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238 Pages·2018·2.111 MB·English
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STUART TANNOCK EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS JUSTICE ACROSS BORDERS? Educational Equality and International Students “This book makes a major contribution to research by raising new and pro- foundly challenging questions about the conceptualisation of equality in educa- tion arising from the internationalisation of higher education in market terms. Written with exemplary clarity and precision, the book highlights the limita- tions of framing both theoretical and empirical research about equality and social justice within the boundaries of the nation state. It demonstrates how the nation-state-based narrative has left international students outside the equality radar of both policymakers and university management within the UK in particular. The author examines the contradictions between the rhetoric of universities and their practices whereby they proclaim universalistic values of human rights to education, while simultaneously regarding international students as ‘cash cows’, a simple market commodity. He provides compelling evidence that British universities ‘are now deciding to recruit and not recruit, and admit and not admit international students not just on the basis of their academic merit, but on their nationality, immigration history, and financial well-being and secu- rity.’ This book should be read by all of those researching or teaching about equality in education. It extends the parameters of our intellectual horizons beyond the boundaries of the nation state and opens up new questions and frameworks for analysing inequality in education in a globalised world.” —Kathleen Lynch, Professor of Equality Studies, University College Dublin, Ireland “It is incredibly timely for this book to come out in our 50th anniversary year, as it is a fascinating exploration of some really fundamental principles and con- cepts surrounding international students, how they are treated and how they are seen. Not everyone will agree with every aspect, but the book asks some really powerful questions – many of which we will need to re-visit at the very least in the context of Brexit – and many of which are in practice, for good reasons or bad, often overlooked or ignored.” —Dominic Scott, Chief Executive, UK Council for International Student Affairs “This is an incisive and original contribution to the literature on international students, pointing up the neglected topic of which kinds of inequalities they experience and how, given this, we should think of educational equalities. The analysis richly advances our understanding of educational equalities across nations, institutions, and communities of practice. The book combines a very clear discussion of theory with richly documented accounts of experience in the UK. All discussions of higher education as a public good need to engage with some of the complexities this study raises.” —Elaine Unterhalter, Professor of Education and International Development, UCL Institute of Education, UK Stuart Tannock Educational Equality and International Students Justice Across Borders? Stuart Tannock UCL Institute of Education London, UK ISBN 978-3-319-76380-4 ISBN 978-3-319-76381-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76381-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018936886 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans- mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: ZEN - Zaneta Razaite / Alamy Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Acknowledgements The research study on which this book is based was funded by the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE Research Award reference 1552). I would like to thank the students and staff from universities and other higher education institutions around the UK, who generously shared their time, experience and insights on the question of educational equality and international students with me: I hope that this book does justice to their invaluable contributions. I would also like to thank Rachel Brooks at the University of Surrey and Richard Watermeyer at the University of Bath, who supported this project at the very beginning; the staff team at UKCISA – the UK Council for International Student Affairs – who were incredibly supportive and helpful throughout the research phase of this project; and Mayssoun Sukarieh, who, more than anyone, has helped to sharpen and clarify my thinking about issues of equality and justice in a global context. v Contents 1 Introduction: A Case of Ambivalence, Uncertainty and Contradiction 1 2 E ducational Equality, Higher Education and the Nation State 15 3 I nternational Students in the UK: Caught Between Market Forces and Immigration Targets 39 4 T he Fragmentation of Equality in the Internationalized University 69 5 Equality Remains: Stubborn Attachments to Ideals of Educational Justice 93 6 T he Question of International Tuition Fees: Cash Cows and Silent Elephants 125 vii viii Contents 7 The Swiss Banker Problem: International Students, Internationalization and the University Curriculum 153 8 Constructing the International-Home Student Attainment Gap 185 9 Conclusion: Taking Educational Equality Across National Borders 215 Index 227 1 Introduction: A Case of Ambivalence, Uncertainty and Contradiction In an increasingly globalised world of education, should the principle of educational equality apply to all students – or only to some? If the principle of educational equality applies to all students everywhere, how exactly can this be made to work, given that most educational institutions and systems remain nationally and locally rooted, organ- ised and funded? Or, if educational equality applies only to some – namely, students with citizenship or residency rights within a given country – what are the consequences for educational institutions, indi- viduals, families, local communities and global society in general, as ever growing numbers of students, scholars, schools, colleges and uni- versities now work across nation state borders in their pursuit and prac- tice of knowledge, learning and education? These core questions form the central concern of this book. To address these questions, the book draws on an empirical study of one specific real world case, that is international students studying at uni- versities in the United Kingdom. The empirical study investigated a more focused set of parallel questions: How are universities in the UK conceptualising and promoting principles of educational equality for their international as well as their home students? How do university © The Author(s) 2018 1 S. Tannock, Educational Equality and International Students, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76381-1_1 2 S. Tannock staff, administrators and student leaders explain the rationale for extending, limiting or t ransforming principles of educational equality, according to whether an individual is considered to be a home, European or international student? How are the claims and arguments these staff and student leaders make supported or undermined by actual govern- ment and university policy and practice? International students constitute an important if often overlooked group for considering questions of global or international educational equality and justice in today’s world. For one thing, they comprise a sig- nificant and growing proportion of higher education students worldwide. In 2015, international students made up 5.6% of all higher education students in OECD countries, 11.5% of all Master’s degree level students and 25.7% of all doctoral students; globally, the number of international higher education students increased by 160% between 1995 and 2011 (OECD 2017). The United Kingdom has some of the highest propor- tions and numbers of international students anywhere. In the 2015–2016 academic year, there were 438,000 international students studying in universities in the UK: together, these students comprised 23% of all full time higher education students in the country, 70% of full time taught postgraduate students and 51% of full time research degree students (HESA 2017). Given such figures, the question of how and whether principles of educational equality should apply to international students has significance not just for these students themselves, but for educa- tional institutions more generally, as well as both host countries and sending countries from which international students come. A second reason why international students are an important group for considering questions of global or international educational equality and justice is that they are often a vulnerable group of students, since most of them are studying and living temporarily in countries in which they do not have citizenship or permanent residency rights, protections or entitlements – and in which the rights, protections and principles of educational equality and justice that they might enjoy in their home countries do not apply (Marginson 2013). In the UK in recent years, international students have sometimes found themselves stuck between the global market forces that lead UK higher education institutions (and

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