Research cluster: Mobility of the Highly Skilled

Studying abroad can positively influence students’ personality development, transversal skills, and labour market outcomes. At the same time, students from a high social origin are more likely to study abroad than students from a low social origin. Against this background, recent research has suggested that international student mobility (ISM) may foster the reproduction of social inequality. However, this assumption has hardly been tested empirically. Drawing on social stratification theory, we first demonstrate that a scenario in which ISM increases social inequality (cumulative advantage) is as plausible as a scenario in which it decreases social inequality (compensatory levelling).

In this article, we review quantitative studies that empirically examine whether studying abroad influences graduates’ wages. Our review suggests that studying abroad has a moderate positive effect on graduates’ early-career wages in various national and institutional settings. However, this effect tends to vary across groups of graduates, employment contexts, and types of stays abroad. Employer change, access to large and multinational companies, and access to high-wage labor markets abroad appear to be the most relevant mechanisms mediating the effect of studying abroad on wages. Other mechanisms, such as improved language skills and a greater tendency to pursue further education, turn out to be less relevant.

Numerous benefits have been associated with study-related experiences abroad such as employability, wage gains, and soft-skills. Thus, the topic of international student mobility is closely connected to issues of equity and access to higher education. This chapter places special emphasis on differences in mobility rates by gender, field of study, and type of higher education institution. Eurostudent data is used to analyse credit-seeking enrolment and it is distinguished between mobility organised in the realm of programmes and independently organised short-term mobility phases. The mobility patterns of students in Eurostudent countries are quite varied with regard to the extent and types of mobility undertaken.

This article investigates the link between countries’ level of democracy and their ability to attract degree-mobile students from abroad. The network of international student mobility is analyzed for the time span between 2000 and 2009 in a cross-sectional manner, focusing on OECD and member countries of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Using Social Network Analysis and Exponential Random Graph Modelling, the study demonstrates that ties are more frequent when both countries in a dyad have either low or high levels of democracy, i. e., when there is homophily with regard to their democracy level. However, this applies only when the receiving country is economically wealthy

Using theories of social inequality and migration, we combine the research strands dealing with study-related international mobility and with migration-related inequalities in higher education. Based on data from the 20th German Social Survey, we examine mechanisms through which a migration background may influence whether students in Germany intend to study abroad. Logistic regressions show that students with a migration background tend to be disadvantaged regarding their social background, which reduces their likelihood of intending to study in a different country.

The internationalization and specialization of science confront scientists with opportunities and sometimes even a need to become internationally mobile during their careers. Against this background, we systematically reviewed empirical studies on the effects that mobility across national borders has on the careers of scientists. Using several search channels, we identified 96 studies – published between 1994 and 2019 – that examine how international mobility influences eight dimensions of scientists’ careers.

In recent years, the body of evidence suggesting that studying abroad during higher education can positively influence students’ personality development, academic knowledge and skills, intercultural competences, and employment prospects has increased. Policy makers and scholars alike want to understand who reaps these benefits and who does not. Hence, we review studies examining how key socio-demographic variables (gender, age, socio-economic background, and ethnicity) influence the likelihood of studying abroad.

Im Rahmen des Projekts wurde untersucht, welche Faktoren beeinflussen, ob Wissenschaftler*innen international mobil werden, und welche Effekte internationale Mobilität auf die Karrieren von Wissenschaftler*innen hat. Es wurde ebenfalls thematisiert, inwiefern mögliche berufliche Effekte internationaler Mobilität spezifisch für physische grenzüberschreitende Mobilität bzw. durch Formen virtueller Mobilität substituierbar sind.

This article analyses the network of international student mobility (ISM) between OECD and European Higher Education Area (EHEA) member countries between 2000 and 2009. It aims at investigating the link between countries’ level of democracy and how this impacts on their ability to attract degree‐mobile students from abroad. Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Exponential Random Graph Modelling (ERGM) are used to show that the ties of student mobility occur more often when both countries in the dyad have either low or high levels of democracy and when the receiving country is also economically wealthy. The network is characterized by a core‐periphery structure where a few countries act as hubs with numerous strong ties

Die Studie untersucht auf Basis des Promoviertenpanels des Deutschen Zentrums für Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsforschung (DZHW), inwiefern sich die Wahrscheinlichkeit von Auslandsaufenthalten nach Promotionskontexten unterscheidet. Promovierende in strukturierten Programmen (33%) und Stipendienprogrammen (30%) gehen deutlich häufiger ins Ausland als Promovierende auf Haushalts- (18%) und Drittmittelstellen (14%) sowie frei Promovierende (6%). Logistischen Regressionen zufolge erklärt sich dies teils durch individuelle Selektion in Promotionskontexte, insbesondere in Abhängigkeit der studienbezogenen Auslandserfahrung und des Promotionsfachs.

