Facilitated and chaired by: Dr Sazana Jayadeva who is the co-convenor of the International Research and Researchers Network. For more details about the network and its activities, please click here.

Overview:

This SRHE event focuses on the role of social media in facilitating international student migration (ISM). There is now a rapidly expanding body of scholarship on the social and commercial infrastructures that mediate ISM. However, new infrastructures of mobility that have emerged on social media have received less attention. In this event, we will explore the ways in which social media has shaped prospective international students’ aspirations to study abroad and how they navigate the process of going abroad to study, as well as new forms of study-abroad expertise, celebrity, and brokerage that have emerged on social media. We will also look at examples of how universities are using social media to recruit international students, and of a national-level social media campaign aimed at showcasing international students’ experiences and attracting prospective international students. In doing so, we will consider the ethical challenges that are addressed, as well as created and exacerbated, as a result of how social media is being used to craft student mobility. In addition, we will examine research on the ways in which social media is implicated in other types of migration, and how ISM research may build on this work. The event will end with a panel discussion about how the role of social media in facilitating international student migration is likely to evolve in the coming years, what the implications are for policy and practice, and what the agenda should be for future research on this topic.

Schedule

Speaker bios

Annette Bamberger is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Bar-Ilan University and also serves as an Honorary Research Fellow at UCL Institute of Education. Her recent research focuses on international higher education and the interplay between higher education, diasporas and nation-states. She holds positions on the editorial boards of Teaching in Higher Education, Higher Education Quarterly, and the European Journal of Education.

Earvin Charles B. Cabalquinto is an Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University. His research agenda is motivated by critically investigating the dynamics and consequences of the digital inclusion and exclusion in the lives of migrants, their networks, communities, and relevant stakeholders. He was a Visiting Research Fellow in the University of Jyväskylä, Finland (2021) and in Lancaster University, United Kingdom (2019). In 2024, he is a Visiting Research Associate at Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines, and a Global Exchange Fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada. He is the author of “(Im)mobile Homes: Family Life at a Distance in the Age of Mobile Media” (Oxford University Press) and Philippine Digital Cultures: Brokerage Dynamics on YouTube” (Amsterdam University Press). You can follow his works at www.ecabalquinto.com or via @earvsc.

Helena Dedecek Gertz is a research assistant and lecturer at the University of Hamburg. In her doctoral thesis, she analysed the role of digital networks in migration associated with educational opportunities, looking at the case of Brazilians in Germany. Her research focuses on migration and media use, and she is also interested in the connections of environmental aspects with transnational migration. She has also participated in the projects “COVID, Migrants and Minorities in Teacher Education: A Fake News Observatory to Promote Critical Thinking and Digital Literacy in Times of Crisis” (Erasmus+) and “Diversity Contexts in Teacher Education” (DAAD).

Jim Tudor is the founder of Future Index, a marketing trends and strategy consultancy specialising in higher education. He is also a founding director of Waterfall, a creative agency that works with education institutions to give them the edge in their communications across everything from course promotion to brand development. He is a regular keynote speaker, inspiring higher education marketing professionals on topics including insight and planning, strategy and social media content. Jim is particularly proud of the innovative work his agencies have recently led on - driving sustainability initiatives, championing widening participation and social mobility, and celebrating international students as part of the #WeAreInternational collaboration with UUKi.

Sazana Jayadeva is a Surrey Future Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey in the UK. She is also affiliated with the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies in Germany as an Associate Researcher. Her research revolves around the broad themes of education, migration, language, social class, and digital and social media. Sazana is an Associate Editor of the journal Sociology, an editorial board member of the journals Sociological Research Online and Global Networks, and co-convenes the International Research and Researchers’ Network of the Society for Research into Higher Education.

Sophie O’Neill is Head of Communications and Campaigns at Universities UK International (UUKi). She leads the communications function within the External Affairs team, working across UUKi's content and campaigns, media engagement, and communications activity.

Yifat Bronshtein recently completed her doctoral studies at Tel Aviv University, investigating the implementation of internationalization policies within the Israeli higher education system. With nearly three decades of researching and working in education, she currently serves as a high school principal for students with learning disabilities, combining her practical insights with ongoing research in the field.

A recording of this session can be accessed by clicking here.