Rethinking student experience through temporal positioning

Responding to the under-explored international students’ temporal and spatial dimensions of abroad experiences, this study addresses this empirical gap by exploring four Chinese postgraduate students’ experiences at a UK university through the lens of temporal positioning. Using a qualitative secondary analysis of narrative data, this article answers two research questions: how do students position themselves temporally and spatially in relation to past, present, and future? How do these temporal and spatial positions influence their experiences abroad? This study moves beyond adjustment models and opens up new possibilities for rethinking international education as a rhythmic and lived process of becoming.