This dataset consists of qualitative interview data collected from Algerian students who were either studying abroad or preparing to study abroad.

The primary ethical consideration concerned the protection of participant confidentiality and the risk of disclosing participant identities. To address this, all personal identifiers, including names, email addresses and other identifying information, were removed from the data. Participants were assigned pseudonyms (P1–P10) and all transcripts were anonymised prior to deposit.

Participants were informed about the study and provided consent for participation and for anonymised data to be archived in an appropriate research data repository. One participant requested that the interview was not audio-recorded or transcribed; detailed notes were therefore used instead and anonymised in the same manner as the interview transcripts.

The dataset has been prepared in accordance with Bournemouth University ethical approval procedures and data protection requirements.