Trends, Reasons, and Impacts of International Student Mobility: A Chinese Perspective
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of international student mobility, with a focus on the theoretical frameworks in existing studies of the motivations for and impacts of international student mobility. We introduce and review the “push-and-pu
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Trends, Reasons, and Impacts of International Student Mobility: A Chinese Perspective
Introduction With the deepening of globalization during the past several decades, educational institutions around the world have been undergoing rapid internationalization. This education internationalization process is reflected in more frequent student and faculty exchange, more cross-region collaborations in joint-degree programs and branch campuses, as well as “importing foreign higher education services and exporting educational programmes abroad” on a larger scale (Huang, 2007, p. 58). Nowhere is this trend of internalization more apparent than the increased cross- border student mobility. International student mobility, which refers to “international students … taking a full degree abroad or … participating in a short-term, semester or year-abroad program” (Knight, 2012, p. 24) has become an increasingly important part of the global higher education landscape. Between 1990 and 2012, the number of students studying outside their country of citizenship more than tripled (OECD, 2014). The International Consultants for Education and Fairs (2015) reported that approximately five million students studied abroad in 2014, and that, according to the projection made by OECD, there would be eight million students studying abroad by the year 2025. As Jane Knight claims: “[international] student mobility, in its multiplicity of forms, continues to be a high priority of internationalization” (2012, p. 21). However, in recent years, there have been trends of decline in international student enrollment. Open Doors 2018 reports that the enrollment of new international students has dropped for three consecutive years since 2015 (Institute of International Education, 2018). Behind this decline in international student mobility are a series of antiglobalization movements and events in some countries to reassert national identities. These movements and events, such as the impending British exit from the European
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 B. Cheng et al., The New Journey to the West, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 53, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5588-6_1
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1 Trends, Reasons, and Impacts of International Student Mobility: A Chinese…
Union, President Donald Trump’s “America first” policies, and the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, have fueled tensions and conflicts among nation states and regions, adding uncertainties to the internationalization of education.
Defining International Student The term “international student” may seem straightforward at first sight; however, on a closer examination, there may be more complexity to it. Some universities define international students in a practical and functional way. For example, Louisiana State University defines international student as “a non-immigrant student on F-1 or J-1 visa” (as quoted in Kelly, 2012, p. 5). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)1 defines internationa
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