International Student Mobility and Access to Higher Education

Or Shkoler, Edna Rabenu, Paul M.W. Hackett, Paul M. Capobianco

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9783030441388
• eBook ISBN: 9783030441395
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Marketing

This book offers a comprehensive look into issues and trends driving international student mobility as the phenomenon becomes increasingly prevalent worldwide. Chapters first present an expanded definition of student mobility in the context of internationalization and go on to discuss the underlying motivations, issues, and challenges students face in attaining successful outcomes. The authors employ marketing concepts to illustrate ideas and recommendations for better attracting and integrating international students into academic institutions abroad with the goal of greater satisfaction for students and improved profitability for the universities they attend.

© The Author(s) 2020

O. Shkoler et al.International Student Mobility and Access to Higher EducationMarketing and Communication in Higher Educationhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44139-5_1

Begin Abstract

1. Defining International Student Mobility and Higher Education

Or Shkoler¹ and Edna Rabenu²

(1)

Independent Researcher, Netanya, Israel

(2)

Netanya Academic College, Netanya, Israel

Or Shkoler (Corresponding author)

Edna Rabenu

End Abstract

Or Shkoler and Edna Rabenu

Education is perceived as important for socioeconomic developments around the world, as it also can foster deeper and more harmonious human interactions. Specifically, higher education has been seen as vital for social change and advancement (Sridevi, 2019).

Our world today has been described as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014; Corrales-Herrero & Rodríguez-Prado, 2018). In this rapidly changing world, it is necessary for organizations and individuals to engage in continuous learning. To achieve a competitive advantage, individuals, just as much as organizations, need to achieve higher levels and greater depths of learning. From the individuals’ vantage point, it is becoming more fundamental to learn continuously to improve themselves and maintain their viability and employability in the global market. Indeed, the number of people engaging in lifelong learning have significantly increased (Corrales-Herrero & Rodríguez-Prado, 2018).

As an extension of the VUCA world’s perpetual changes, higher education has also undergone many tumultuous transformations from its genesis eons ago to current times, and will probably continue to evolve and change in the future. Consequently, “there is a general consensus that the future of academia is and will be complicated, challenging, and uncertain” (Pucciarelli & Kaplan, 2016, p. 311).

As the focus of the current book is on “international student mobility and higher education,” we will present basic, yet important, underlining terminologies for (1) higher education; and (2) international student mobility. Therefore, we will now discuss related terms and concepts to standardize their definitions, which will enable us to create a common discourse throughout the book and, hopefully, beyond.

Defining Higher Education

Higher education is generally defined as “education beyond the secondary level; especially: education provided by a college or university” (Merriam-Webster, 2018, original emphasis). Considering the university specifically, its missions in this regard are: (1) teaching; (2) research; and (3) knowledge transfer (Perez-Esparrells & Orduna-Malea, 2018, p. 97; see also Pucciarelli & Kaplan, 2016). However, with the technological advances in the recent era, we can see a transformation in higher education—from traditional methods (i.e., face-to-face learning) to more virtual means (i.e., distance or online learning), though the university’s missions remain unchanged.

What Is Virtual (Higher) Education?

As a part of the fast-paced technological evolution and the changes in higher education altogether, new forms and mediums of education emerged. Virtual education (i.e., online learning) is defined as:

knowledge or skill transfer that takes place using the world-wide web as the distribution channel. In a virtual education environment, there are no traditional classrooms. Students are not required to come to the classroom. All instruction and interaction take place over the world-wide web. (Kumar, Kumar, & Basu, 2001, p. 401)

A virtual university may be defined as:

An institution which is involved as a direct provider of learning opportunities to students and is using information and communication technologies to deliver its programs and courses and provide tuition support. Such institutions are also likely to be using information and communication technologies for such other core activities. (Ryan, Scott, Freeman, & Patel, 2013, p. 2)

In addition, Russell (2004) provided a more succinct definition for virtual schools as “a form of schooling that uses online computers to provide some or all of a student’s education” (p. 2).

Defining International Student Mobility

First, we must explain what defines a student. A student is “a person who is studying at a university or other place of higher education” (Oxford Living Dictionaries, 2018). A prospect (i.e., prospective student) is an individual who is considered likely to become a student (see Lakkaraju, Tech, & Deng, 2018).

Further, mobility is “the tendency to move between places, jobs, or social classes” (Macmillan Dictionary, 2018). In this sense, academic mobility is usually explained as the transition or movement of students or teachers to another country. This comprises two mutually exclusive, yet complementary, types of mobility: physical and virtual. Physical mobility refers to the actual movement from one place to another; that is, the “in situ interaction made possible by transportation by car, foot, train, etc.” (Vilhelmson & Thulin, 2008, p. 604, original emphasis). On the other hand, the ever-increasing need for higher education and the growth of student mobility numbers necessitate a solution, especially for those who cannot physically move to countries beyond their borders (Bhandari & Blumenthal, 2011). The response to this is the rapidly expanding domain of virtual mobility , made easier and more possible because of the changes the digital world has undergone since the genesis of the Internet (e.g., Dexeus, 2019), and a “shorthand term for the process of accessing activities that traditionally require physical mobility , but which can now be undertaken without recourse to physical travel…. Thus, virtual mobility creates accessibility opportunities … where previously there was an accessibility deficit” (Kenyon, Lyons, & Rafferty, 2002, p. 213).¹ It is an interactive interpersonal mode, utilizing technology-based mediums² such as the Internet, computers, cellphones, and more (Lawton, 2015; Teichler, 2017; Vilhelmson & Thulin, 2008).

Internationalization

To conceptualize the “international” aspect of student mobility, we must also know what this means for the higher education systems. “Internationalization ³ is a process of integrating an international, intercultural, and global dimension into the goals, functions, and delivery of higher education” (Knight, 2017, p. 13). It has two interdependent dimensions: at home (campus-based) and cross-border (abroad) (Knight, 2017). As such, international student mobility may be regarded as going overseas or cross-border to pursue tertiary education in the destination country (Teichler, 2017). For further reading on the components of internationalization, or the key meaning of internationality, see a review in Teic...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Defining International Student Mobility and Higher Education
• 2. Background and Characteristics of International Student Mobility and Access to Higher Education
• 3. The Reasons for International Student Mobility
• 4. Marketing Standpoints of International Students
• 5. Recommendations and Remedies
• Back Matter