Although transnational families (TNFs) are not a new phenomenon, they have only gained academic interest in recent decades. TNFs reflect critical social, economic, and political aspects of globalisation, separate from, but still linked to, the concept of “migrant families”. The shift from migrant families to TNFs can be seen as a re-conceptualisation of migration as an “uprooting” life event to the idea that migrants maintain ties to their home societies in many ways (Glick, Schiller et al., 1995). 

HEI in the UK have recently welcomed an increasing number of international students – especially women – who face a number of challenges as they have to leave their families physically but maintain contact digitally. Things became even worse during the Covid-19 pandemic and these women are still trying to cope with the challenges and the impact of the pandemic on themselves and their families (Schrooten, 2021; Schrooten et al., 2016). 

40 female international students will be interviewed, to explore their experiences and barriers they face and possibly unravel how HEI can support their international students living in transnational families, especially when they i.e., have to care for vulnerable members and maintain their contact with their families when studying abroad at the same time (Baldassar et al., 2016; 2020). The project will hopefully reveal the challenges, i.e., academic, personal, digital, and professional that these female students face when they need to find a balance between their caring responsibilities and their academic performance. 

The research will offer recommendations for senior leadership teams, policy-makers, educators, academics and stakeholders on how they can support these students and facilitate their communication with their families. It will also offer recommendations to prepare HEI for the effective management of future crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic as HEI need to cater for their students and their families’ well-being and mental health.

Keywords: transnational families, gender, experiences, barriers, well-being , mental health, crisis management