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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
A new study by the German Economic Institute (IW), commissioned by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), is the first to comprehensively analyse the economic impact of international students from the start of their studies up to their retirement. The study indicates that the approximately…
Every two years for over a decade, the British Council has conducted the Global Perceptions Survey, a worldwide survey of young people of university age. They are asked not only about their image of the United Kingdom, but also about their image of many other countries, including Germany. To mark this year's survey, Alistair MacDonald, Senior Policy Analyst and Project Officer at the British Council, explains the objectives and methodology behind the survey project, what the key findings of the last survey were, what he expects from this year's survey and how Germany's ratings have developed over the last two rounds of the survey.
The new edition of Wissenschaft weltoffen was published last week. For two decades, Dr Ulrich Heublein from the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW) was one of the main authors of the publication, which is jointly published by the DAAD and the DZHW. In our interview, he talks about its key findings and explains the content and function of the new chapter on structural aspects of internationalisation. He also takes a look back at the last 20 years of university internationalisation and ventures a look ahead to the next 20 years.
