“Perhaps most alarming is the rhetorical shift we are now seeing, with universities being seen as legitimate targets in war. This signals a potential normalisation of their inclusion within the strategic logic of conflict,” says @mchankseliani.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/iran-ce...

In this NORRAG blog I reflect on UNESCO's new higher education roadmap, highlighting its strengths and the tensions it raises around academic freedom, equity, internationalisation, and AI. www.norrageducation.org/unescos-high...

We are recruiting: Associate Professor in Comparative & International Education at Oxford (Dept of Education, St Antony’s College). Deadline: 1 May 2026 (12:00 UK time) Further details and the application link can be found here: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Attending #CIES2026? Join our panel on Sunday 29 March, 4:30–5:45 pm, Ballroom Level, Continental 8. International Student Mobility and Societal Impact: Reframing the Civic, Political, and Institutional Reach of Global Higher Education

🎉Last night we celebrated @mchankseliani.bsky.social & @veldaelliott.bsky.social, now Oxford professors. From doctoral students to leaders in scholarship, their lectures highlighted universities’ global impact and the power of teaching. Catch up on the recording: shorturl.at/6H8Ef

Global Public Seminar in Comparative and International Education Universities at a Crossroads: State Power, Academic Freedom, and the Future of Higher Education in Georgia 16 March 3–4pm UK | 7–8pm Tbilisi This is a virtual event and the teams link is below

Interview with DAAD on international student mobility and its longer-term social and democratic significance, drawing on 700+ interviews across 70 countries. The piece reflects on slow, institutional change and growing political pressures around mobility www.wissenschaft-weltoffen.de/en/2026/02/0...

Delighted to invite you to my inaugural lecture Seeing Otherwise: International Higher Education and the Possibility of Change as part of Oxford’s Recognition of Distinction Professorial Lectures. Monday 9 March 2026, 5pm. In person & online. Details & registration ⬇️

Health professional mobility debates still focus on numbers. Who leaves. Who returns. How to offset shortages. This paper shows something else: international education reshapes how health professionals judge responsibility and act within constrained systems. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The UK has confirmed it will rejoin Erasmus. This matters enormously because Erasmus lets students experience other societies from the inside, shaping judgement and civic understanding in ways no domestic scheme can. Rejoining it restores openness at the heart of higher education

Our new paper shows how the European Universities Initiative choreographs collaboration. A competitive call pushed alliances into both waltz-like orderly moves and mosh pit collisions as partnerships were formed and reconfigured. doi.org/10.1016/j.ij... #EuropeanUniversitiesInitiative

Our new article examines how international study shapes democratic consciousness among returnees in autocracies and anocracies, and how that consciousness is put into practice through five pathways of engagement. Open access. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

My piece on Centralising Power: Georgia’s Troubling University Reform published in CHELPS e-journal Universities & Intellectuals chelps.eduhk.hk/page/detail/...

Some reflections on the UK government’s new Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper

Planning your UKFIET 2025 conference: A walk through the programme All you need to know to plan your sessions & networking for next week's #UKFIETConf! www.ukfiet.org/2025/plannin...

I'll be joining a panel with fellow Harvard alumni next week to discuss academic freedom. I'll speak about how international study, when it takes place in a context of academic freedom, can influence civic responsibility and institutional change. Register: www.harvardaed.org/calendar

Intercultural competence beyond international student mobility: insights from a global study Natalya Hanley & @mchankseliani.bsky.social Open access → doi.org/10.1177/1028... #InterculturalCompetence #StudyAbroad #InternationalStudents #StudentMobility #Transnationalism #TransformativeLearning

My work on international student mobility & global knowledge featured in Chinese Social Sciences Today (中国社会科学报). I argue that international students shape knowledge and civic life, & that today’s restrictions risk narrowing our shared horizons www.cssn.cn/skgz/bwyc/20...

How does international education shape poverty reduction? Returnees adapt, translate, and embed reform through four mechanisms, far beyond skill transfer. Based on interviews in 57 countries, building on our earlier quant study in IJER. Links in comments.

“Let’s put the worst people in the world in charge and see what happens.” “I love that video game concept!” “Game?”

My opinion piece that will appear in tomorrow’s issue of Nature. It is about what we lose when international students are treated as risks rather than as contributors - when border controls override civic imagination www.nature.com/articles/d41...

British Council 90th Anniversary Research Fellowships at the University of Edinburgh List of eligible countries in the screenshot www.britishcouncil.org/research-ins...

Join us today A timely and wide-ranging Oxford-Georgia Forum: political turmoil, civic resistance, foreign policy shifts—and what all this means for the future of Georgian Studies abroad. Grateful to be part of the conversation. 🇬🇪🇬🇧 @osgaoxford.bsky.social #GeorgianStudies

That was gratifyingly fast apnews.com/article/harv...

