Abstract
International student migration is increasingly regarded as a subclass of talent mobility within the globalising knowledge economy, where a highly educated workforce is seen as a prerequisite for sustaining growth. This chapter looks at examples of relevant developments in European destination countries and examines the processes that shape international student migration as the nexus point where the globalisation of higher education, the global competition for talent and national migration management practices all converge. This chapter also establishes the wider context required to holistically position empirical findings on the migration and mobility of international students within the framework of existing understandings and current debates about the trends that make up this trijuncture. The conclusions point to a number of deep-rooted tensions that transform the interaction between the different agendas of the globalisation of higher education, talent attraction and migration management into a highly contested process, which often results in inconsistent policy outcomes.
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Notes
- 1.
This is the OECD definition of foreign students and includes students who have been long-term residents or those born in their country of study, but who are classified as foreign citizens according to different national policies on the naturalisation of immigrants. The OECD makes a distinction between foreign students and international students, who are defined as those who have moved from their country of origin for the purpose of studying, and who therefore represent a subset of foreign students (OECD 2011: 319, 330). The differences in statistical definitions mean that any data on international students have to be treated with caution.
- 2.
The OECD defines stay rate as the percentage of students who have changed their status for work, family or other reasons among students who have not renewed their permits (OECD 2011). No data are available on stay rates for Switzerland, and in general, these data should be treated with particular caution as they often draw on sources that are not readily comparable.
- 3.
Here, interdisciplinarity is understood as an engagement with debates and the incorporation of findings and positions across disciplines, rather than as the eclectic application of different theoretical and methodological traditions from different disciplines. In this sense, it follows the conceptualisation of interdisciplinary perspectives in migration studies put forward by Favell (2008a), and King (2012).
- 4.
According to the working definition put forward by Knight, internationalisation refers to ‘the process of integrating an international, intercultural and global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of post-secondary education’ (2004: 11).
- 5.
Apart from Germany where the youth unemployment rate decreased from 11.7 % in 2007 to 9.7 % in 2010, during the same time period youth unemployment rates increased in France from 18.9 to 22.5 %, the Netherlands from 5.9 to 8.7 % and Switzerland from 7.1 to 7.2 % (ILO 2011).
- 6.
The Youth on the Move initiative represents one of the main flagship initiatives under the Europe 2020 strategy and aims ‘to respond to the challenges young people face and to help them succeed in the knowledge economy’ (EC 2010a: 4) by improving the quality of education and training systems, supporting labour market integration and promoting mobility. The EU Agenda for New Skills and Jobs mentioned earlier is designed to complement the Youth on the Move initiative.
- 7.
The EU adopted a Global Approach to Migration back in 2005, emphasising the need for a coherent and comprehensive policy framework for managing the broad range of issues in cooperation with non-EU countries. This approach was renewed and renamed the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility following an evaluation in 2011, which among other things ‘highlighted the need for stronger coherence with other policy areas’ (EC 2011a).
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Mosneaga, A. (2014). Student Migration at the Global Trijuncture of Higher Education, Competition for Talent and Migration Management. In: Tejada, G., Bhattacharya, U., Khadria, B., Kuptsch, C. (eds) Indian Skilled Migration and Development. Dynamics of Asian Development. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1810-4_5
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