International Student Migration Research Articles

Visa policy and international student migration: evidence from Canada

Abstract This article examines how visa policy affects international student migration. Using administrative data on community colleges in Canada, we evaluate a reform that introduced a new visa stream—the Student Partners Program (SPP)—with shorter processing times and higher approval rates for student visa applicants able to demonstrate that they have the financial resources and language skills to succeed academically. Using a triple difference estimator, we find that SPP increased student migration from treated countries by 34% relative to what would have occurred without the reform, and that this effect materialized only among students from origin countries suffering from low approval rates. Moreover, we show that higher enrollment was driven in roughly equal proportions by an increase in visa approval rates and the volume of visa applications, suggesting that the policy helped reduce statistical discrimination and increased the attractiveness of treated institutions. We also leverage the SPP reform to investigate potential crowding-out effects. While inflows of international students did not reduce the number of domestic students enrolled at Canadian community colleges, the reform helped foreign enrollment outpace domestic enrollment by crowding-in international students from countries that were not eligible to SPP.

Drivers of International Student Migration from Kerala: Intersectional Readings on Dual Identity

Drivers of International Student Migration from Kerala: Intersectional Readings on Dual Identity

Brexit and foreign students in gravity

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of Brexit on international student migration. In a structural gravity model, we estimate student migration between 69 countries for counterfactual scenarios in which the United Kingdom leaves the European Union one year before the referendum. This exercise reveals a decrease in exchange students studying in the UK of around 3.8% to 4.9%. While the number of non‐EU students to the UK rises, a drop in EU student numbers drives this result. Similarly, 30% to 38% fewer UK students choose to study abroad. The estimated changes in international student stocks show that most other member countries lose international students and non‐EU countries host more than without Brexit. Our findings provide evidence that there may be hidden costs to Brexit affecting global student exchanges that we have yet to see.

Policy Diffusion and Regionalization of Immigration: Canada’s International Student Migration Policy Landscape

Policy Diffusion and Regionalization of Immigration: Canada’s International Student Migration Policy Landscape

Dynamics of International Student Migration: An Explorative Study in the Context of Kerala, India

This study investigates the dynamics of international student migration from Kerala, a region with a distinctive history of skilled migration. The research focuses on understanding the motivations, experiences, and trends in student mobility, particularly in the post-pandemic era. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study gathers data from 37 participants in Thiruvalla, Kerala, using structured questionnaires, telephonic interviews, and Google Forms. The demographic analysis of respondents primarily includes students aged 20-30 years, representing a blend of gender and socioeconomic backgrounds. Key findings indicate that the principal motivation for migration is the pursuit of higher quality education and improved career prospects. The study reveals a preference for English-speaking countries, with the UK, New Zealand, and Germany being the favored destinations, reflecting language familiarity and perceived educational excellence. Most respondents migrated after completing their undergraduate studies, aiming for postgraduate education abroad. The reliance on educational loans as the primary source of funding highlights the significant financial commitment of students and their families. The research identifies substantial challenges faced by students, including financial constraints, social and psychological adaptation issues, and the hurdles of cultural integration. Interestingly, a majority of students express a desire to seek employment in host countries post-graduation, suggesting a trend towards long-term migration goals. The study concludes that the perceived drawbacks of Kerala's educational institutions – such as low-quality education, outdated syllabi, and lack of job-oriented courses – significantly influence migration decisions. This underscores the need for educational reforms in Kerala to align with global standards and students' aspirations. The study provides valuable insights into the factors driving international student migration from Kerala, emphasizing the need for policy interventions and educational improvements.

It's not all about money: Understanding Chinese student switchers in Britain

AbstractThis study challenges the assumption that international students from the Global South migrate to advanced Western economies primarily for economic gain and social distinction. Through temporally focused interviews with Chinese student switchers in the United Kingdom, that is, migrants who moved from China for university and remain working in situ after graduation, we examine how lifestyle factors may come into play in evoking and accommodating (im)mobilities. Our findings reveal how participants' experiences before, during and after international education are narrated as an entanglement of affective and rational concerns. We highlight how their migration decisions are driven by the search for a desired lifestyle that features work–life balance and a perceived release from a work‐oriented and socially pressurized life in China. Yet, their final emplacement remains an open question due to familial responsibilities in China and Chinese citizenship regulations. The study provides an original conceptual amalgamation of student migration and lifestyle mobility, and sheds further light on the importance of life courses in international student migration literature and lifestyle mobility studies.

