Educational Mobility in Transition: what can China, Ukraine and the UK learn from one another?

UK, Ukraine and China are countries in transition. The Chinese’ paradoxical culture (Fang 2003) allows them to develop their own interpretation of capitalism under a communist party and the country turns outward to the international stage. Ukraine’s diverse population is pulled in two opposite directions - East and West – with tragic results. The United Kingdom is no longer united: the Scottish referendum in 2014 came close to dissolving the union and, following the recent general election, another could force exit from the European Union. Despite very different histories, all three are searching for a new position in the world. Our students are also in transition. Despite the higher-level debate concerning their home countries’ integration in the outside world, students are increasingly, inexorably moving across borders, but not always in both directions. China’s youth travel across the world in search of the best higher education, but many fewer international students seek out China’s universities. Ukraine’s system of higher education is going through a period of transformation at a time of economic austerity. Despite the high demand emanating from Ukrainian students to go abroad during their studies, the inward student mobility of EU nationals to Ukraine remains exceptionally low. Meanwhile, British universities are heavily subsidised by lucrative incoming international students, but famously low numbers of British students study abroad. Uniquely, this study explores the differences in incentives, motivations, benefits, barriers and challenges to international student mobility in these three contrasting countries. Analysing the phenomenon of student mobility at a national and personal level, we attempt to discover what three countries can learn from one another.