This article explores a small number of African international students’ narratives on their identity work through work-integrated learning (WIL) in Chinese higher education. Applying a sociological use of the ‘possible selves’ concept to interview data, the findings show that individual participants accumulate a pool of like-to-be, aspire-to-be and like-to-avoid selves through navigating their WIL programs, which are reflective of the sociocultural, where the physical spaces young people inhabit (e.g. nation-states, family, schooling and employment) contribute to what selves are (im)possible for them, which are probable, which are ideal and which are feared. This study moves beyond the overwhelming dominance of the pragmatic and utilitarian aspects of WIL as merely enhancing student employability and competitiveness in current research, as I articulate the value of WIL in critical awareness raising and sense of (professional) self-making, which is an important, yet often hidden, outcome of WIL. © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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