Higher Education Mobility Research Articles

Materializing global academic mobility through the eyes of program coordinators: Comparative insights from a Romanian-U.S. institutional Erasmus+ agreement

Erasmus+, the European Union’s mobility program has been researched extensively (e.g., De Wit, 2020), yet mobility program coordinators at higher education institutions responsible for student, faculty, and staff exchanges remain under-researched. This comparative study showcases a Romanian-U.S. Erasmus + partnership established between Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and North Dakota State University in Fargo, United States. The study draws on (auto-)ethnographic explorations to investigate two coordinators’ roles, responsibilities, and experiences and explores the infrastructure and qualifications needed to facilitate mobility programs. It concludes that the materialization of mobility agreements relies on a combination of personal and institutional motivations, interests, and goals. High levels of individual initiative, linguistic/cultural knowledge, connections, and consistent involvement on the part of the coordinators facilitating the process are required. We advocate for more institutionalized incentives and recognition for coordinators to continue shaping the future of global mobility in higher education.

Breaking the silence: career guidance for self-initiated international placement students

PurposeSelf-initiated international placements by students have been largely ignored in the literature on outward mobility in higher education. The support given to self-initiated international placement students, if any, has received even less attention. This study aims to address this lacuna.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on insights from global mobility literature, we conducted a survey of UK university students who engaged in self-initiated international placements to various countries such as France, China, Brazil and Ghana. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis.FindingsFindings reveal that these “voluntary” placements can improve language fluency, increase self-confidence, renew stress management abilities and enhance cross-cultural competencies and intercultural sensitivity. The study problematises the lack of support given to these students particularly in terms of career development.Originality/valueOur paper is one of the first to bring this under-studied population to the attention of career guidance scholars. We propose that scholarly attention should be directed toward the agency of self-initiated international placement students and that targeted career guidance must be provided through more inclusive career services.

Systematic Review of International Student Mobility in Higher Education

The objective of this study is to conduct a comprehensive review of the educational sciences and social sciences literature about international student mobility that was published in the Web of Science database between 1997 and 2023. In the research, 550 publications that had been scanned by the WOS database were examined concerning their yearly publication counts, citation counts, publishing journals, cited authors, publishing and cited nations, fields of application, keywords employed, and article themes. Every article was analyzed using the Vosviewer software. It was found that 530 articles were published in the English language in terms of language of publication. The most cited articles dealt with equal chances and Erasmus student mobility. Higher education, educational mobility, and international students are the most frequently used terms in the publications, whereas distinction is the least frequently used keyword. The majority of articles on the topic are published in the Journal of Higher Education. The field of educational research published the majority of the articles. The evaluation of international student mobility in the fields of sociology, psychology, and educational administration has been rather restricted. The concept of international student mobility encompasses not only educational mobility but also movements related to social justice, inequality reduction, risk group management, and educational prestige.

An analytic strategy for data processing of multimode networks

Complex network data structures are considered to capture the richness of social phenomena and real-life data settings. Multipartite networks are an example in which various scenarios are represented by different types of relations, actors, or modes. Within this context, the present contribution aims at discussing an analytic strategy for simplifying multipartite networks in which different sets of nodes are linked. By considering the connection of multimode networks and hypergraphs as theoretical concepts, a three-step procedure is introduced to simplify, normalize, and filter network data structures. Thus, a model-based approach is introduced for derived bipartite weighted networks in order to extract statistically significant links. The usefulness of the strategy is demonstrated in handling two application fields, that is, intranational student mobility in higher education and research collaboration in European framework programs. Finally, both examples are explored using community detection algorithms to determine the presence of groups by mixing up different modes.

The infrastructural role of education in the social and investment model of economic growth: the specifics of emerging markets

The purpose of this paper is to determine the directions and to specify the infrastructural role of higher education in the social and investment model of economic growth in view of the specifics and perspectives of emerging economies. Correlation analysis is used to determine the dependence between the directions of higher education’s development and the target results of its contribution to the implementation of the social and investment model of economic growth in emerging economies. These connections are specified with the help of regression analysis. Then, the simplex method is used to determine target landmarks for the selected directions. According to the experience of the top emerging economies with the highest level of economic innovative development in 2020, maximization (up to 100%) of knowledge-intensive employment (+299.29%), medium-tech and hi-tech manufacturing (+223.42%) and e-participation (+19.98%) requires the increase in the number of students per 1 lecturer in higher education by 387.26%, growth of mobility in higher education by 1,116.27%, and increase in QS university ranking by 139.13%. It is proved that only three directions of higher education’s development are significant and have to be implemented to support social and investment model of economic growth in emerging economies: increase in the number of students per 1 lecturer in higher education, growth of mobility in higher education, and increase in QS university ranking.

