Mobility as ‘becoming’ : a Bourdieuian analysis of the factors shaping international student mobility

This paper unpacks the meanings and implications of the mobility of international students in vocational education – an under-researched group in the field of international education. This four-year study found that transnational mobility is regarded as a resourceful vehicle to help international students ‘become’ the kind of person they want to be. The paper justifies the value of re-conceptualising student mobility as a process of ‘becoming’. Mobility as ‘becoming’ encompasses students’ aspirations for educational, social, personal and professional development. Theorising mobility as ‘becoming’ captures international students’ lived realities and has the potential to facilitate the re-imagining of international student mobility with new outlooks. By theorising mobility as ‘becoming’, this research suggests the importance of drawing on the integrated and transformative nature of Bourdieu’s forms of capital in understanding the logics and practice of the social field – international student mobility.

Understanding global student mobility: exploring new ways of capturing international experiences using in-county overseas students

Australian universities have large numbers of overseas students who do not engage meaningfully with local students about their international experience. The objective of this research, an initiative that was part of a project funded by Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT), entitled the Global Canopy, was to develop pedagogy to promote local students’ awareness about international study based on an in-country teaching program. The research study aimed to develop new knowledge about how domestic students understand global mobility through interacting with international students enrolled in the same university. The initiative included two workshops that brought together a number of project team members, three overseas students and academic staff mentors, representatives from Deakin Global Student Mobility office, and 31 undergraduate domestic students. Data was collected from a series of in-depth interviews with students involved in the program. Initial findings suggested that the workshops were successful, with 12 undergraduate students enrolled in winter schools in India after completion of the program. The paper concludes with lessons learned from the initiative and calls for exploring new ways of identifying international experiences that can be facilitated within discipline curriculum of the home university.

International student mobility and its impact on the Australian private VET sector

In recent years governments have legitimated neoliberal educational policy reforms such as the internationalization and commercialization of education through mobilising the discourses of globalization and the knowledge economy. In Australia for instance, a raft of policy initiatives over the last two and a half decades (beginning in the early 1990s) targeted full-fee paying international students prompting a surge in international student enrolments and a burgeoning private vocational education and training (VET) sector for international students. Drawing on a study of situated realities influencing international students in private VET providers in Melbourne Australia, this chapter analyses, from training managers’ and quality assurance auditors’ perspectives, the impact of international student mobility on the private VET sector. The chapter also utilises the notion of social structure as systems of human relations amongst social positions to examine how international student mobility has led to shifts in VET manager and quality assurance auditors’ perceptions and practices outside the boundaries of the education sector, particularly how private VET providers and international students are represented. In this instance by reforming the VET sector, governments change conventional characteristics through which people relate and the relationships that bind them with intended and unintended consequences. The findings suggest that whilst VET policy posits an easy and ready association between the needs of capital and the development of the workforce, this association is highly contestable and problematic as it can lead to negative student learning outcomes.

International students in transnational mobility: intercultural connectedness with domestic and international peers, institutions and the wider community

International students’ connectedness with their peers, institutions and the broader community significantly affects their learning and wellbeing. It is important to understand their multiple desires for intercultural connectedness in order to nurture it. This paper analyses the motives and nature of international students’ intercultural connectedness. It is based on a study that includes more than 150 interviews and fieldwork with international students and staff from 25 vocational education colleges in Australia. Drawing on Blumer’s symbolic interactionism theory as a conceptual framework, the study found international students’ motivation to engage in intercultural connectedness is linked to not only their desire for respect and recognition for intellectual, cultural and linguistic capacities and diversities but also for employment aspirations. The research shows various dimensions in which intercultural engagement is seen to encompass not only empathy, sociability and equity but also employability. The findings suggest meaningful interaction is essentially bound to reciprocal learning.

‘Responsibility in mobility’: international students and social responsibility

Enhancing the educational experience and social connectedness for international students is the responsibility of different involved parties among whom international students themselves and host institutions play a key role. However, the question of how the condition of cross-border mobility has shaped and re-shaped international students’ responsibility towards the home and host country and other social relationships that have been formed via their mobility experiences is often neglected. This paper examines the social nature of international students’ responsibility. It is derived from a research project funded by the Australian Research Council that includes fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with 155 staff and international students from 25 institutions in Australia over 4 years. Using positioning theory as a conceptual framework, the study shows that it is important to take into account the tangible aspects of transnational mobility in understanding international student responsibility rather than merely locating their responsibility in simple cultural, personal or institutional parameters. The study suggests the important roles of host institutions and community in creating conducive conditions and opportunities for international students to exercise responsibility as social members and intercultural learners. Enhancing student social responsibility and capacity for enacting responsibility is essential for nurturing meaningful transnational citizenship.

International education : a tertiary level industry update

Recent developments in the international education industry are notable in three respects. First, international student mobility has more than doubled in the last two decades or so. Second, programme mobility encompassing distance education has also led to new forms of cross-border education. Third, institution mobility through such commercial deals asfranchises and twinning arrangements are becoming an increasingly important feature of cross-border education, although on a limited scale. Such developments are leading to the emergence of a new market place for the international education industry. This article documents and analyses trends in painting a picture of these contemporary developments in crossborder education.

