Sylvie Lomer

Economic Objects: How Policy Discourse in the United Kingdom Represents International Students.

Despite the significant and increasing presence of international students in the United Kingdom, on a national level there has been a lack of formal policy towards international students. Instead, in policy discourse, international students are represented in economic terms to the exclusion of other dimensions of experience and action. This article seeks to describe and challenge these discursive representations of international students in the United Kingdoms national policy environments. It takes a critical linguistic approach to analysing two texts representative of Coalition policy discourses. The choices of vocabulary, grammar and the content reveal three key assumptions: that education is a marketplace; that the primary value of students is financial; and that students are independent consumers, not influenced by education agents. These assumptions are argued to derive from neo-liberal ideological influences, which oversimplify interactions between international students, host countries and education agents by relying on a market-based discourse. Alternative discourses are needed to challenge these assumptions of policy discourse in the United Kingdom.

Constructing a national higher education brand for the UK: positional competition and promised capitals

This article examines national branding of UK higher education, a strategic intent and action to collectively brand UK higher education with the aim to attract prospective international students, using a Bourdieusian approach to understanding promises of capitals. We trace its development between 1999 and 2014 through a sociological study, one of the first of its kind, from the ‘Education UK’ and subsumed under the broader ‘Britain is GREAT’ campaign of the Coalition Government. The findings reveal how a national higher education brand is construed by connecting particular representations of the nation with those of prospective international students and the higher education sector, which combine in the brand with promises of capitals to convert into positional advantage in a competitive environment. The conceptual framework proposed here seeks to connect national higher education branding to the concept of the competitive state, branded as a nation and committed to the knowledge economy.

UK policy discourses and international student mobility: the deterrence and subjectification of international students

ABSTRACT Policies on international student mobility (ISM) have the capacity to structure both flows of students and the representations of globally mobile students through discourse. This paper draws on a text-based analysis of British policy discourses and secondary analysis of published statistics. It uses problematisation analysis to examine how problems and students are represented as social subjects. Growth in student numbers, particularly in high ranking institutions, has coincided with proactive policies over the last 20 years, suggesting that policy discourses are linked to mobility. But policy targets were not met and growth has fallen since the 2010 tightening of migration policy. Nor was the target of diversifying source countries met, meaning the UK remains dependent on student demand from a few nations. This mixed success suggests that student mobility is easily deterred by migration policy, but other policies have little impact on the nature of demand. In interaction with multiple, contradictory media and institutional discourses, policy discourses construct international students as sources of income, immigrants of doubtful value, consumers, and ‘other’. These representations may be internalised by students, who learn to subjectify themselves. I call for an approach to ISM which puts statistics in dialogue with discourse.

International Higher Education Discourses

International education is a field of globalised policy discourses, with multiple power differentials. The national policy changes presented in the previous chapter have taken place not within a vacuum, but in a global context, impacted by ideas, logics and shared assumptions. This discussion is premised on Marginson and Sawir’s (2006) distinction between internationalisation and globalisation, where the former is understood as relations between nations and the latter as diffuse networks of interactions on multiple levels, including but not limited to nations. Participation in international higher education, particularly the capacity to attract and host international students, has come to be seen as desirable for governments. This commitment to international higher education is part of a globalised discourse, which presumes benefits to host nations, students and the world as a whole. Policy offers multiple rationales for participation in international higher education and in particular for the recruitment, attraction and hosting of international students. They become a “privileged policy instrument” (Vincent-Lancrin 2004, p. 221) which nations deploy in rhetoric to further their self-interest.

Immigration: A Rationale Against International Student Recruitment

Wider migration policy discourses have negatively impacted international students present in the UK, creating a counter-rationale to their recruitment. Immigration policies have fluctuated from welcoming increased immigration for economic growth under Blair, to more recent attempts to reduce net migration under the Coalition government.

Putting Discourse Theory into Practice

This book is based on the critical analysis of publicly available policy documents relating to international students. I understand policy as discourse, drawing on a Foucauldian understanding of discourse. The approach to analysis has been informed by Carol Bacchi’s “what is the problem represented to be” framework.

Income: An Economic Rationale and International Students as Economic Contributors

The most dominant rationale in the policy discourse is the financial incentive to recruit international students. At its heart is the premise that the UK needs more money and that direct international recruitment is an appropriate, effective means of obtaining it.

International Student Policy in the UK

Policy on international students in the UK underwent significant changes and development from 1999 to 2015. Throughout this period, rationales for and against increasing recruitment of international students to the UK underpin policies. This chapter presents the key touchstones in policy on international students, drawing on both educational and migration policy.

Reputation: A Hybrid Educational-Commercial Rationale and Students as Consumers

In order to attract international students, a “reputation for quality” is considered essential. The initial target, often repeated, of the PMI was to “make Britain the first choice for quality” (Blair 1999; DfES 2004).

Influence: A Political Rationale and International Alumni as Ambassadors

Attracting international students is argued to increase the UK’s influence in global diplomacy, as graduates of British education are considered to be more knowledgeable and appreciative of “British values”.