Corporate social responsibility and international students mobility in higher education

PurposeBuilding upon the attribution and brand resonance theories, this paper aims to investigate the effects of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) in higher education institutions on brand reputation, trust, equity and loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected from international students of one public and one private university in Malaysia. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was applied to analyse the data.FindingsThe findings revealed very strong effects of perceived CSR on brand reputation and trust. Moreover, the results determined the positive effects of brand reputation and trust on brand equity and loyalty. Additionally, findings support the positive indirect effects of perceived CSR on brand equity and loyalty through brand reputation and trust.Originality/valueThis study provides unique theoretical and practical contributions which can inform countries how to attract international students, particularly in post COVID-19 era.

Benchmarking Sustainable Mobility in Higher Education

Sustainable mobility is an increasingly significant issue that both public and private organizations consider in order to reduce emissions by their members. In this paper, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was used to evaluate sustainable mobility. Data coming from a study carried out at the University of Foggia were processed by Gabi LCA software to estimate the environmental performance of the community members according to the methodology of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) guidelines 3.0. Results of the LCA were organized in different classes, creating an eco-indicator of sustainable mobility that can be applied to both the institution and individual members (called the Sustainable Mobility Indicator, SMI). The SMI, computed to assess the environmental impact of the University of Foggia, was also used to evaluate the best mobility scenario, which can be considered a benchmark. The creation of the performance classes and benchmark analysis represents an easier way to communicate sustainability based on the recommendations for achieving the sustainable development goals from the 2030 Agenda adopted by all United Nations Member States. Indeed, any organization can carry out this approach to assess its environmental impact (in terms of mobility) and shape transport policies accordingly, leading to the adoption of sustainable solutions.

International student mobility and its broad impact on destination countries: A review and agenda for future research

The literature on international student mobility (ISM) has recently proliferated across diverse fields, reflecting its multifaceted connections with higher education institutions, business, and industry. This paper reviews existing research to examine what is known on ISM in higher education to determine future directions. The paper provides an in-depth, systematic review of articles published over the past decade to obtain an overview of ISM’s antecedents, decisions, and outcomes. The theories, contexts, and methods employed in the paper to gain this understanding are also explained. Knowledge gaps are highlighted regarding international students’ diverse participation and their impacts on host countries. Finally, research directions are proposed to reveal ISM’s role and potential at the nexus of higher education and industry. This paper adds to existing research by adding insights into student mobility in higher education.

‘This country beyond the township’: Race, class and higher education mobilities in the post-apartheid city

This paper examines the impact of educational mobilities on the lives of university students from an urban working-class township in South Africa. In highly unequal urban contexts, these mobilities provide access to valuable material resources and engender subjective transformations that facilitate access to higher education spaces. Based on fieldwork with students from Khayelitsha, a black urban township in Cape Town, it argues that these mobilities are shaped histories of racial segregation, demands of globalizing labour markets, and students’ personal readings of changing urban environments. Drawing on the concept of mobility capital, the paper suggests that even as these movements enable access to educational opportunities, they do not automatically generate the forms of capital required for social mobility. While students used mobilities to access higher education, they struggled to develop the social networks, embodied dispositions, language skills and cultural competencies that would provide social advantage. Rather, their experiences on campus reveal how mobility capital is structured by material and symbolic inequalities, which are frequently alienating and exclusionary. Finally, the paper emphasizes the importance of everyday movements and attachments between home and university spaces to the formation of student identities.

An Improved Whale Optimizer with Multiple Strategies for Intelligent Prediction of Talent Stability

Talent resources are a primary resource and an important driving force for economic and social development. At present, researchers have conducted studies on talent introduction, but there is a paucity of research work on the stability of talent introduction. This paper presents the first study on talent stability in higher education, aiming to design an intelligent prediction model for talent stability in higher education using a kernel extreme learning machine (KELM) and proposing a differential evolution crisscross whale optimization algorithm (DECCWOA) for optimizing the model parameters. By introducing the crossover operator, the exchange of information regarding individuals is facilitated and the problem of dimensional lag is improved. Differential evolution operation is performed in a certain period of time to perturb the population by using the differences in individuals to ensure the diversity of the population. Furthermore, 35 benchmark functions of 23 baseline functions and CEC2014 were selected for comparison experiments in order to demonstrate the optimization performance of the DECCWOA. It is shown that the DECCWOA can achieve high accuracy and fast convergence in solving both unimodal and multimodal functions. In addition, the DECCWOA is combined with KELM and feature selection (DECCWOA-KELM-FS) to achieve efficient talent stability intelligence prediction for universities or colleges in Wenzhou. The results show that the performance of the proposed model outperforms other comparative algorithms. This study proposes a DECCWOA optimizer and constructs an intelligent prediction of talent stability system. The designed system can be used as a reliable method of predicting talent mobility in higher education.

