Escaping The Acquiescent Immobility Trap: The Role of Virtual Mobility in Supporting Physical Study Abroad Aspirations among Students from Russia

• In Event: The effects of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on Internationalization in the post-Soviet region and Beyond (JCIHE Special Issue)

Proposal

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has significantly impacted the outbound student mobility of Russian students. This paper highlights and explains the positive role virtual student mobility can play in shaping and supporting the international education aspirations of Russian students amidst the entangled geopolitical and financial crises. The research draws upon the Aspirations-Capabilities framework, the notion of mobility capital as a migratory resource, and different states of (im)mobility to shed light on the affordance of virtual mobility formats to help Russian students escape the state of acquiescent immobility. Using an interpretive phenomenological approach, the study analyzes 16 semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with Russian students who participated in various forms of virtual mobility between 2020 and 2023. The findings reveal that virtual mobility offers a unique opportunity to bolster Russian students' capacity to aspire to international studies despite mobility suppressing climate through acting as a “rite of passage” en route to international education, increasing language confidence, and challenging negative portrayals of hostility towards Russian students in the West. The richness of virtual mobility experience in terms of communication with teachers and students from abroad plays a key role in activating this affordance.

Author

• Mariia Tishenina, Edge Hill University