{"id":18636,"date":"2012-02-07T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T04:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=18636\/"},"modified":"2017-01-21T02:02:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-21T02:02:16","slug":"universities-struggle-in-brain-game-with-restrictive-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/universities-struggle-in-brain-game-with-restrictive-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"Universities struggle in \u2018brain game\u2019 with restrictive policies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Universities are no longer just places for imparting education and doing research at home. Now, they are also supposed to fight to attract the best brains and most talented students from abroad.<\/p>\n

As one writer, Kj\u00e6rg\u00e5rd, put it in a 2009 policy paper: \u00bbForeign students and researchers are an important weapon in the global battle for knowledge – and Denmark is ready to join the fight\u00ab.<\/p>\n

But the universities new role in getting the right<\/em> young people to come to the country, stay, and get a job comes at a price. In Denmark, recent governments have also upheld immigration policies that sometimes work to keep young people out, sometimes push those away that are here already.<\/p>\n

Zealous monitoring<\/h2>\n

PhD fellow Ana Mosneaga has researched the rules and procedures at the University of Copenhagen and the Danish Technical University. She is trying to find out how staff at the two universities manoeuvre between the policies of restrictive immigration, and the policies of attracting and retaining talent. Her work has wider implications for all universities in the West who are fighting to get the best and brightest.<\/p>\n

The new role that universities have to play is as \u2018agents of internationalisation\u2019, as Ana Mosneaga calls it, and their role is zealously monitored by the Danish government.<\/p>\n

Only recently, for example, a University of Copenhagen success in attracting international students set off a round of government micro-management. If the university did not redress the balance in incoming and outgoing students, it would lose government subsidies. The threat was enough to get the University to curtail the numbers allowed to pursue studies here.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Staff: Internationalisation a goal in itself<\/h2>\n

Staff at the two Copenhagen universities that Ana interviewed are not higher management, but staff involved in recruiting students and practicing internationalisation on a daily basis. They have job titles like \u2018international co-ordinator\u2019 and \u2018admission officer\u2019. <\/p>\n

On a daily basis these staff will not necessarily consider how their practices affect university finances in terms of tuition income or in terms of income from government \u2018taxameter\u2019 subsidies, although they\u2019re increasingly pressured to do so and are realising these pressures. <\/p>\n

This withstanding, staff are positive towards \u2018student mobility\u2019 \u2013 Danish students leaving and international students coming. <\/p>\n

\u00bbOn a daily basis they look at internationalisation as a goal in itself,\u00ab Ana recounts. <\/p>\n

Forced to cut housing services<\/h2>\n

Staff are acutely aware of the conflicting logics of government policies and university practice.
\nThe juggling between government policy on the one hand, and university goals and budgets on the other, can be seen in many areas. Universities should attract new students from abroad by providing other non-academic services to them, policy says.<\/p>\n

However the University of Copenhagen was recently forced to cut central housing services for international full degree students to save on the university\u2019s limited resources.<\/p>\n

Something that continues to attract harsh criticism by present students.<\/a><\/p>\n

Niche fields, not zero-sum<\/h2>\n

Sceptics of internationalisation policies point to the fact that all universities use resources, including large resources to non-academic services like housing, residence permit processing, and social events, in an attempt to attract the same, elite, students and young scientists.<\/p>\n

If all national governments promote policies to hunt for the best, are they forcing universities to play a zero-sum game, with universities just stealing the good students from one another?<\/em> the University Post asked her.<\/p>\n

It is hard to make a judgement on how far the quest-for-the-best is a game that is always a zero-sum, Ana Mosneaga replies.<\/p>\n

\u00bbRemember that there is also a competitive advantage in attracting students to your own, national niche fields. With internationalisation, universities are not just engaging in a quest for the best and brightest \u2013 and how do you define the best and brightest anyway? \u2013 it is a quest for talent in your own niche fields. Another thing is that domestic students get a richer student experience from being abroad that is valuable on return.\u00ab <\/p>\n

Lofty agenda is lost<\/h2>\n

\u00bbAnd the value that the European Union promotes is that the more student mobility there is, the better it is for Europe. It is in this sense not<\/em> a zero-sum game,\u00ab she adds.<\/p>\n

Attracting international students and researchers, and sending more own students and researchers abroad is a goal shared by the European Union, the Danish government and by Danish universities, including the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

But, as Ana writes in a soon-to-be-published co-authored paper with Jytte Agergaard, this is not straightforward: \u00bb\u2026The government\u2019s ambition to attract the brightest international students as skilled workers becomes lost when the universities have to translate the lofty internationalisation agenda into concrete recruitment strategies\u00ab.<\/p>\n

