Going Abroad

Going Abroad looks at an alternative way to gain job experience and begin an academic career. Universities train more PhD candidates than there are academic posts, and the job market, especially in the social sciences and humanities, is in poor shape. One option for young PhD graduates and early career researchers is to leave their home countries and take a job far from home.

Academics move in many directions: from the global South to Europe and the USA, between the USA and Europe, and increasingly from the so-called western world to Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Drawing on the personal experience of the editors and chapter contributors, the book argues that there are more routes into academia than the traditional one.

It brings together accounts from academics who have worked in places including Pakistan, Poland, China, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Portugal and New Zealand, giving varied perspectives on academic mobility. The contributors and editors reflect on what awaits an academic who moves abroad, how to prepare, and what challenges and rewards come with teaching in foreign classrooms. The aim is to help others decide whether to take that leap into the unknown.