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: private

“Participation in international education mobility programmes enhances environmental awareness”

What’s the relationship between international student mobility and students’ awareness of environmental issues? That’s the central question of a recent study conducted by Giorgio Di Pietro, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Loyola in Seville. In our interview with him, Di Pietro explains what prompted his research question, describes the methodological approach he used to answer it, outlines the key findings of his analysis and elucidates conclusions and recommendations that can be drawn for higher education policy and practice.

Source: State University of New York

“Private institutions try to become the ‘first second-choice’ for international students”

Daniel Levy is a Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York and the founder and director of PROPHE (Program for Research on Private Higher Education). In our interview, he discusses two principal dynamics in German higher education – internationalisation and privatisation – specifically in terms of the private enrolment growth. Moreover, both growth dynamics are better viewed as Western European phenomena rather than particularly German.

Source: University of North Carolina

“Immigration is not unpopular because people are irrational or hateful”

Under what conditions do voters in affluent democracies back higher levels of immigration? How can advocates build support for pro-immigration policies? In his recent book, "In Our Interest: How Democracies Can Make Immigration Popular", Alexander Kustov, Associate Professor of Migration at the University of Notre Dame, argues that showing people how immigration benefits them and their fellow citizens can lead to greater acceptance of more open policies. Kustov thus provides a new, optimistic perspective on the political prospects of pro-immigration reforms. In our interview with him, we talk about the scope of his book, its main conclusions and the possible development of public opinion and government attitudes towards immigration in the future.

Source: Thomas Pankau

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had little impact on international student mobility”

The new compact edition of Wissenschaft weltoffen was published a little later than usual this year, as the structure and content of the publication have been fundamentally revised by the project partners responsible, the DAAD and the DZHW. In this interview, Naomi Knüttgen, one of the two project managers at the DAAD, explains exactly what changes the relaunch entails, how the main and compact editions of Wissenschaft weltoffen relate to one another, and which data in the new compact edition she considers particularly noteworthy.

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.