International Student Mobility

Abstract

Student mobility has increasingly become a key issue of policy and practice in higher education. This chapter presents a set of critical views about international student mobility globally, setting the context for emerging voices and critical lenses. The authors argue that educators should look into the bigger picture of mobility to understand its complex and multifaceted issues which go beyond counting enrollment numbers. Where do students go to study and why? Where do they come from and who was able to leave home? What obstacles do students face and how do they overcome them? There are some of the central questions of student mobility discourse. In this backdrop, the authors argue that students must be treated fairly by the simple logic of reciprocity: international students are “international” in the host countries in the same way as study abroad students will be “international” by default in the receiving countries. The only question is whether we are ready to accept a humane world where mobile students are valued as part of a global community and for global good, rather than just viewed in terms of mercenary drives of the market.