Read more about Ana’s research in the article: Students stay if they have a job offer, love<\/a>.<\/p>\n

miy@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n

Stay in the know about news and events happening in Copenhagen by signing up for the University Post\u2019s weekly newsletter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New research looks closely at Danish universities\u2019 policies to get more students from abroad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":18637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nUniversities struggle in \u2018brain game\u2019 with restrictive policies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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Now, they are also supposed to fight to attract the best brains and most talented students from abroad.<\/p>\n<p>As one writer, Kj\u00e6rg\u00e5rd, put it in a 2009 policy paper: \u00bbForeign students and researchers are an important weapon in the global battle for knowledge – and Denmark is ready to join the fight\u00ab.<\/p>\n<p>But the universities new role in getting the <em>right<\/em> young people to come to the country, stay, and get a job comes at a price. In Denmark, recent governments have also upheld immigration policies that sometimes work to keep young people out, sometimes push those away that are here already.<\/p>\n<h2>Zealous monitoring<\/h2>\n<p>PhD fellow Ana Mosneaga has researched the rules and procedures at the University of Copenhagen and the Danish Technical University. She is trying to find out how staff at the two universities manoeuvre between the policies of restrictive immigration, and the policies of attracting and retaining talent. Her work has wider implications for all universities in the West who are fighting to get the best and brightest.<\/p>\n<p>The new role that universities have to play is as \u2018agents of internationalisation\u2019, as Ana Mosneaga calls it, and their role is zealously monitored by the Danish government.<\/p>\n<p>Only recently, for example, a University of Copenhagen success in attracting international students set off a round of government micro-management. If the university did not redress the balance in incoming and outgoing students, it would lose government subsidies. The threat was enough to get the University <a href=\"node\/9350\">to curtail the numbers allowed to pursue studies here.<\/a> <\/p>\n<h2>Staff: Internationalisation a goal in itself<\/h2>\n<p>Staff at the two Copenhagen universities that Ana interviewed are not higher management, but staff involved in recruiting students and practicing internationalisation on a daily basis. They have job titles like \u2018international co-ordinator\u2019 and \u2018admission officer\u2019. <\/p>\n<p>On a daily basis these staff will not necessarily consider how their practices affect university finances in terms of tuition income or in terms of income from government \u2018taxameter\u2019 subsidies, although they\u2019re increasingly pressured to do so and are realising these pressures. <\/p>\n<p>This withstanding, staff are positive towards \u2018student mobility\u2019 \u2013 Danish students leaving and international students coming. <\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOn a daily basis they look at internationalisation as a goal in itself,\u00ab Ana recounts. <\/p>\n<h2>Forced to cut housing services<\/h2>\n<p>Staff are acutely aware of the conflicting logics of government policies and university practice.<br \/>\nThe juggling between government policy on the one hand, and university goals and budgets on the other, can be seen in many areas. Universities should attract new students from abroad by providing other non-academic services to them, policy says.<\/p>\n<p>However the University of Copenhagen was recently forced to cut central housing services for international full degree students to save on the university\u2019s limited resources.<\/p>\n<p>Something that continues <a href=\"node\/11967\">to attract harsh criticism by present students.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Niche fields, not zero-sum<\/h2>\n<p>Sceptics of internationalisation policies point to the fact that all universities use resources, including large resources to non-academic services like housing, residence permit processing, and social events, in an attempt to attract the same, elite, students and young scientists.<\/p>\n<p><em>If all national governments promote policies to hunt for the best, are they forcing universities to play a zero-sum game, with universities just stealing the good students from one another?<\/em> the University Post asked her.<\/p>\n<p>It is hard to make a judgement on how far the quest-for-the-best is a game that is always a zero-sum, Ana Mosneaga replies.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbRemember that there is also a competitive advantage in attracting students to your own, national niche fields. With internationalisation, universities are not just engaging in a quest for the best and brightest \u2013 and how do you define the best and brightest anyway? \u2013 it is a quest for talent in your own niche fields. Another thing is that domestic students get a richer student experience from being abroad that is valuable on return.\u00ab <\/p>\n<h2>Lofty agenda is lost<\/h2>\n<p>\u00bbAnd the value that the European Union promotes is that the more student mobility there is, the better it is for Europe. It is in this sense <em>not<\/em> a zero-sum game,\u00ab she adds.<\/p>\n<p>Attracting international students and researchers, and sending more own students and researchers abroad is a goal shared by the European Union, the Danish government and by Danish universities, including the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<p>But, as Ana writes in a soon-to-be-published co-authored paper with Jytte Agergaard, this is not straightforward: \u00bb\u2026The government\u2019s ambition to attract the brightest international students as skilled workers becomes lost when the universities have to translate the lofty internationalisation agenda into concrete recruitment strategies\u00ab.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about Ana’s research in the article: <a href=\"node\/13363\">Students stay if they have a job offer, love<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>miy@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay in the know about news and events happening in Copenhagen by <a href=\"http:\/\/universitypost.dk\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\">signing up for the University Post\u2019s weekly newsletter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":48,"name":"Politics","slug":"politics","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":48,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1036,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11496,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/anamosneaga3-1280x857.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36263,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18636\/revisions\/36263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}