School alumni, transnationalism and Asian diaspora: an unexplored potential for researchers

For countries in Asia that were once part of the British Empire, one of the more singular outcomes of contemporary globalisation has been an increase in emigration to other parts of the former Empire, such as Australia and the United Kingdom. This transnational movement has been both temporary and permanent, often in the initial context of migration for tertiary education rather than school education. Consequently, the role of alumni in helping to facilitate these transnational movements has tended to focus on the position of university and related alumni connections. Using examples from India and Sri Lanka, this chapter highlights that, as a result, there are gaps in the research canon concerning the possible roles played by school alumni associations as drivers of transnational migration and facilitators of migrant adjustment that offer researchers unexplored lines of inquiry.