Drivers and trajectories of multinational migrations of West African international students

AbstractThis article focuses on international students from West Africa and their migration trajectories. Based on in‐depth interviews, we investigate the migration drivers and students' motivations to become international students. Building on the analytical framework of multinational stepwise migration, we also explore their aspirations, obstacles and coping strategies at different stages of their migratory paths. This study maintains that this form of international mobility is not solely driven by academic aspirations. We find that international student migration is an increasingly important part of larger mobility projects for West African students. The paper also relates to facilitators of migration, constrained opportunities in the home countries and restrictive mobility regimes that, in conjunction, have impacted the stepwise migration toward the Global North. To fulfil their broader mobility projects, African students often have to engage in complex stepwise migrations and face various struggles and drawbacks. This study has demonstrated that African students from middle‐class backgrounds are not exempt from these struggles.

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

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.

Scaling and the formation of borderland subjectivities: A study of identity construction among Chinese international students in the United States

AbstractBased on two representative cases drawn from a larger multi-sited ethnographic project, this study examines the process of identity construction among Chinese international students in the U.S.A., focusing on how the students (re)negotiate their subject positions vis-à-vis their home and host societies. Building on a conceptualization of the students as borderland subjects, the study brings to the fore a critical and creative state of in-betweenness characterizing the positioning of the students, putting into question the paradigm of adjustment and adaption that has long dominated research on international student migration (ISM). To unveil the subtleties behind the students’ formation of borderland subjectivities, the study draws on the notion of scale. By examining the scaling practices of the students, the study provides a nuanced account of how the students discursively index and connect multiple spatial–temporal contexts to guide their journey toward becoming borderland subjects. By combining the notion of scale with the borderland trope, the study sheds light on an emerging avenue of research that aims to uncover the transformative and fluid underpinnings of ISM.

Going beyond the ‘typical’ student? Voicing diversity of experience through biographical encounters with migrant students in Portugal

Research on international student migration has been burgeoning, leading to a more nuanced understanding of international students whose experiences were, for many years, conceptualised in a rather limited way. In this paper, we aim to advance understanding of the diversity and complexity of student migrants’ experiences, by proposing a new interpretive framework, developed through narrative enquiry. Based on an in-depth narrative analysis of 41 “biographical encounters” with student migrants in Portugal, we illustrate the potential of biographical approaches in highlighting students’ subjectivities, and the complex interplay of diverse factors that shape migration processes. A migration “profile” was assigned to each narrative, capable of representing its leitmotif. This biographical approach to student migration provides a more nuanced understanding of how student migration emerges in time, thus offering a methodological approach that does justice to the diversity of student migration trajectories and may enhance the empirical examination of their experiences.

South Asian students’ migration to, within and from Finland and Sweden: connecting the dots to arrivals and departures

Much of the current research on international student migration is focused on home-to-host and stay-or-leave migration behaviours. However, there is a possibility that international students might migrate within the host country before making their final stay-or-leave migration decisions. This paper adapts stepwise migration theory as an analytical tool with which to investigate the migration behaviour of Indian and Pakistani students. Based on 57 interviews and extensive participant observation, it analyses the factors that prompt South Asian student migration to, within and, subsequently for some, from Finland and Sweden. The findings support the argument that international student migration is multistage. Initial origin-to-destination migration is often insufficient to meet the high-set ambitions of talented young migrants. Disappointment with perceived missing opportunities in the university city or town lays the basis for subsequent intercity and stay-or-leave migration stages. Subsequent migration within the destination country impacts on the students’ stay-or-leave aspirations, while the origin-country situation influences return-or-onward migration decisions.

International Student Migration to the GCC States: A Comparative Study

This article examines the migration of international students to the Gulf Coop-eration Council (GCC) states from a comparative perspective. Over the past few decades, the GCC states have made significant investments in their education sec-tor, leading to notable improvements in educational infrastructure and quality, the establishment of new universities and knowledge parks, as well as the emergence of international university branches. Consequently, this transformation has attracted a growing number of international students to the Gulf region, including non-national resident students and foreign students arriving in the Gulf specifically for educational purposes. Student migration entails more than just entering a host country; it also involves university admissions policies, tuition fees, scholarship programs, immigration status and the pathways available for employment after graduation. Therefore, this article delves into the intricate aspects of student migration to the GCC states, shedding light on migration patterns, student compositions, admissions processes, financial considerations and integration into the Gulf labour market. The findings of this study indicate that the GCC states have made some headway in managing international student migration. However, there is still a need for the development of a comprehensive student migration policy that fully capitalises on the benefits of student migration to promote economic development in the Gulf states.

Differentiated experiences of financial precarity and lived precariousness among international students in Australia

Empirical research on international student migrants has sometimes homogenised this group, framing it as predominantly made up of privileged members of the global middle-class. This has led to calls to acknowledge and address the precarity faced by international students in their respective host countries more comprehensively. This study aims to explore how levels of financial precarity vary among international students in Australia, and how this in turn contributes to varying levels of precariousness in the personal spheres of students’ lives. In doing so, we centre and refine the concept of precarity for use in studies of internationally mobile students, arguing for its use as a ‘relational nexus’, bridging financial precarity and broader lived experiences. Drawing on a large-scale survey and semi-structured interviews with 48 students, we emphasise the linkages between financial precarity and precariousness as a socio-ontological experience, explored through the examples of time poverty, physical and mental wellbeing, and relationships.

