A sequential engagement theory for Chinese rural students: analysis based on longitudinal data from an elite Chinese university

Scholars explain low levels of social engagement of disadvantaged students as self-isolation because they are endowed with lower levels of cultural and social capital. It renders a hopeless class reproduction conclusion, and it also reflects an implicit assumption that students engage academically and socially in parallel. To contribute both empirically and theoretically to student engagement research, we focus on rural students—a major disadvantaged student group in China—and whether they hold a student leadership role—a highly consequential social engagement activity in the Chinese setting. Utilizing a longitudinal survey, administrative records, and in-depth interviews of the 2014 freshmen cohort at an elite Chinese university, we find that rural students who progressed academically seemed to employ a sequential engagement strategy, “academics-first, social-second,” to catch up with urban students in holding a leadership role and have successfully coped with the challenges at both academic and social realms.