International student migration: current trends and challenges for developing countries

Abstract

Introduction. Globalization processes, which have developed rapidly in recent decades, are observed in all spheres of social life without exception. The opening of borders, digitalization, the development of a knowledge-based economy, and deepening economic polarization of the countries of the world have intensified such a form of international relations as educational migration. Students increasingly choose foreign educational institutions to acquire new competencies or obtain a higher education diploma. Global political and economic turbulence significantly affects student migration, creates a new system of factors and increases the challenges for educational migrants from poor countries.Purpose of the article. The purpose of the study is to determine the current trend of international migration of students from developing countries.Research methods. To achieve the goal of the article, a number of general scientific approaches and methods were used: analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction, comparison, structural-logical method, as well as special and empirical methods - scientific abstraction, elements of SWOT and comparative analysis.Results. Educational migration and international academic mobility of students are essentially close, mostly identical concepts. However, the migration of students can occur under the influence of a slightly different system of factors (exogenous and endogenous, global and national), because it involves not only studying in foreign higher education institutions, but also going abroad, finding a place of work and permanent residence. The article emphasizes that among the motivating factors, it is the improvement of the future material situation thanks to receiving a quality education at a prestigious university that occupies a prominent place, because it makes it possible to get a well-paid job in a developed country. This is especially true for students from poor countries who do not have such prospects at home. Restraining factors are language and psychological difficulties, lack of funds for study and accommodation, logistical and bureaucratic problems, etc. The challenges of the 20s of the 21st century were also the coronavirus pandemic and unprovoked Russian-Ukrainian aggression. These global factors caused significant changes in the migration policy of developed countries, which are the main recipients of educational migrants, and worsened the economic conditions for migration. Many university curricula provide online teaching for international students, and the geography of educational migration increasingly focuses on a group of the safest and most stable destinations.Prospects. Further research should be focused on finding ways to improve the effectiveness of international academic mobility programs in today’s conditions of global instability and technological development.