International student migration in a Serbian context: Socio-cultural integration experiences

Lukić, Vesna (2024) International student migration in a Serbian context: Socio-cultural integration experiences. In: Compromised Geography: Spreading a New World. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Porto, pp. 65-66.

Text Porto Lukic.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (82kB)

Abstract

In the last decades, the number of international students has greatly increased worldwide linked with the internationalization of higher education. The highest number of residences permits ever were issued for international tertiary-level students across OECD European countries in 2022 (OECD,2023). International students are a valuable human resource to the host country, which is particularly important for the ones with fertility rates below the replacement level (Hawthorne, 2010). Therefore, there is a growing interest in research on international student migration patterns, motives, experiences, challenges, and opportunities within different disciplines, including human geography. However, this is an underexplored topic within scientific research carried out in Serbia, which is traditionally an emigration country but with a long tradition of educating scholarship holders abroad as well as educating international students at domestic universities. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2016) definition of international students, this paper considers an international student to be a person who received their prior education in another country and is not a resident of the current country of study. The paper presents the first findings from an ongoing research project on international student migration and identity nexus in a Serbian context. These findings are focused on research on their socio-cultural integration experiences in the country of study. The results are based on analyzing additionally processed 2022 Census data in Serbia on international student population, and original data collected by focus group research among three groups of students (students from Serbia who have been studying abroad for at least one year, young highly educated professionals under 30 who returned to Serbia after studying abroad, and international students who have been studying in Serbia for at least one year) enrolled in tertiary education and by following a mixed-methods approach.

Actions (login required)

View Item