Time: 9:45am–10:45am

Date: Thursday November 19, 2026

Location: CCTE 2012

Guest Speaker: Dr. Li Zhu, Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool University

ABSTRACT

Drawing on narrative analysis of two doctoral students’ accounts in China, this talk examines how they entered doctoral study guided by the meritocratic doxa—the taken-for-granted belief that further degrees and academic success in school would secure a desirable future. Over time, they grew skeptical of the belief and pursued alternatives through industry domestic internships or part-time jobs in cafes abroad. These experiences fostered professional competencies and identities, as well as greater confidence and capacity to make subsequent decisions. Their narratives trace how departing from an established educational trajectory in doctoral training enabled them to move beyond meritocratic doxa and exercise greater agency in defining adulthood through independence, exploration, and responsibility for their own futures.

BIO

Dr. Li Zhu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool University. She holds a PhD in Education from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research draws on sociological perspectives to examine the intersections of higher education, social mobility, and meritocratic beliefs. Her current projects explore international doctoral students’ career choices. Her work has been published in the British Journal of Sociology and the British Journal of Sociology of Education. She also serves on the Editorial Boards of the British Journal of Sociology of Education and the Cambridge Journal of Education.