Soyoung Lee is a DPhil student in education and a Clarendon scholar at University of Oxford. She is also a member of Higher Education research group at the Department of Education.

Soyoung’s research interests are focused on international higher education as self-formation as well as cultural foundations of university students’ learning patterns. She applies an integrated framework from educational psychology, philosophy and sociology that forms the current self-formation discourse in global higher education. Her doctoral research is fully funded by University of Oxford (Clarendon Scholarship and Oxford-Sir John Swire & Rosemary Foot Graduate Scholarship) and supervised by Professor Simon Marginson and Professor Steven Puttick.

Prior to the DPhil, Soyoung completed her MPhil in Educational Research at University of Cambridge, where she graduated with Distinction. In her master’s thesis, Soyoung investigated how and why international students’ learning patterns formed in their home countries change during their adaptation processes in British higher education, under the guidance of Professor Jan Vermunt. Her research was supported by International Cambridge University Student Union (iCUSU) and awarded the Best Dissertation Award.

Back in South Korea, Soyoung worked as an educational programme developer and instructor at Youth Leadership Centre and participated in a number of projects, collaborating with various Korean universities, schools, and NGOs like Red Cross Youth. She also attended to Kyunghee University in Seoul, where she received BA degree in Hospitality management.

Publications
  • Lee, S. Y. (2018). International students’ learning patterns and their academic adaptation in British higher education [Master dissertation]. University of Cambridge, the United Kingdom.
  • Fryer, Lee, & Shum. (2020). Student Learning, Development, Engagement, and Motivation in Higher Education. In H. Anne (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Education. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199756810-0246
  • Lee, S. Alina Schartner, Tony J. Young: Intercultural transitions in higher education: international student adjustment and adaptation. Higher Education (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00618-y