Social mobility and equitable access to international higher education

Panellists:

Dr Que Anh Dang, Assistant Professor, Coventry University
Dr. Zhe Wang, Lecturer, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, University of Oxford
Mark Andrew Elepano, Doctoral Researcher, Coventry University, UK, and Aarhus University, Denmark
Sarah Patrick, Doctoral Researcher, Coventry University, UK
Quang Chau, Lecturer, Vietnam National University
Trang Nguyen, Doctoral Researcher, University of Liverpool, UK
This panel examines the complex intersections of social mobility, equity, and international higher education, highlighting how structural inequalities and individual agency shape who gets access to transnational educational opportunities and under what conditions. Focusing on South and Southeast Asia, the discussion interrogates the promises and paradoxes of international education as a pathway to empowerment and social advancement. Our panelists explore how global education opportunities, while promising transformation and upward mobility, often reproduce structural inequalities shaped by social capital, geography, and institutional privilege. Contributors offer insights into innovative models of international cooperation and the diverse roles played by governments, education agents, and individual students in expanding or constraining access.

Dr Zhe Wang examines how young changemakers from less privileged backgrounds in Southeast Asia navigate the transformative yet uneven terrain of international education mobility. Her analysis highlights “agency in motion” – the dynamic strategies through which marginalised youth leverage international study to challenge social hierarchies and enact change in their communities.

Mark Andrew Elepano examines “who gets to go global” by analysing the financial, institutional, and cultural resources that shape access to dual award PhD programmes. Sarah Patrick continues this discussion by questioning whether dual award doctorates genuinely expand opportunity or simply privilege those already equipped with cultural and academic capital to navigate global academia. Drawing on perspectives of students from the Global South pursuing dual award programmes between the UK and India, Indonesia, and South Africa, they illuminate how programme design, funding, and institutional expectations condition participation and belonging in transnational researcher networks.

Dr. Que Anh Dang and Quang Chau present on Vietnam’s bi-national universities – public institutions established through bilateral cooperation with Germany, France, and Japan – as hybrid models that aim to reconcile excellence and equity. Their findings suggest these universities offer affordable alternatives to private international campuses, yet competitive entry and urban concentration continue to limit equitable outcomes.

Finally, Trang Nguyen interrogates how Vietnamese educational agents mediate students’ access to overseas study, revealing how marketized intermediaries may reinforce, rather than reduce, social inequalities.

By situating Asian experiences within global debates on social mobility and equity, the panel offers critical reflections and multi-level perspectives on how actors negotiate the competing demands of equity, excellence, and global engagement, and considers how international education can more effectively foster social change.

Видео Social mobility and equitable access to international higher education канала Centre for Global Higher Education