Intra-Africa Student Mobility in Higher Education

The editors of this timely volume on internationalization, Chika Trevor Sehoole and Jenny J. Lee, contextualized a burgeoning body of research that examines and distinguishes educational migration from the perspective of non-Western and economically developing nations.

Development trends and challenges of students' academic mobility in higher education

Development trends and challenges of students' academic mobility in higher education

Fighting Brain Drain: The Ecuadorian Scholarship

In 2007, the Republic of Ecuador introduced a new scholarship program for financing Ecuadorian students intending to study abroad. This program still exists and stipulates a compulsory return to the students’ home country after completing their studies abroad. Statistical data shows a return rate of about 90%, which is somewhat surprising at first glance. This paper aims to introduce the Ecuadorian scholarship program as a case study in the literature of financing systems of students’ mobility in higher education, while attempting to give a first analysis of its mechanism design. JEL Codes: F22, H52, I23 Keywords: brain drain, financing systems of students’ mobility, higher education, students’ mobility, developing countries

Mobility for teacher students or teacher students for mobility? Unravelling policy discourses on international student mobility in the context of teacher education

Forming part of the efforts to internationalise European higher education, international student mobility has become a key activity strongly supported and promoted by policymakers. In particular, the mobility of teacher students has become a more prominent issue over the past decades. However, to this date there is a lack of research focussing on this specific aspect of higher education mobility policies. Drawing on the analytical framework of discursive institutionalism, this article critically explores policy discourses on teacher student mobility as they emerge in a range of historical and contemporary European and Norwegian policy texts. Subsequently, it discusses how such discourses presuppose the function of teacher education and future teachers in the political agendas on internationalisation and mobility. The study finds that mobility in the context of teacher education is legitimated and promoted with discourses of harmonisation, professionalisation and instrumentalisation, and argues that these discourses are ambiguous and obscure the purpose of both the activity of mobility itself, as well as teacher education and what it educates for, with potential implications for how mobility policies can be realised. In doing so, the article contributes to a critical discussion about the drivers behind contemporary policies for internationalisation and mobility in higher education.

International mobility in higher education: students’ attitude to international credit virtual mobility programs

ABSTRACT International mobility is an integral part of higher education strategy in Europe. This action has triggered the development of the Erasmus program, the most popular scheme for student credit mobility at the European level. Although the program has generally been a success, it also endures several weaknesses, among them, the financial and social selectivity that prevents many students from participating. International credit virtual mobility (ICVM) is an alternative that facilitates mobility to a broader range of students. However, there is a lack of research that analyses students’ perspectives and attitudes to ICVM programs. This study aims to explore the students’ profiles, needs and expectations related to these mobility programs. The empirical analysis relies on a sample of over 1000 Spanish students involved in international physical and virtual credit mobility programs from 2018 to 2021.

Intervening Opportunities between Home and College: Students’ Geographic Mobility by College Type

ABSTRACT This study compared the geographic mobility of community college students with that of students at other institutions of higher education. Using a sample of 7192 students at 39 institutions across the United States (13 community colleges, 14 public 4-year institutions, 12 private 4-year institutions), it employed the method of operationalizing geographic distance as the number of intervening opportunities between home and school. From normative life course theory, two main hypotheses were derived. Corroborating the first hypothesis, the catchment areas of the community colleges were found to be local and determined by proximity. Contrary to the second hypothesis, there was no interaction effect of gender and college type. Rather, women, on average, exhibited a lower degree of geographic mobility than did their male counterparts across all college types. Although there are certainly structural challenges inherent in the non-hegemonic life course strategy presented by community colleges, community colleges were found to fulfill their mission in terms of delivering an alternative to the hegemonic spatial element of expected geographic mobility in higher education.

Mobility and sustainable transportation in higher education: evidence from Monterrey Metropolitan Area in Mexico

