Indian-Malaysian university students’ social navigation and imaginings of education as life strategy

Education is for Indian-Malaysian university students a path to social transformation. They are creolised individuals with several identifications, and in this context university becomes a major means of constructing points of identification. In this sense, it is obsolete to see them defined solely through ethnic and national boundaries and categories. They aspire to gain social acceptance by becoming world citizens and members of a larger global community.
Their social navigation is moulded by detraditionalisation as they move away from Indian traditions and languages.
In spite of the ethnically defined social marginalisation, the Indian students are, compared to students of other ethnicities, most liable to have social interaction with students from other ethnic groups.