The global citizenship agenda and the generation of cosmopolitan capital in British higher education

Abstract

Cosmopolitanism has been cast by some in recent years as a form of cultural capital, disproportionately available to students on elite educational pathways. This article tests this supposition, by comparing the enactment of global citizenship education reforms at two high-status and two low-status universities in the United Kingdom. These enactments have indeed differed, as some students are being encouraged to cultivate a sophisticated cosmopolitan disposition for positions of leadership, while other students are not – even if they are being encouraged to learn more about the world, or to develop social tolerance. Comparing the practices and meanings attributed to the global citizenship agenda among universities in different positions in the higher education field, this article illuminates dynamics related to the creation, legitimation, and differentiation of cosmopolitan capital among different groups of students. The article also extends understanding of how the institutional hierarchy of higher education provision positions students for the global economy unequally.