Migration and Education Narratives of Student Mobility in South Africa

Headnote

ABSTRACT

This paper examines student mobility in South Africa via the narratives of three immigrant students who are registered for a post-graduate degree at the University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN). Their narratives highlight the complexities of assimilation and accommodation in the context of identity, belonging and citizenship. For many student immigrants, particularly from within Africa, South Africa is seen as the 'New York' of Africa, with good infrastructure, a highly developed educational system and enduring political stability. These 'pull' factors aided by 'push' factors in their home countries such as poverty, political violence, lack of basic amenities, has collectively led to an influx of cross border student mobility. This paper identifies and discusses the 'push' and 'pull' factors of cross-border student mobility and the challenges and constraints they experience at UKZN in the context of language barriers, academic facilities, identity, transient families and xenophobia. The findings of this paper concludes that student mobility at the University of Kwazulu-Natal share similar trajectorial paths in the context of decision-making and assimilation in the host country. The paper also argues that to some extent, higher education is used as a channel for emigration to South Africa. The narratives in this study provide an opportunity to document the lives of immigrant students from their own perspective, thereby providing some insight into the complexities of student mobility and its overall implications for South African tertiary institutions. Findings and conclusions from this paper will add to current debates on student mobility both within an African and international context.

INTRODUCTION

Trends in global migration over the past two decades have shown that pursuing an education abroad is playing a critical 'pull' factor in student mobility across industrialised and developing countries. In regions such as the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific the number of international students has increased considerably. In 2014 Asians constituted 52% all international students in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. In South Africa some foreign students keen on pursuing tertiary education at local universities perceive it as an opening for future settlement. Since the demise of apartheid, South Africa is perceived by many African countries to be among the top study destinations in the world. Post 1994 has seen an influx of student migration to South Africa...