From aspiration to disillusionment: understanding the reconfiguration of Chinese doctoral students’ academic aspirations

This study examines underlying mechanisms and processes through which Chinese doctoral students’ academic aspirations become unsettled and are reconsidered during doctoral training. Drawing on 54 semi-structured interviews with Chinese doctoral students studying primarily in Chinese universities, with a smaller number studying abroad, across 27 universities and 11 disciplines, the study identifies four interrelated mechanisms shaping the reconfiguration of academic aspirations: (1) perceived academic (mis)fit, reflecting tensions between initial academic ideals, perceived capacity, and emerging understandings of contemporary academic work; (2) relational and organizational disillusionment arising from supervisory inequality, hierarchical academic cultures, and peer competition; (3) institutional and market pressures, such as administrative rigidity and growing academic precarity; and (4) external shocks and cross-cultural challenges, including pandemics, mobility restrictions and family contingencies. The findings reconceptualize academic aspiration as a relational construct sustained by meaning, recognition, and belonging. Rather than reflecting a linear motivational decline, shifts in aspiration often emerge as students increasingly perceive that prevailing academic environments cannot sustain the values and motivations that initially inspired their doctoral pursuits. It extends doctoral socialization theory by revealing how aspiration is reshaped through disillusionment and adaptation, and calls for reforms prioritizing equity and well-being over performance metrics.