International student migration: current trends and challenges for developing countries

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.

The student migration transition: an empirical investigation into the nexus between development and international student migration

In this paper, we analyze the relationship between development and outgoing international student mobility (ISM) for the years 2003–2018 using data from UNESCO. Starting from migration transition theory, we expect that development and outgoing migration follows an inverted U-shape due to changes in capabilities and aspirations of populations. As predicted, we find that outgoing ISM also follows this pattern. Probing deeper into this finding, we investigated whether students from countries of different levels of development favor different destination countries, focusing on destination countries’ academic ranking, GDP per capita, and linguistic and colonial ties. We find that these destination country characteristics indeed have different effects for students from origin countries with different stages of development, and that these effects cannot simply be reduced to a dichotomy between developed/developing countries. Together, the findings highlight the nonlinearity of ISM processes. In turn this opens up new avenues of research regarding the diversity of international student populations.

Local Labour Market Outcomes of Educational Migration

Thus far, the majority of studies have focused on international student migration. Less attention has been paid to internal migration for tertiary education and even less to local effects caused by this category of migration. To redress this limitation, the paper determines the most important consequences of internal migration for university enrolment in the local labour market of a university city. This is shown through the example of the Polish university city with one of the highest student-to-population ratios – Opole. The study is based on the literature review and the result of qualitative and quantitative research conducted in Opole. The first was conducted among students and the second among owners and employees of local enterprises. Findings of the research suggest that the inflow of students to the university city can lead to short- run and long-run effects on the local economy. Findings of the research suggest that in the short run the inflow of students to the university city leads to structurally important changes in the labour supply and creates new jobs. In the long run, it leads to permanent changes in labour resources, attracts investors to the city and causes permanent changes in the labour demand. The analysed outcomes of migration for tertiary education are only a small but vital part of the consequences of education migration. The global spread of the coronavirus has also stressed the importance of educational migrants in university cities. The impact of pandemic COVID-19 on university cities should be the subject of future research.

Unraveling the myth of Western supremacy: A critical discourse analysis of U.S. news reporting on international student migration from China.

Unraveling the myth of Western supremacy: A critical discourse analysis of U.S. news reporting on international student migration from China.

Does graduate education abroad matter? Evidence from Burkina Faso

ABSTRACT This paper addresses international student migration, return migration and labor market entry by examining the effects of graduate educational migration on employment, type of employment, wage and wait time to obtain employment. Using primary data collected in 2021 on 1774 burkinabè graduates, including non-migrants and migrants (returnees and non-returnees), the results are mixed. Migration for studies does not provide better access to employment for returnees because they take longer to get a job despite having degrees from schools abroad and earning more. Controlling for selection bias, Ph.D. graduates take longer to find jobs than do Master's graduates. Arbitrating between unemployment and a lower-skilled job, the findings highlight that the returnees prefer unemployment. Assignment and queuing theories are supported for returnees.

Recruiting international students: Analysing the imaginative geographies of three urban encounters

International students are a critical source of income for UK universities, and yet reports indicate that their numbers have been in decline since academic year 2010–2011. Consequently, UK universities need to work harder to attract international students than ever before. This paper uses qualitative interviews with international office staff based at UK higher education institutions together with observational research at recruitment events which took place in Hong Kong in 2017 to demonstrate how the urban has a critical role to play in the international student migration industry. The paper showcases three urban encounters in the recruitment process: the higher education recruitment fair; the connections universities draw between themselves and other urban locations; and by considering how predeparture events mobilise the urban landscape to communicate dynamic learning experiences. The retelling and analysis of these encounters demonstrate how universities, and the UK, create, foster and embed the geographical imaginary in their recruitment processes in order to entice and encourage brand loyalty from prospective students.

Social support for international students who faced emotional challenges midst Wuhan's 76-day lockdown during early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic

This study is a phenomenological investigation of the emotional challenges of international students experiencing the 76-day lockdown in Wuhan during the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic in China. This study employed the psychological concepts of stress, fear, and uncertainty to understand international students' risk factors and psychological symptoms during the Wuhan lockdown. Hence, this research assessed (a) the emotional challenges associated with the lockdown and (b) major sources to cope with emotional challenges. The overarching scholarly conversations are about diverse forms of emotional distress, such as stress and anxiety about their physical health and the social support from various sources at host universities and local communities, including students, teachers, administrators, and the students' respective embassies. Overall, the current study has theoretical and practical implications and offers a guideline for administrative practice in international higher education and international student migration.