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the demand for mobility in higher education to understand the critical elements of students' mobility and the potential impact of accessing sustainable alternatives. The demand for different means of transportation accounts for socioeconomic variables such as household income and size, gender, age, among other travel factors such as distance, time, speed and direct cost.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a unique data set encompassing a representative sample of households across gender and municipalities in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area in Mexico. This paper uses the value of transportation time savings approach to estimate the derived demand for mobility in higher education across different means. The empirical strategy uses a linear utility framework in a multinomial non-ordered logit model to analyze the conditional selection of transportation as a function of sociodemographics, direct monetary costs and travel determinants such as travel time, distance and speed.FindingsMen students are more likely to use an unsustained transportation mode such as a car or cab than women. Income is a crucial determinant for transportation demand. There is a negative relationship between household income and walking or riding the bus but positive with driving a car. An increase in the time of the trip decreases the probability of walking while increasing the likelihood of using a car or riding the bus to school. Students who feel safe while riding a bus are more likely to use the bus or walk as transportation than using a car. Finally, having access to better quality sidewalks significantly incentive walking over other transportation options.Practical implicationsResults show that individuals would almost always choose private vehicles because of the personal comforts and time savings.Social implicationsUnderstanding the demand for higher education and access to sustainable transportation might provide new insights into campus planning and development. Access to public transportation options can reduce the travel costs for students with lower incomes and enlarge options for students who have to commute longer distances by car. Sustainable transportation access plays a role in promoting equality and economic development.Originality/valueThis study’s results bring new light on how transportation becomes an essential component of the opportunity cost of college education and could define its role in promoting equality or increasing inequality. This study’s finding is of particular interest for cities where housing location seems to be independent of access to school, work or other amenities.

European Higher Education Area, internationalization and students’ mobility in 21st century

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) seem to be influenced by the evolutions of globalization, to modernize and operate according to the knowledge society and therefore preparing and equipping students with the appropriate knowledge and skills required in order to respond to new situations imposed by the modern globalized environment. A principal axis is the internationalization of the teaching and learning provided in order to increase the competitiveness among institutions, improve the quality of the provided services and lastly integrate an international as well as intercultural dimension in the purpose, the functions and the mission of an institution (De Wit, 2015; Knight, 2004). The aim of the present article is to provide a theoretical reflection on internationalization and student mobility (which is an internationalization policy) in European Higher Education Area in the 21st century. The first section will attempt to delineate the concept of internationalization and its modern dimensions in the HE, while referring to the ways that is promoted within the European Area. The second section focuses on student mobility in the 21st century. First, there is a brief description of the history of mobility and then the relationship between mobility and the Bologna Process is outlined. In addition, student mobility programs are described as well as the evaluation of students' experiences who participated in those programs, as shown in relevant research. Reference is also made to student mobility at the time of Covid-19 spread. Lastly, in the third section an attempt is made to link the processes of internationalization and mobility in Higher Education in Europe.

Beyond borders: analysis of the students' mobility flows at Sapienza University of Rome

The promotion of mobility among academic staff and students is one of the main objectives of the Bologna Process, a mechanism that has been defined by the European Commission aimed to promote intergovernmental cooperation between the European countries in the field of the higher education. In this respect, according to the last Erasmus+ Annual Report (2019), almost 10 million people took part in the Erasmus program during the last three decades and the increase of this phenomenon has been recorded in all of the European countries. As far as Italy is concerned, in 2018 (year of last available data), 76,847 participants in 1,055 Italian projects benefited from mobility in higher education, vocational education and training, school education, adult learning and youth for a total grant amount of €147.83 million. Going into detail, the number of incoming students and trainees increased by 45.8% from the 2010/2011 academic year to the 2017/2018 academic year while the number of outgoing students and trainees increased by 75.6%. Starting from this consideration, the purpose of the study was to analyze data regarding mobility flows (both incoming and outgoing) during the last academic year (2018/2019) at Sapienza University of Rome, which, together with Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna and the University of Padua, is one of the top three Italian universities with the highest rate of incoming foreign students. Data will be analyzed through the use of profile analysis whose aim is to compare the same dependent variable (i.e., the opportunity for a mobility period abroad) between two different groups of incoming and outgoing students taking into account both demographic variables (i.e., gender, student age at the beginning of the experience, countries of the original and destination institutions) and variables of the academic career (i.e., exam grades and credits obtained).

Academic inbreeding and mobility in higher education: problems, analysis and prospects

The problems of organizing interactive learning in higher education are discussed, taking into account the prospective introduction of new educational standards. It is noted that the emphasis on the use of professional standards in the existing conditions will lead to a decrease in the creative component of graduate training, and the lack of the possibility of real practice will lead to dogmatism and scholasticism. The high dynamics of technical and technological transformations and transformations of the economic sphere in the Russian Federation against the background of global challenges demonstrates the discrepancy between the paces of individual training of high-class professionals. According to the author, the problem is not the transition beyond the boundaries of habitual work; the main attention should be paid to the "smart" future. Complex technologies require significantly more time than before to master the profession. Domestic specialized education should certainly be linked to the spatial development of Russia, which has a huge territory and corresponding local-territorial specifics. Job security – as a tactical emphasis disappears irrevocably within the borders of the region and the industry, giving way for adaptation to the market of local labor and also rapidly and freely moving capital.