Wissenschaft weltoffen - The Blog

The central aim of the Wissenschaft weltoffen blog is to promote the exchange between university research and university practice in the field of internationalisation and academic mobility. To this end, we conduct short interviews with relevant researchers and representatives from university practice and publish own articles and guest contributions. Please note that the views expressed in the interviews and guest articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the DAAD or the DZHW.

Source: Paula María Rodríguez Sanchez

“International student mobility is entering a more uncertain phase”

How do trends and challenges regarding international students compare in major host countries like Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands or the United Kingdom? What are the differences and similarities in their policy responses toward international student mobility? These are the topics of a recent OECD publication authored by Matej Bílik, policy analyst in the OECD Higher Education Policy Team. In our interview with him, we talk about general characteristics of the six countries included in the analysis, key trends and challenges in international student mobility that the analysis revealed and major differences and similarities in the national policy responses towards the recruitment of international students.

Source: Sophia Segler

“The poorer the country, the longer the waiting times for visas”

How long do you have to wait for an appointment to apply for a visa at a German diplomatic mission abroad? How big are the differences between the various countries in which the visa is to be applied for? And how can these differences be explained? These questions are addressed in the latest analysis by a research group led by Emanuel Deutschmann, Assistant Professor of Sociological Theory at the University of Flensburg, Germany, and Associate at the Migration Policy Centre of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. In this interview, he explains what prompted the analysis, how the research team approached it methodologically, what he considers to be the most important findings of the analysis, and whether these findings can be applied to other countries.

Source: John Cairns

“International experiences often sharpen people’s sense of injustice and responsibility”

Maia Chankseliani is Professor of Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford, specialising in the role of higher education in social, economic, and political development. Last year, she finished a three-year research project entitled ‘International mobility and world development’, for which she and her colleagues conducted over 700 interviews in 70 countries and examined various systemic effects of international academic mobility. In our interview with her, she explains what mechanisms explain how international academic mobility can reduce poverty and promote democracy and what practical conclusions for politics and science can be drawn from this, especially in times of mounting global isolationism against immigration.

Source: Nathalie Triebel-Bühler

“Immigrants who are seemingly well integrated do not always feel emotionally connected to their destination country”

Andreas Genoni is a sociologist working at the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) in Germany. Together with his colleague Didier Ruedin, he recently published an analysis entitled ‘When expectations backfire: Unmet migration expectations and changes in the destination attachment of recent immigrants to Switzerland’. In their paper, the two authors examine the relationship between immigrants' expectations of Switzerland as a country of residence and their emotional attachment to Switzerland over time. In an interview with us, Genoni explains what the important ‘integration paradox’ is all about, what he considers to be the key findings of the analysis, and what conclusions can be drawn from this for political practice.

Source: Martha Stewart

“Donald Trump’s presidency is a disaster for American universities and research”

Exactly one year ago, Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States of America. What impact have his administration's policies had on the US higher education and science system since then? Are the accusations that universities such as Harvard University are not doing enough to combat antisemitic activities on their campuses justified? And how exactly is Donald Trump's second term in office affecting the work of international researchers at universities in the US? We discussed these questions with German Harvard researcher Mathias Risse, Professor in Human Rights, Global Affairs and Philosophy and Director of the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard University.

Source: Petra Nölle

“Countries and universities with a broader international network seem to be more resilient”

One of the spotlight articles of this year's main edition of ‘Wissenschaft weltoffen’ deals with the effects of exogenous shocks on international researcher mobility. In an interview with us, author Dr Andrey Lovakov, postdoctoral researcher at the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), explains what data he used for this analysis, what he considers to be the most important and surprising findings, and what practical conclusions can be drawn from them for the future.

Source: Petra Nölle/DZHW and IAU

„Virtual internationalisation is now an established reality at German universities“

The new DAAD study ‘Internationalisation in the Digital Transformation’ combines the analyses of two research projects: the project ‘Internationalisation in the Digital Transformation: Strategies of German Higher Education Institutions’ (INDISTRA), funded by the Federal Foreign Office, and data from the sixth Global Survey conducted by…

Source: Studioline Photography

„International students want to stay, which is a huge opportunity for the German labour market“

International students in Germany are largely optimistic about their professional future. The DAAD surveyed more than 20,000 international students at over 130 German universities about their perspectives on their career prospects. Two thirds plan to stay in Germany after their studies. The intention to stay…

Source: Lukas Klose

What do student visas cost – and why?

Emanuel Deutschmann is an assistant professor of sociological theory at the University of Flensburg and an associate at the Migration Policy Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. In this interview, he reports on the findings of an analysis of the costs of student visas worldwide, which he published as part of the DAAD publication series ‘DAAD Research Brief’. He discusses the reasons for conducting the analysis, its key findings and the recommendations that he believes should be followed based on the findings.

Source: Petra Nölle/DZHW

“DAAD-funded publications are based on a high proportion of international collaborations”

Dr Torger Möller and Philippe Dittmann are research associates at the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW). Together, they conducted a study examining the impact of DAAD graduate funding based on the publications of (former) DAAD grantees. In this interview, they explain their methodological approach, what they consider to be the key findings of the study, and what practical recommendations can be derived from these findings for the DAAD and other funding organisations.