KNOWLEDGE MIGRATION AND

ACADEMIC MOBILITY

Dr. Liudmila Kirpitchenko

Monash University

Ski l l Migrat ion From the mid-1990s. emphasis on highly skilled migration

Skilled migrants now comprise the single largest group of permanent migrants

Over two skilled visas are granted for every family visa granted

Permanent Non-Humanitarian Visa Grants(a): 1995-96 to 2007-08

Skill Selection

• Highly skilled selection immigration programs in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, others

• General Skilled Migration Points Test: • Age • English language ability • Qualifications • Work experience • Nominations or sponsorships • Nominated skilled occupation

Economic Demands Over 60 Skilled Visa Subclasses:

Skilled Independent

Skilled Australian Sponsored/ State and Territory Sponsored

Employer Sponsored

Business Skills and

Distinguished Talents

Critical Skills

• The Migration Occupations in Demand List (>100):

• Managers and Administrators (2) • Professionals (53) • Associate Professionals (2) • Trade Persons (49)

• Critical Skills List of Professional Occupations (>40):

• Engineers • Emergency Medical Specialist • Pharmacists • Pathologist • Registered Nurses • Surveyors

Knowledge Migrat ion

• Diverse Mobilities: • hyper-mobility • circular migration • return migration • shuttle migration, etc.

• Potential for knowledge exchange and creation of new cultural knowledge

• Interactions of different ethnic identities, cultural patterns and academic traditions

• Role of culture in social interactions and cultural integration

Academic Mobility

• Education and training are essential to the development of today's knowledge society and economy

• International Academic Mobility of students and academic staff for professional career purposes

• The Lifelong Learning Programmes: Comenius for schools Erasmus for higher education Leonardo da Vinci for vocational

education and training Grundtvig for adult education

Erasmus EuRopean Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students

•Started in 1987 - 25th anniversary in 2012

•Each year, more than 230 000 students study abroad

•Total 3 million students

•Over 4 000 higher education institutions in 33 countries

http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/erasmus_en.htm

Erasmus and the World

• Erasmus Mundus Scholarships and academic co-operation between

Europe and the rest of the world

• Tempus • Modernizing higher education in EU neighbors

• Established in 1990, now covers 27 countries

Erasmus Students

Academi

c Year2000/

01

2001/

02

2002/

03

2003/

04

2004/

05

2005/

06

2006/

07

2007/

08

2008/

09

2009/

10

Number of Students

13253

13950

15225

16829

16440

16389

17195

18364

19376

21139

Outgoing Erasmus Students from Italy: 2000/01 - 2009/10

Outgoing Erasmus Students from the Top Four Sending European countries: 2009/10

Country SPAIN FRANCE GERMANY ITALY

Number of Students

30809 30185 30046 21139

Source: EC, 2011a

Erasmus in Australia

Erasmus Mundus Scholars by Gender from AUSTRALIA: 2004/05 to 2009/10  

MALE

EMALE

TOTAL

2004/05

 

2005/06

 

2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/2010

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

65 21 86 9 9 7 1 8 9 2 11 20 5 25 20 13 33

Source: EC, 2011b.

 

 

In Australia, since 2004, over 90 Australian students were awarded scholarships

Research on Academic Mobility• Research on academic mobility is in its nascent state worldwide

• Inaugural conference in Finland in 2006

• Differences in academic expectations among non-local students and staff

• Differences in modes of academic writing

• Critical reading

• Academic interpersonal relations

• Educational prerequisites for success in academic intercultural dialogue

• Best practices of intercultural dialogue in academia internationally

• “Mobility without education is nothing but ruin to the soul”

• Second academic mobility conference in Estonia in 2009

• Third international conference on academic mobility and migration in KL in 2012

• Mobility and migration often go hand in hand

• Extended the reach to the Asian Pacific region as recognition of its active participation in the global academic mobility

Academic MigrantsCompared to other migration categories:

Younger Higher levels of educationMore years of professional experienceGood English language proficiencyGreater propensity for global mobilityMore diversified options for migrationNew tendency of liquid mobilitiesDeveloped integration skillsGlobal outlooks Cosmopolitan dispositions

Cosmopolitanism –Defining Features

• Globality: openness to the world, awareness of a global sphere of responsibility, and globally shared collective futures

• Plurality: acknowledgement of the otherness of others and commitment to “stimulate the self-reflexivity of divergent entangled cosmopolitan modernities”

• Civility: commitment to dialogue and non-violence (Beck, 2002: 35-36)

Cosmopolitan Vision

• Cosmopolitanism - “orientation, a willingness to engage with the

other . . . intellectual and aesthetic openness toward divergent cultural experiences, a search for contrasts rather than uniformity” (Hannerz, 1996: 104)

“includes Kantian universalism, cross-cultural competence, and either a willingness to tolerate or engage with otherness” (Calcutt et al., 2009: 172)

“cosmopolitans espouse a broadly defined disposition of ‘openness’ toward others, people, things and experiences whose origin is non-local” (Skrbis & Woodward , 2007: 730)

• Cultural Openness - “the search for, and delight in, the contrasts between

societies rather than a longing for superiority or for uniformity” (Urry, 2000: 7)

Everyday Cosmopolitan Values and Dispositions:

•Cultural awareness • Cognitive style of communication • Intercultural competencies • Cultural intelligence • Intercultural openness • Cultural acceptance • Willingness to engage• Limited power distance• Interpersonal engagement

Conclusion

Academic Migrants as Important Agents of:

•Knowledge Mobilization•Knowledge Exchange•Knowledge Translation •Knowledge Transfer •Knowledge Creation

ReferencesBeck, U. (2002) The cosmopolitan society and its enemies’ Theory,

culture & society. 19(1-2): 17-44.

Calcutt, L., Woodward, I. & Skrbis, Z. (2009). Conceptualizing otherness: An exploration of the cosmopolitan schema. Journal of Sociology, 45 (2), 169-186.

European Commission (2011a) Lifelong Learning Programme THE ERASMUS PROGRAMME 2009/2010: A Statistical Overview. December 2011 at http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus/doc/stat/0910/report.pdf

European Commission (2011b) Statistics by country - Erasmus Mundus scholars selected each academic year, 2004-05 to 2009-10. At http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/results_compendia/statistics_en.php

Hannerz, U. (1996). Transnational connections: culture, people, places. New York: Routledge.

Skrbis, Z. & Woodward, I. (2007). The ambivalence of ordinary cosmopolitanism: investigating the limits of cosmopolitan openness. Sociological review, 55 (4), 730-747.

Urry, J. (2000). Sociology beyond societies: Mobilities for the twenty-first century. London: Routledge.

Thank You!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Liudmila.Kirpitchenko@monash.edu