Students we label international

An Urgent Call to Reconceptualise Research With International Students

Bibliographic Data

ID6058569
AuthorsRamzi Merabet (0000-0001-7677-3286, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume44
Issue3
Pages292-308
Publication date2025-04-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEqual Opportunities International (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1758-7093 • E-ISSN: 2040-7149
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/edi-01-2024-0048
OpenAlexW4398172667
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited17

Purpose This article problematises the international student label by critically examining the mechanisms that actively portray international students as necessarily different, deficient and uncritical. It broadly aims to tackle the following issues: (a) to challenge the underpinnings of the international label; (b) to uncover the role of neo-essentialist representations of cohorts of students labelled international in sustaining financial exploitation and deficit narratives; and (c) to criticise the current hyper-internationalisation strategy widely adopted by UK HEIs. Design/methodology/approach The paper mainly relies on findings from research that adopted narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of students labelled international. Data were collected via a series of interviews with 15 postgraduate students at a university in the north of England. The paper also makes use of brief statistical analyses to provide a general overview about the status of UK higher education (international student admission, net economic impact and income). Findings The paper reveals the underpinnings of the international label and how it is mobilised to other non-UK-domiciled students. The paper equally establishes a strong link between hyper-internationalisation and the (un)sustainability of the UK’s higher education sector. Research limitations/implications The research is expected to raise important questions around the experiences and realities endured by students labelled international. In particular, the paper challenges the international label and the mechanisms that sustain the label at institutional levels. Practical implications The paper calls for abandoning the international label as a marker of a presumed difference. Equally, the paper highlights the current unsustainability of the UK’s higher education sector and suggests a gradual cap on international tuition fees to alleviate some of the educational inequalities endured by students international, and to ensure the sustainability of the higher education sector. Originality/value This is the first research that openly challenges the international label and substitutes it by “students labelled international”. Equally, this is the first paper that recommends to cap international tuition fees on account of findings from students' narratives and statistics that reveal the unsustainability of the UK's higher education sector. Finally, the paper’s conceptual contribution includes a reference to the idea of hyper-internationalisation

Political science · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Higher Education Governance and Development · International Student and Expatriate Challenges

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