In view of the important role they will play in educating future generations, the Yerevan Communiqué (2015) defined students of education and teacher training as a relevant group with regard to cross-national student mobility. But what makes this group of students so different from the students in other fields of study? As the analyses in this Intelligence Brief demonstrate, enrolment abroad shares among students of education and teacher training are comparatively low across countries. Students of education and teacher training rate obstacles to enrolment abroad to be more deterring compared to the average across all students.

The past decades have witnessed an enormous expansion of programs to support the international mobility of students, the most popular example being ERASMUS. Lots of money has been invested to this end. Both policymakers and scientists have therefore become increasingly curious to know whether international student mobility (ISM) pays off for the mobile students.

This study introduces a new bibliometric approach to study the effects of international scientific mobility on knowledge transfer. It is based on an analysis of internationally mobile and non-internationally mobile German scientists publishing in journals that are indexed in Scopus. Using bibliometric data such co-authored articles, references and lexical abstract terms from the Scopus database, a method is presented that is based on cosine similarity to measure the similarity of the knowledge base of authors and their co-authors. This quantifiable method is capable of revealing potential knowledge transfer between internationally mobile scientists and different types of co-authors.

Vorgestellt wird eine Studie, die das internationale Migrationsverhalten von Universitätsabsolvent*innen aus Deutschland auf Basis der DZHW-Absolventenpanels 1993, 1997, 2001 und 2005 untersucht. Zentrale Fragen sind: Unterscheiden sich Absolvent*innen, die Deutschland nach ihrem Abschluss verlassen, von denen, die in Deutschland bleiben? Und beeinflusst die relative Einkommensungleichheit in möglichen Zielländern das Migrationsverhalten von Hochqualifizierten?

Spätestens mit Einführung des Erasmus-Programms im Jahr 1987 ist die Auslandsmobilität von Studierenden in Europa zum hochschulpolitischen Schlüsselthema geworden. Laut aktueller Strategie des Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienstes (DAAD) soll bis 2020 die Hälfte eines jeden Absolvent/innenjahrgangs studienbezogene Auslandserfahrung gesammelt haben. Als Begründung führen Hochschulpolitiker/innen nicht nur kollektive Vorteile für Zivilgesellschaft und Wirtschaft, sondern zunehmend auch individuelle Vorteile für mobile Studierende an – insbesondere für deren Karriereaussichten.

Attracting and retaining high-skill individuals is vital for the development of knowledge-based economies, in which ideas drive technological progress. Understanding whether and why high-skilled individuals stay in a country or leave it is therefore crucial – for sending and receiving countries alike.

The authors develop a conceptual framework explaining monetary returns to international student mobility (ISM). Based on data from two German graduate panel surveys, they test this framework using growth curve models and Oaxaca–Blinder decompositions. The results indicate that ISM-experienced graduates enjoy a steeper wage growth after graduation and that they receive higher medium-term wages. This is partly attributable to their favourable self-selection. Under control of selection effects and competency gains from ISM, two mechanisms so far disregarded in the literature explain monetary returns to ISM: the steeper wage growth results from the higher likelihood of ISM-experienced graduates to increase their wage through employer changes.

We measure selection among high-skilled emigrants from Germany using predicted earnings. Migrants to less equal countries are positively selected relative to nonmigrants, while migrants to more equal countries are negatively selected, consistent with the prediction in Borjas (1987). Positive selection to less equal countries reflects university quality and grades, and negative selection to more equal countries reflects university subject and gender. Migrants to the United States are highly positively selected and concentrated in STEM fields. Our results highlight the relevance of the Borjas model for high-skilled individuals when credit constraints and other migration barriers are unlikely to be binding.

