The transnational track: state sponsorship and Singapore's Oxbridge elite

• Published in: British journal of sociology of education Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 11 - 33
• Main Authors: Ye, Rebecca, Nylander, Erik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Routledge 2015; Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Bourdieu; College Admission; College Bound Students; College Preparation; College Role; College Students; Community Colleges; Competitive Selection; Data analysis; elite schools; Elites; Foreign Countries; Foreign Students; governmentality; Great Britain; Higher education; institutional matching; internationalization; Interviews; Oxbridge; Political Elites; Postsecondary Education; Private Schools; Public administration; Public Schools; Public Services; Reputation; Scholarships; Scholarships & fellowships; Schools; Secondary Schools; Selective Admission; Singapore; sponsored mobility; Sponsorship; Status; Student Mobility; transnational education; Transnationalism; Two Year Colleges; Undergraduate Students; United Kingdom; United Kingdom (Great Britain); Singapore; United Kingdom > UK
• DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2014.967837
• ISSN: 0142-5692; 1465-3346

This paper explores the process of transnational institutional matching between elite institutions in Singapore and Great Britain, and the role of state-sponsored scholarships in enabling this process as political and administrative elites are selected and groomed. Using data gathered from in-depth interviews conducted with Singaporean undergraduates studying at Oxbridge and a dataset of the institutional origins of 580 Singaporean government scholars, the analysis illustrates how students are being matched from two Singaporean junior colleges to Oxbridge and back to the higher strata of the Singaporean Public Service. We show that the educational trajectories of these government scholars need to be addressed in relation to the informational capital acquired in specific elite schools as well as the governing roles these individuals are meant to obtain within the state upon graduation.