This thesis explores the emerging issue of cities and countries competing for international students as part of market and talent-based economic development strategies. Based on case studies in London, UK and Toronto, Canada, this research draws on interviews with senior policy-makers as well as international students completing their overseas studies to examine three issues.
First, this thesis investigates the process by which similar policies to attract and retain greater numbers of international students have been developed and introduced in both countries. Arguing that these policies are “mobile,” this thesis demonstrates how the competitive interconnectedness of policy-making leads to the transfer of policy ideas from one jurisdiction to another, while also recognizing the mediating role of institutions for contributing to continued geographic differences in the policy landscape regarding international education.
Second, it examines the decision-making process for international graduate students upon the moment of graduation with regard to their settlement and employment strategies. Through a comparison of international students finishing advanced degrees in science and engineering in both sites, it reveals the extent to which students’ plans involve the complex intermingling of personal, professional and (im)migration regulation factors. The confluence of these factors tend to pull students in different geographic directions, indicating that the conventional ‘stay or return’ construct is too simplistic as a framework for understanding students’ future movements. Moreover, the comparison of students’ strategies in the two sites illustrates the differential effect of multi-scalar institutional frameworks in constructing certain types of migrant subjects.
Third, this thesis investigates how career development strategies of international students differ according to broad disciplinary differences. Contrasting the career plans of graduating students in science, engineering, and art and design programs, this research finds that there are key differences in the socio-spatial career strategies held by international students in line with the differentiated knowledge bases literature.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/26526 |
| Date | 22 March 2011 |
| Creators | Geddie, Katherine Paige |
| Contributors | Gertler, Meric S. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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