Diaspora and Internationalisation in Higher Education: a BAICE Thematic Forum

The increased movement of people coupled with the rise of communications technology has made it possible for ever larger groups of mobile people to maintain contact with their homelands over vast distances. The term ‘diaspora’ is increasingly employed to describe these relations and it is used widely by academics, policy-makers, and national and supra-national institutions. The proliferation of diasporas linked with increasing academic and student mobility/migration has contributed to shaping the contemporary diasporic conditions in many (internationalising) national higher education systems. Yet despite this growing phenomenon, and increasing national policy initiatives to engage with diasporas, there has been rather less research on the complex relationship between diaspora and higher education, and particularly scholarship around internationalisation. Through contributions from scholars from around the world, we aim to critically examine diverse theoretical perspectives and empirical cases of diaspora and how they connect with and inform the theme of internationalisation in higher education.

27 February 2020

09.30 – 16.30

Senate House, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU

Keynote Addresses

Prof. Brad Blitz, UCL Institute of Education
Freedom of Movement, Displacement and Diaspora: Implications for Internationalisation in Higher Education

Prof. Rachel Brooks & Dr. Johanna Waters, UCL Institute of Education & UCL
Student Mobilities and Migration

Open Discussion Panel

Chair: Prof. Fazal Rizvi, University of Melbourne