It doesn't really matter which university you attend or which subject you study while abroad The massification of student mobility programmes and its implications for equality in higher education

Based on documentary analysis and interviews, the article examines the current practices of Irish universities in their efforts to increase their students' participation in international exchange programmes. It argues that increased participation, while a positive outcome, obscures a growing di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEuropean journal of higher education Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 99 - 114
Main Author Courtois, Aline
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 02.01.2018
Subjects
Akademischer Austausch
Ausland
employability
Employment Potential
Equal Education
Foreign Countries
Higher Education
inequality
International Educational Exchange
International Programs
Internationalization
Ireland
Irland
Lehre
Mobilität
Qualitative Research
Questionnaires
Semi Structured Interviews
Student
Student Mobility
Student Participation
Studium
Study Abroad
Wissenschaftler
United Kingdom
Ireland
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Summary:Based on documentary analysis and interviews, the article examines the current practices of Irish universities in their efforts to increase their students' participation in international exchange programmes. It argues that increased participation, while a positive outcome, obscures a growing differentiation in the types of exchange programmes and destinations. This emerging stratification leads to differentiated experiences and outcomes, which may amplify other forms of stratification pervading the higher education sector. In particular, we look at the emergence of different models of exchange, that have moved away from an academic focus towards a more easily manageable model better suited to the massification underway. We suggest that Irish higher education institutions contribute to making credit mobility a space, where students can deploy socially unequal strategies and where the more vulnerable remain either excluded, or limited to 'second best' programmes, devalued academically or where pedagogic opportunities are lost. This is one of the manifestations of the production of internationalization under the pressures of cost-saving, corporatization and the employability discourse. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).
ISSN:2156-8243
2156-8235
2156-8243
DOI:10.1080/21568235.2017.1373027