Graduate Student Presents Research at the 2025 Mid-South Sociological Association (MSSA) Annual Conference

Graduate Student Naim Bin Hasan represents FAU while he presents his research "Education and Escape: Student Migration to the US from Bangladesh After the July 2024 Revolution" at the MSSA 2025 Annual Conference. 

Abstract: This study explores the transformation of Bangladeshi student migration to the United States after the July 2024 Revolution, a mango people's revolution led by youths that overthrew the sitting government in the midst of severe political repression. Historically a search for academic opportunity, Bangladeshi international student migration is presently driven by a hybrid motivation: education and political escape. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study conducts a survey of 70 Bangladeshi students at various stages in the U.S. migration process, comparing quantitative data and open-ended narratives. Drawing on push-pull theory, Hirschman's "exit-voice-loyalty" framework, and transnationalism theory, the paper substantiates that socio-political push factors such as insecurity, corruption, and repression have come to dominate traditional academic grounds. Students are increasingly viewing foreign higher education as a legitimate safety valve and a basis for sustained transnational political mobilization. The findings reflect a shift in the migration studies landscape, whereby student mobility constitutes self-survival and activism. The study ends with a discussion of implications for migration theory, the political future of Bangladesh, and institutional support systems for American universities.