Study Abroad Destination and the Global North-South Dynamics: An Analysis of the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) Program

• In Event: Roundtable Session 4
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Navigating complexity: Key challenges and trends of comparative and international education across Southeast Asia

Proposal

Context
The Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) is a fully-funded Indonesian government program offering Indonesian undergraduates the chance to study abroad for a semester. The Indonesian government has arguably put IISMA on a pedestal, branding it as a flagship program of Indonesia’s efforts in its educational internationalization process. The program also partners with “top partner universities overseas” (Welcoming Remarks – IISMA, 2024), allowing students (or so called “awardees”) to choose their own universities and courses abroad. Since 2021, 1980 awardees have been accepted to 126 host universities around the world, and the program is expected to be extended under the newly-elected president.

Yet, the IISMA program is highly criticized due to various reasons, including the decisions of students to study in Global North universities. Many of these criticisms are found on social media platforms such as Twitter/X and Instagram, with people questioning the program’s budget and the high cost of American and European universities. Some also raised the point about how IISMA awardees tend to choose touristy countries in the western world and that they disregard universities in the Global South, such as in Southeast Asian countries. (Redaksi Suara Mahasiswa, 2023). All of these criticisms have eventually exacerbated the “elitist” sentiment of study abroad in Indonesia.

A growing number of literature have engaged with these debates. Although to date, most of the research on IISMA is centered on skill development; for example, Dewanto and Pritasari’s research analyzed the employability qualities of the awardees (Dewanto & Pritasari, 2023), Aziez et al., discussed their cross-cultural sensitivity (Aziez et al., 2024), and Prasetyaningrum explored their intercultural competence (Prasetyaningrum, 2023). However, there has not been much discussion about IISMA from an global systemic perspective, particularly in terms of how the choices made by students correlate with the broader dynamics of international mobility between the Global North and South.

Using desk review and interviews, this research aims to qualitatively examine the awardees’ decision-making processes and their broader implications within the Global North-South dynamics. This study explores how student-centered empirical findings may interact with governmental policies and programs, which can ultimately serve as an essential discussion for policymakers. On that note, this research is expected to inform policy discussions on internationalization efforts within the Indonesian higher education sector, ultimately fostering more equitable Global North-South or South-South academic partnerships.

Research Questions
1. How do IISMA awardees decide their host countries and universities?
This question is meant to understand the factors that go behind the awardees’ decisions. This question can also be asked to the government or the IISMA committee as a way to understand if the students’ decisions are also influenced by IISMA’s official regulations.
2. How do these decisions relate to Indonesia's role in the Global North-South dynamics in the international education field?
IISMA is often cited as a means of Indonesia’s public diplomacy, where awardees are expected to represent Indonesia abroad. This question explores how the students’ decisions, albeit being personal, have an impact on a more global or systemic scale.

Research Design and Methodology
This research uses a qualitative approach that follows Joseph Maxwell’s “interactive” research components, which puts the research questions as the center of any research design (Maxwell, 1996). It seeks to understand the relationship between students’ decisions– which is on a personal or individual level of analysis– and the implications to a global structure namely the Global North-South divide. By looking at the two different levels of analysis, this research seeks to gather data by conducting two main qualitative methods, which are document review and interview. The data will be analyzed using qualitative coding software, such as Atlas.ti or Dedoose.

To get the data for the document review, the author uses the IISMA program’s website and social media channels. Meanwhile, the interview process will be twofold; one is conducted with some awardees, and another with the IISMA government and home university representatives. The author plans to interview 8 IISMA awardees from four different cohorts (2021-2024). Four of them will have chosen a host university in a country in the Global North, and the rest will have Global South countries as their destinations. The participants will need to come from various universities in Indonesia and from diverse backgrounds, with an emphasis on getting participants from small or local universities to make sure that the research findings are generalizable.

The second part of the interview focuses on gathering insights from the government officials that work with IISMA. This may include the government representatives as well as the university administrators as implementers of the program. The interview questions will focus on comprehending how the IISMA committee selects its partner universities and whether they exert influence on students' decisions regarding their exchange destinations. Additionally, interviews that will be conducted with the IISMA’s government representatives can also help to provide context to written materials that are analyzed through a document review method, as a “means of triangulation” or incorporating various methodologies to avoid potential biases (Bowen, 2009, p. 28).

Research Significance
From an academic perspective, this research will add insights on how governments can support international education through study abroad programs. Currently, there is very little discussion on how international education efforts can be considered public goods, especially in Global South countries where study abroad is often considered a privatized luxury. The lack of qualitative research in students’ decisions in study abroad decisions will also add another novelty on this topic.

Practically, this research can be used for policymakers and implementers of the IISMA program. One of the main implications is that it can provide recommendations on how certain countries and regions, especially those in the Global South, can be promoted to match the students’ preferences. This research can also aid future IISMA applicants in making informed choices regarding their study abroad destinations. Additionally, it seeks to inform fellow Global South countries that have similar exchange programs about not only about the students’ preferences but also how Global South countries can employ strategies in ensuring an equal global knowledge exchange.

Author

• Hasnaa Naila, New York University