International student-parents in UK higher education: A temporal analysis of their intersectional experiences and challenges

Parents studying in UK universities often face a disproportionate number of challenges compared to their non-parent contemporaries, and research indicates that they often see no real change to the amount of domestic work they have to perform in addition to their studies. For international student-parents such challenges are likely to be intensified by loss of access to extended family networks, as well as other cultural dynamics. However, despite growing numbers of internationalstudent parents choosing the UK for university study, their experiences and the challenges they face remain largely unexplored. To begin the work of understanding and responding to the intersectional difficulties this group may face, three in-depth narrative interviews were conducted with international student-parents (two student-fathers and one student-mother) from the Arabian Gulf attending a UK university. The interviews were subsequently analysed from a temporal perspective in order to reveal the students' everyday routines and relationships to time that coloured their experiences. The authors argue that such steps are vital to offer more inclusive and equitable HE journeys that meet the needs of increasingly diverse learners and groups.