Geographies of International Education: Mobilities and the Reproduction of Social (Dis)advantage

Abstract

This paper provides a critical perspective on emergent geographies of international education, suggesting what these might mean for the reproduction of social (dis)advantage. The assertion that formal education may have regressive consequences for social mobility is hardly new – work on the sociology and geography of education has for a long time shown uncontrovertibly that the opportunities and rewards associated with formal education are unevenly distributed across space, as well as being differentiated by social class. Until relatively recently, however, work focussing on the remarkable transformation of formal education through internationalisation, and its implications for social inequalities, has been limited. This paper provides a critical review of a now burgeoning area of geographical scholarship around international education and student mobilities. It argues that the evidence, to date, suggests that international education entrenches (and in some cases, within emerging economies, actively creates) social inequalities.