We identify factors influencing young scientists’ plans for research stays abroad by embedding theories of social inequality, educational decision making, and migration into a life course framework. We test the developed model of international academic mobility by calculating a structural equation model using data from an online survey of scientists employed at German universities below the rank of full professor. We find that earlier international mobility mobilises scientists to plan a research stay abroad. This turns out to be a potential channel of social inequality reproduction, as individuals from a high social origin in particular spend time abroad in their early life course.

Aufgrund technologischer Fortschritte und der voranschreitenden Globalisierung nationaler Gesellschaften befinden sich Wissenschaftssysteme weltweit in einem stetigen Prozess der Internationalisierung. In Deutschland begegnet die Wissenschaftspolitik dieser Entwicklung mittels einer breit angelegten Internationalisierungsstrategie. Meist unter Verweis auf die Notwendigkeit, das deutsche Wissenschaftssystem auf einen sich verschärfenden internationalen Wettbewerb vorbereiten zu müssen, wurden in den vergangenen Jahren zahlreiche Initiativen ins Leben gerufen sowie Förderprogramme aufgelegt und unter dem Dach des Aktionsplans „Internationale Kooperation“ gebündelt.

Studierende, die aus einem akademischen Elternhaus kommen, gehen während ihres Studiums häufiger ins Ausland als Studierende, deren Eltern keinen Hochschulabschluss erworben haben (Finger 2012; Lörz et al. 2016). Da studienbezogene Auslandserfahrungen – seien es Auslandssemester, Summer Schools oder Praktika – aber die weitere Karriere positiv beeinflussen (Kratz/Netz 2016), können auf diesem Weg soziale Ungleichheiten vom Bildungssystem auf den Arbeitsmarkt übertragen werden.

Alongside the educational expansion and internationalisation of economies, it has become more important for students’ labour market success to spend part of their studies abroad. However, only a fraction of German students studies abroad. In particular, students from underprivileged families refrain from doing so. While the social selectivity of international student mobility is well documented, the mechanisms underlying this pattern of inequality are insufficiently understood. Aiming to narrow this research gap, we examine an early stage of the process leading to international mobility and address the question why students from underprivileged families intend to study abroad less often.

Mit der Einrichtung des Europäischen Hochschulraums und der Internationalisierung von Arbeitsmärkten haben Auslandserfahrungen für den individuellen Bildungs- und Karriereweg an Bedeutung gewonnen. Verschiedene empirische Studien zeigen in diesem Zusammenhang, dass sich Auslandserfahrungen sowohl auf die Persönlichkeits- und Kompetenzentwicklung als auch auf die Karrierechancen förderlich auswirken. Trotz dieser Vorteile wagt nur ein Teil der Studierenden den Schritt ins Ausland.

On the basis of theories of cultural reproduction and rational choice, we examine whether access to study-abroad opportunities is socially selective and whether this pattern changed during educational expansion. We test our hypotheses for Germany by combining student survey data and administrative data on higher education entry rates. We find that studying abroad was socially selective during the entire observation period. Selectivity increased between 1991 and 2003 and hardly changed thereafter. Unexpectedly, the expansion of higher education does not explain this development.

In this paper, we investigate the impact of membership in the Bologna Process on patterns and driving forces of cross-national student mobility. Student exchange flows are analyzed for almost all Bologna Process member states and non-Bologna OECD members over a ten-year period (from 2000 to 2010). Based on social network analyses, we first visualize the exchange patterns between sampled countries. In doing so, we analyze the student exchange linkages to gain descriptive insights into the development of the network. Second, we use exponential random graph models (ERGM) to test which factors determine transnational student mobility.

In our research, we analyse the phenomenon of international student mobility by combining and testing aspects of different perspectives (e.g. political, economic, and cultural factors) and, as others have done before (Spilimbergo, 2009; Vögtle and Windzio 2016), using aggregate data, we focus on the attributes of countries and the relationship between them to explain patterns of international student exchange between them.

Preferential attachment or hegemony, from a political science standpoint/perspective, means an indirect form of government in which the hegemon dominates geopolitically subordinated states by implicit means instead of direct military force. From social network perspective, a hegemon can be identified from the “common” states by its position in a cooperative network. In terms of Preferential attachment it is more likely that international students connect to a more central node (hence country) rather than to a marginal one. Thus already existing exchange relationships enforce future ones.