Abstract
International students are subject to the condition of transnational mobility that constructs their legal, social, cultural, and economic status in a unique way. They have to temporarily move away from their country of citizenship and reside in the host country where they do not have citizenship status and are accordingly subjected to restricted entitlements. In policy discourse, international students are often seen as valuable economic and cultural subjects by host countries and as important human capital by home countries. However, in reality, international students (now over five million in numbers) are vulnerable citizens as their transnational mobility occurs in a world which lacks a coherent and coordinated mechanism to protect their rights entitlements and well-being. Drawing on the context of Australia as an illustrative case, this chapter explores how the condition of non-citizenship has led to international students’ disadvantage, marginalization, intimidation, and discrimination from segments of the Australian population. The study shows that the growth of international students and their non-citizenship in the host country triggers anxiety about (un)employment, job competition, university place allocation, housing, and migration. Using Antonsich’s conceptual framework of belonging, we analyze the nature and forms of (non)belonging in relation to international students’ (non)citizenship status. The chapter concludes by discussing implications for the mutual responsibility of involved parties to create inclusive and favorable conditions to support international students in navigating through the transnational space and capitalizing on new opportunities as well as new life “possibles” created by international education and transnational mobility.
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Tran, L.T., Hoang, T. (2019). International Students: (Non)citizenship, Rights, Discrimination, and Belonging. In: Peterson, A., Stahl, G., Soong, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_23-1
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