Some thoughts on the UK-EU youth mobility scheme that’s being discussed early next week #youthmobility

Good morning 🐾

The link to our report has been updated ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid...

4th Annual Oxford-Georgia Forum Theme: Quo Vadis, Georgia? Date: 28 May 2025 9:30–18:45 Venue: Investcorp Lecture Theatre, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford Register here: forms.office.com/pages/respon... Agenda here: talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/971...

📢 New report is public! What happens when people cross borders to learn & then return home to contribute? Based on 704 interviews in 70 countries + quant data from 134, our report explores how mobility supports change across economy & society ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid...

As the UK and EU prepare to discuss a new youth mobility agreement on 19 May, I reflect on what mobility makes possible, not only for individuals, but for societies. This blog draws on our global study at Oxford and brings in vivid individual accounts www.ukfiet.org/2025/learnin...

Does Citizenship Matter in the Republic of Science? With colleagues from across Asia, Europe, and North America, we revisit Polanyi’s idea through contemporary lenses - academic freedom, governance, inequality, and the societal role of science chelps.eduhk.hk/page/detail/...

Joonghyun Kwak and I will be giving a virtual talk about the links between international student mobility and poverty reduction today at 9am UK time at HKU. Do join if you have a chance: hku.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Impact of USAID Withdrawal on Global Education and Skills Development www.etf.europa.eu/en/publicati...

Harvard stands up Letter to the Harvard community from President Garber

A new paper about the European higher education policy European higher education policy as a plastique palimpseste: understanding national visions for the European Universities Initiative link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#CIES New Scholars Committee has many great workshop sessions at #CIES2025 Conference! If you're a student or new scholar within CIES, you will not want to miss these learning opportunities. Reach out to [email protected] for more details.

📢 Online Spaces Still Available for our 10th CGHE Conference 🔗 More information in the QR code below or on our website bit.ly/3DqjF8w Secure your spot today!

The Ripple Effect: Understanding the Societal Implications of International Student Mobility Edited by Dr Joonghyun Kwak and Dr Maia Chankseliani, this special issue looks at how international student mobility shapes societies. Read the issue: www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

on.ft.com/4iygjQp Republicans in Congress weigh tax increase for top university endowments

Grateful for this thoughtful review of my monograph What Happened to the Soviet University? in Comparative Education. Thank you, Anatoly Oleksiyenko, for engaging with the book. Read the review: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03050068.2025.2476895 (1/2)

Important dialogue at Wilton Park with DfE, FCDO, DBT & education sector colleagues. In a time of global change, keeping the UK’s international education strategy outward-looking is critical. Grateful to contribute www.wiltonpark.org.uk/event/educat...

Join us at the UKFIET conference to reflect on the state of our field in a rapidly shifting global landscape. In times of uncertainty, the need to mobilise knowledge, partnerships, & innovation for sustainable development has never been greater. www.ukfiet.org/conference/u... @ukfiet.bsky.social

The UK’s decision to cut international development funding in 2025 is another serious setback - coming shortly after USAID’s drastic cuts. At a time of growing global challenges, these shifts make it harder to sustain the partnerships that connect people, ideas, and institutions across borders (1/4)

The climate crisis calls for a radical rethinking of education as a force for ecological and social renewal. 📢 Have insights? Share a short contribution by 28 Feb to help shape “Key Insights on Education for Planetary Futures”, launched at Climate Week NYC & COP30. 🔗 Submit here: lnkd.in/gMjkrMp4

📖 Rereading “On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from 20th Century” by @timothysnyder.bsky.social Lesson #1: “Do not obey in advance.” Before power demands control, people self-censor, conform, and make oppression easy. Sound familiar? 📖 Read it. Share. Act. #OnTyranny #DoNotObey #ReadThisBook

Join our Global Public Seminar in Comparative and International Education on 7 March 2025. Marianne Larsen, Prof Emerita at Western University, is sharing thoughts about space and time in CIE. Reserve your spot now: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... @mariannelarsen.bsky.social

Government’s wins are often invisible: Systems that avoid plane crashes; alliances that avert war; surveillance that prevent pandemics. Government wins are often *the avoidance of loss.* So how do we tell the story of the destruction of government? The story of future losses *not* averted?

📢 Call for Papers 📢The IJER Special Issue "Understanding Academic Freedom: Cross-Disciplinary, Cross-Regional, and Cross-National Perspectives" is open for submissions Guest editors: Zoltán Rónay, Marcelo Marques, Daniela Craciun, Gergely Kováts www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu... #academicfreedom

Keep up to date with all the Department's latest news, research, impact, events and more by signing up to our termly newsletter: bit.ly/DeptofEdNews #Edusky #EdChat