Conceptualising place and non-place in internationalisation of higher education research

Abstract

ABSTRACT Space and place are central concepts in research on the internationalisation of higher education. However, although the spaces of international student migration have been theorised (Raghuram, 2013), there is a limited understanding of how place matters in the internationalisation literature. This paper schematises this literature to highlight the main ways in which place and internationalisation have been brought together in the current research. It extends the current analysis by exploring the place as location, as locales produced in and through networks - personal, institutional, national, contemporary and historical - and universities as non-places. The paper draws on research with Zimbabwean, Nigerian and Namibian international distance education students who study at the University of South Africa (UNISA) to construct a conceptual architecture of different forms of place and non-place. It ends by setting out a new perspective and research agenda on progressive politics of place for those studying the internationalisation of higher education.