Transnational Student-Migrants and the State ― The Education-Migration Nexus

The boundaries around the categories of student, migrant and worker have become increasingly fuzzy, as international students are often engaged not just in education, but in high stakes and expensive journeys towards gaining permanent migration status. This book unpacks the social and political consequences of this education-migration nexus, the uneasy intersection between international education and skilled migration policies that has developed in many Western migrant receiving nations. The book shows how the nexus has given rise to a new and unique form of transnational migrant: the student-migrant.

The book examines student-migrants in terms of their transnationalism and in terms of their relationship to the state, and provides a detailed overview of policy development in concert with an analysis of student-migrant lived experience. In doing so, it paints a vivid picture of how the macro-politics of state policy intersect with the micro-politics of migrants' transnational social practices.

Shanthi Robertson is Research Fellow at the Institute of Culture and Society at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. She was previously a Lecturer in Global Studies at RMIT University, Australia. Her research interests include emerging forms of temporary migration, urban dimensions of migration, citizenship, and migrant rights.