This presentation focuses on a comparison of internationalisation policy in higher education in the UK and China focusing particularly on educational and immigration policies relating to student mobilities. In the UK there is a noticeable dislocation between discourses of government policy on attracting international students and the actual policies which are being enacted. This is contrasted with China where government policy on economic development, people circulation and higher education are all in lockstep. The number of international students studying in China has risen substantially over the last five years, whilst in the UK, numbers are stagnating and government policy on international students and immigration is building barriers to incoming student mobility rather than smoothing it. The presentation considers the symbolic significance of these dislocations and alignments in educational policy and their impact on global higher education.

This seminar is part of the “Policy Studies and Management Seminar Series”. Professor Catherine Montgomery, Professor of International Higher Education in the Department of Education at the University of Bath shared her research on the impact of student mobility on comparing internationalisation policy in higher education in the UK and China.