About the research
The HEIM project conducted 14 interviews with migrant academics, who worked currently or recently in universities in Hong Kong, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Japan, Poland, Qatar, Spain, Turkey, UK, and the USA.
Their countries of origin were Austria, Colombia, Ghana, Guatemala, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Portugal, UK, and the USA. There were nine women and five men and they represented different career stages of mobility including PhD scholars, lecturers, and assistant and full professors. Four of the 14 participants were of Roma ethnic origin, four were Latin American, one was from Sub-Saharan Africa and one was mixed race African American and European. The remaining four were white from the USA and Europe and two of whom self-identified as originating from working class backgrounds.
This quote from the HEIM interviews emphasises the importance of understanding the issues around internationalisation:
‘it’s a bad assumption, to assume that administrators in higher ed are well aware of these distinctions, and are well aware of the experiences of … marginalised and underrepresented groups in higher ed. But I don’t know the degree to which they are aware, and if they are aware, the degree to which they value or care, and how that impacts their actual practices and policies. Because I think that that’s where change occurs.’ (US female with Mexican origins)
And another quote indicates the benefits of recruiting international academics:
‘I think that the fact that I come from a vulnerable community and that there is so few of us, becomes an added value because it’s you know, in terms of diversity, in terms of bringing a different perspective on board.’ (Female, Polish Roma)
Some positive outcomes of internationalisation included:
- Transcultural Learning
- Language Acquisition
- Theoretical Cosmopolitanism
- Professional Development
- Employability
- Broadening reach
- Recasting Identity
- Epistemic/ Cognitive Justice
- Internationalising Knowledge
- Sensitisation to Diversity and Difference
Less romantic aspects of mobility included:
- Precariousness / Instability
- Otherness
- Dis-location and Displacement
- Affective Load e.g. isolation
- Power differentials of racism, discrimination and prejudice
- Friction and turbulence
- Loss of Academic Freedom
- Lack of Practical Support
See the Roma Case Study for some specific examples.