Mobility in times of immobility: international students in portugal during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis on teaching and learning by international students in Portuguese higher education. It also focuses on how new student mobility projects have been re-designed and re-negotiated during the pandemic. The methodology includes analysing the results of an online survey and individual online interviews. The former was answered by 703 international students enrolled at higher education institutions in Portugal;the latter was conducted with 22 of those students, as well as with students planning to study in Portugal. While for some students, the pandemic represented the possibility of enjoying "mobility” while being "immobile” (in their countries of origin or even in Portugal, provided they have a computer and an internet connection);for others, it enhanced social and economic inequalities, making this sort of mobility difficult, and often impossible. © 2022 Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação – ANPEd