The proposed paper aims to discuss how international education produces and reproduces the inequality in the case of Nepalese student migrants in Japan. In the paper, I particularly examine an emerging type of migration that has not received adequate attention in the Nepali migration literature. While much research has focused on either low skilled Nepalese migrant workers typically working in Malaysia and middle east countries, or high education Nepalese professionals studying and working in western countries, there is no enough study on the growing college students particularly their participation in migration.
My ethnographic study of Nepalese students in Japan shows that facing the high youth unemployment, political instability and attraction of ‘high-paid’ jobs, more and more Nepalese youth perceive migration as rite of passage to secure their future. In most recent trend, Japan has become the most popular destination for Nepalese youth. According to Ministry of Education Statistics in 2012, Japan has become the fourth most popular destination for study aboard for Nepalese students, almost overtakes the US. In this paper, I first discuss the recent Japan study boom in Nepal by analysing push-pull factors. Afterward, I take a closer look at the lived experience of Nepalese students in Japan. Although they dream of getting better higher education and career prospect, financial support for their families in Nepal has become their top priority. As a result, most Nepalese students have to work double or triple jobs to support themselves and their families in Nepal. Many students feel being isolated and they also realize that their university dream and aspiration for getting high income jobs are far to reach.
To conclude, the Nepal case demonstrates the new trend of new comers from the resource-poor countries not only positively contributed the developed countries’ economics as education is lucrative industry but it also provides the source for cheap labor. However, the trend also remains us to the reproduction of inequality in the context of international migration.