Research on the flow of international students to the United Kingdom universities : determinants and implications

Using time series data over the 1985 - 2003 period, this article examines some of the determinants of international student mobility to universities in the UK. The research found that some of the main factors influencing international student mobility to the UK include access to domestic education opportunities in the source country, the level of tuition fees in the host country and the level of involvement of the source country in the global economy. At a time when recruiting international students is getting more competitive, these findings will provide the international student recruiter with an enhanced understanding of the dynamics of the international education sector.

Joint European masters awards in construction management and construction economics : a positive step for surveying education?

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) 5th European Conference in November 2004 focussed on enhancing collaboration at master's level in real estate education across Europe. In a context of increased global economic activity and increasing ties within the EU, there are benefits to business and to students in offering this type of educational provision. But is this paradigm true for construction economics (CE) and construction management (CM)? This paper examined the potential for collaboration and joint European awards in CM and CE. There is a political will for collaboration in HE based on economic drivers for the growth of the EU and changes are being implemented to enhance transparency and mobility for students. Professional bodies are expanding their European presence. Globalisation has resulted in greater opportunities for international real estate, and construction and there is growth in these sectors for practitioners. The difficulties with joint European collaboration are short course duration and the need to cover extensive subject matter. Other barriers are university structures, quality assurance procedures, costs and finances issues as well as IT, student services and support issues. The survey revealed that there are no RICS accredited CM / CE courses outside of the UK which inhibits collaboration. The sample was split in perceived demand for collaboration and the European focus within the courses is limited, as are field trips outside the UK. Student exchange on courses is rare. Generally there is a lag between the political will to greater student mobility and collaboration and the market, which is showing growth in multinational organisations and demand for pan European construction services and a professional body keen to deliver and support this growth. Within academia the barriers and current economic climate in HE preclude the widespread adoption of greater collaboration and development of joint awards, however this position may change.

Re-positioning Australia's international education in global knowledge economies : implications of shifts in skilled migration policies for universities

In recent times, many key host nations have made it easier for foreign graduates to migrate after graduation. These students are often considered ideal migrants, possessing local qualifications along with a degree of acculturation, language skills and, in many cases, relevant local work experience. For the student, the opportunity to obtain international work experience adds to the appeal of the overseas study experience and enhances the graduate skills necessary to compete in the global labour market. This paper examines recent changes to migration policy in Australia affecting the post-study work entitlements of international students studying at Australian universities and explores the underlying rationale and consequences of the recent changes in policy direction. An examination of migration policies in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada indicates that recent changes to skilled migration policy in Australia, along with bleak economic conditions in a number of key host countries, has opened up opportunities for Australia to re-position itself favourably.

A Bourdieuian analysis of the aspirations associated with international students' investment in VET

An increasing number of students around the globe have pursuedtertiary education outside their national borders over the past few decades. There are over 4.5 million international students currently undertaking overseas study (OECD, 2014). Despite the growing focus of institutions around the world on internationalisation of education and increasing research interests in international education, the ‘mobility’ of international students remains a largely under-theorised phenomenon. This paper provides insights into the mobility of an often-neglected group within the field of international education –international students in vocational education and training (VET). It draws on a four-year study funded by the Australian Research Council that involves 105 semi-structured interviews with international students from the Asia Pacific region, Europe and America in 25 VET institutions and dual sector universities in Australia.

Challenges for developing EAP practice in anglophone contexts

English for academic purposes (EAP), the academically-focused branch of English for specific purposes (Johns & Dudley-Evans, 1991), aims to facilitate learners’ participation in the English language academic community (Hyland & Hamp-Lyons,2002; Prosser, 1994). The EAP sector has expanded rapidly in recent years (Liyanage & Walker, 2014b) and now plays a significant role within Anglophone and non-Anglophone higher education contexts (Ashraf, Hakim, & Zulfiqar, 2014; Basturkmen, 2012; Kafle, 2014). Global trends which associate English and the West with educational prestige (Kubota & Lehner, 2004), assigning them a “perceived superiority” (Liyanage & Walker, 2014b, p. 165) over other languages and educational paradigms, have led considerable numbers of students to undertake English-medium higher education (Brown, 2014; Doiz, Lasagabaster, & Sierra, 2013; Kim, Tatar, & Choi, 2014). These developments have cemented the international status of the language, which has also has become the global medium for academic communication and a lingua franca in general (Hyland & Hamp-Lyons, 2002; Jenkins, 2011; Seidlhofer, 2005). Increased student mobility and preferences for English-medium education have been of particular economic significance to Britain, Australasia and North America, referred to as the BANA nations, which have experienced a boost in overseas enrolments (Andrade, 2006; Saw, Abbott, Donaghey, & McDonald, 2013; Terraschke & Wahid, 2011). Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are amongst the countries with the highest proportion of international tertiary enrolments globally (OECD, 2014), and the United States and Canada also host a significant number of overseas students (Choudaha & Chang, 2012; Siddiq, Nethercote, Lye, & Baroni, 2012).

International trends in learning abroad

The broad benefits of international student mobility are now well understood globally and learning abroad is a major focus of most higher education institutions’ internationalisation strategies. The growing recognition of the broad individual and national benefits has led many nations with traditionally low rates of outbound student mobility, including Australia, to adopt policies and practices that promote learning abroad.This report provides an overview of international learning abroad trends, with a focus on intra-degree outbound mobility. It aims to examine different policy approaches – including government and institutional policies and practices – that encourage more students’ engagement in international experience during their higher education programs.