The geopolitics of international higher education prior and during Covid-19: a decolonial feminist analysis

Thinking with four non-EU academic migrants from the global South, and their experiences of working/studying or starting to work/study during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are unravelling the current geopolitics of the internationalised higher education in the global North. Our central argument is that Covid-19 has not simply affected the national and global politics of migration, including international academic migration, but it has also worked as a magnifying glass of the historically established inequalities sustained and perpetuated by physical, biomedical and epistemic borders. Most importantly, we are not following the rather obvious theoretical route of biopolitics while analysing the internationalisation of higher education in relation to the Covid-19 health crisis and migration politics. Instead, we are looking at this geo-biopolitical and epistemic assemblage through a decolonial lens. In doing so, we want to contribute with our and our interviewees' reflections to the ongoing discussion on what currently counts as 'internationalisation' in higher education, pointing out the colonial and neoliberal foundations of it, and the possibilities of aligning it with the efforts of decolonising the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Globalisation, Societies & Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Transnational or Not: COVID Pandemic and Chinese Academic Migrants

Based on 25 in-depth interviews collected during the COVID pandemic from Chinese academic immigrants in the U.S., we find that COVID immediately halted their transnational travels. Furthermore, catalyzed by changes in the Sino-U.S. geopolitical relationship, the soaring Anti-Asian hate in the U.S., and the raging storm of patriotism and nationalism in China, COVID impacts academic migrants' perceptions of opportunities, pursuits of transnational movements, and ethnic and diasporic identities. The disrupted transnational migration of people and knowledge due to the intersection of the pandemic, social contexts, and geopolitics may have long-term detrimental effects at the individual, institutional, national, and global levels. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.