Alex Usher, President of Higher Education Strategy Associates, offered a brief essay on the "Four Logics of International Student Mobility" that provides a very useful framework for anyone who affirms the value of hosting international students on university campuses around the world. The four logics capture the essential motivations behind recruiting and hosting international students and include; pilgrimage, soft power, the war for talent, and financial gain.
Usher's point in identifying the four logics is that these views can implicitly or explicitly drive policy decisions. The emerging reality at many universities is that international students are a source to balance budgets, even though these financial motivations "regularly get dressed up in War for Talent and Soft Power clothing, partly for public consumption but also because many universities find it unseemly to talk about money where international students are concerned."
As international student numbers plateau or decline in specific locations and institutions, the financial aspects may take precedence in campus and broader political conversations. The fact is that financial motivation, complicated by decline, "represents a very different level of threat" to institutional or country-specific competitiveness. If the War for Talent is undermined it not only hurts specific institutions but also hurts an entire country.
Usher's point in identifying the four logics is that these views can implicitly or explicitly drive policy decisions. The emerging reality at many universities is that international students are a source to balance budgets, even though these financial motivations "regularly get dressed up in War for Talent and Soft Power clothing, partly for public consumption but also because many universities find it unseemly to talk about money where international students are concerned."
As international student numbers plateau or decline in specific locations and institutions, the financial aspects may take precedence in campus and broader political conversations. The fact is that financial motivation, complicated by decline, "represents a very different level of threat" to institutional or country-specific competitiveness. If the War for Talent is undermined it not only hurts specific institutions but also hurts an entire country.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.