Interest Convergence and the Commodification of International Students in the United States

• In Event: 18.026 - International Higher Education and Geopolitical Power: Critical Perspectives on University Activities in the United States

Abstract

On November 13, 2017, the Institute of International Education (IIE) released its annual Open Doors Report on international education exchange, a highly anticipated report that presents data on international education in the United States (US). International student enrollment in the US reached an all-time high of over 1 million total international students in 2016-17, continuing its course as the top destination for international students (IIE, 2017). However, although the overall numbers were on an upward trajectory until this past year, scrutiny was placed on the drop in new international student enrollment, which was a 3% decrease from the previous year (IIE, 2017). Overall, reactions to the release of the Open Doors Report unveiled the commodification of international students when using interest convergence as an analytical frame.

This paper utilizes the principle of interest convergence (Bell, 1980; Delgado & Stefancic, 2017; Yao, George Mwangi, & Malaney Brown, forthcoming) as a tool to examine current discourse related to the commodification of international students. Interest convergence was coined by Bell (1980) who posited that the majority group advances equality and justice only when it suits their own interests. Although interest convergence was founded on the experiences of domestic People of Color, interest convergence can be extended to include international student mobility within the US context as international student recruitment is often discussed as a way to contribute to the geopolitical and economic power of US higher education. Application of interest convergence to international student mobility is particularly salient because contemporary theorists have used interest convergence beyond the Black-White binary “to apply it to the current world situation” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017, p. 24).

In this content analysis, findings indicate that interest convergence is evident when examining media, institutional, and policy responses to the decline in international student numbers. For example, multiple media outlets (e.g., Gluckman, 2018; Morrison, 2017) immediately highlighted the decline in the US’s overall global competitiveness when the Open Doors Report was released. In addition, more recent US policy responses intersect the current presidential administration’s restrictive immigration agenda with the need to recruit more international students as a way to keep the US as a higher education and geopolitical power. Professional associations (e.g., NAFSA, ACE, AAU, APLU, and COGR) released statements in response to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration hearing related to international student visas and national security. The policy briefs, lobbying for international student support and recruitment, included statements such as US higher education serving as “the ‘gold standard’ for graduate education in the world” and how international students “often serve as ambassadors for American values, democracy, and the free market” (ACE et al., 2018). Thus, international students are used as a commodity the goes beyond economic; rather, international students serve as a tool for maintaining US global power and influence. This paper contributes to the current discussion on international students in the US by highlighting how international student mobility to the US converges with the US’ interests as a global power.

Author

• Christina W Yao, University of Nebraska - Lincoln