status.

Interview results provide evidence of dense network of Bangladeshi migrants with each other during their stay in Malaysia, and “differentiation” with Malaysians which leads to dissimilation in the host society. Likewise, the migrants positioned Japan, Western and Middle-Eastern countries as “imaginary reference framework” due to the availability of resident status and permanent residency.

Despite their prolonged stay in Malaysia, Bangladeshi migrants never seem to give narratives which showed assimilation with the Malaysian society. The reason could be that the migrants regarded their stay in Malaysia as temporary due to the difficulty of obtaining residential status. However, according to the survey results of this study, the author assumed that Bangladeshi migrants actually did assimilate with the multicultural Malaysian society where each ethnic group can maintain their religion, language or custom. Bangladeshi migrants may internalize the normative guidelines of cosmopolitan or multiethnic attitude where people familiarize themselves with other cultures and learn how to navigate between cultures, which eventually leads to the increased access to external resources for development.