Although scholarship on international student mobility (ISM) is extensive, the evolving landscape of ISM, with increasingly diverse rationales, actors, and modalities, requires new data and forms of understanding. This article reflects on the new developments in ISM in the context of postpandemic and geopolitical turmoil. We conclude by urging scholars to engage in critical examination of the dominant theories and concepts informing our understanding of mobility. 

The last three decades transformed international student mobility (ISM), democratizing cross-border higher education as ISM reached an unprecedented seven million participants. Increasingly heterogeneous actors, including governments of countries on the periphery of global higher education, challenge the power previously embodied in transnational flows of learners. The peripheries of the global higher education system are slowly assuming agential roles, embracing diverse rationales and emerging technologies to steer ISM flows. In this context, we reflect on key transformations in ISM to identify critical directions for future research.

Metamorphosis of International Student Mobility

While ISM has been the focus of researchers’ attention for many years, existing scholarship has a limited understanding of the relationship between different drivers of mobility. Outside of dichotomous concepts (e.g., push and pull factors), little consensus emerges on the connection between ISM rationales (political, economic, academic, sociocultural, and humanitarian), with scholars generally treating them as independent, hierarchical, and even convergent. However, the growing complexity across these drivers is becoming more evident with the emergence of new regional hubs outside traditional Anglophone destination countries. Recently, the ISM landscape has become multipolar, with a more dense, connected, yet diverse network structure reaching beyond core high-income countries, as international students embrace opportunities closer to home. These shifting flows have enabled transformations in the size and structure of ISM, attracting previously excluded students to study abroad.

In addition to goal-directed and voluntary participants of ISM, the largest post-World War II refugee crisis forces displaced learners to engage in transnational learning. ISM experience has become a pathway for displaced learners, despite various political and legal restrictions at the national and international levels. Unlike traditionally mobile students, refugees fleeing violent conflicts and natural disasters often face restricted options in study destinations and may end up being forced to enroll in departments outside their interests or at newly established universities. Further, national policies and visa regimes constrain opportunities for the free movement of displaced populations. However, governments and universities have increased efforts and incrementally reformulated their policies to expand access and support for refugees in higher education.

The meaning of ISM is changing with cross-cultural learning becoming more accessible within one’s classroom. Once a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual mobility has become an opportunity in the “new normal” with increasing integration of educational technology. The abundance of virtual learning opportunities allows students to participate not only in short-term exchanges but to complete full degree programs online. Virtual mobility aligns with the goals of decreasing carbon emissions to address the mounting climate crisis. Researchers, policy makers, and administrators may take advantage of these developments to integrate ISM more effectively with global sustainability goals.

The metamorphosis of ISM requires reimagining the definition of mobility itself. While traditionally defined as students crossing borders for education, ISM now extends beyond this conventional framework. Recent trends demonstrate the limited capacity of this definition to integrate new modalities and experiences of displaced learners. The complex intertwining of ISM with geopolitical rivalries, technological advancement, and diverse regional perspectives demands a holistic analysis of macro-, meso-, and microlevel rationales that drive participation in ISM.

Future Research Directions

To further understand the complexity of ISM, scholarship should seek to offer more nuanced and inclusive theoretical approaches, grasping a diversity of perspectives and experiences. Established theories and definitions have certain boundaries. First, they offer limited explanations of how actors, rationales, and modalities of ISM interact and shape one another. Second, they are mostly utilized to explain ISM through a center–periphery framework, which falls short of explaining regional dynamics. We see this challenge as an opportunity for future research to embrace engaged methodologies that bring multiple stakeholders into the process of knowledge cocreation to unpack the interconnected dimensions of international student flows. 

As the movement of students is increasingly influenced by insecurities, scholarship needs to turn attention to understanding the relationships among geopolitics, technology, and human agency in ISM. Refugee and climate crises, along with the changing world order, reshape societal expectations and implications of ISM. At the dawn of the artificial intelligence revolution, some scholars discussed a bipolar world scenario, but history rarely repeats itself. Thus, we suggest remaining critical of dichotomous thinking by investigating a range of possible shifts in the global world order and their potential influence on mobility trends and structure.

Overall, the trends, flows, and trajectories of ISM are undergoing a continuous transformation, as the ecosystem surrounding it is shaped by geopolitical dynamics, international relations, national-level policies, and the varying agential capacities of students. Within this landscape, further research is imperative for understanding the potential impacts of macrolevel forces on individual student experiences. 

Liz Shchepetylnykova is Hans de Wit fellow at the Center for International Higher Education, Boston College, United States. E-mail: [email protected].

Sevgi Kaya-Kaşıkcı is a postdoctoral researcher at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Türkiye. E-mail: [email protected].