The desire to pursue studies abroad, the internationalization of education and labor markets, unemployment, lack of adequate education and training opportunities, limited homeland tertiary-training capacities, the search for better remuneration conditions and living standards, uncertainties regarding the situation in the origin country, and other factors have led to increasing international student migration. Universities are key drivers of the internationalization of education. They are competing to attract international students, especially academic institutions from high-income countries, to improve their financing and global reputation in scientific and technological research. With the race to attract international talents, international student migration is seen as a pathway for subsequent skilled migration. Many destination countries in the global North have developed policies to attract international students. They are valuable future skills that can foster economic growth, science, technology, and the health sectors, among other key sectors. Foreign diploma are a source of prestige and a pathway to integrate the homeland or international labor markets. Therefore, students and families who can afford it invest in international student migration to increase their chances in the labor markets.
The ACSRM aims to deepen understanding of the causes, drivers, patterns, trends, and impacts of Africa’s international student migration and suggest policy recommendations and measures for effective governance of this type of migration.
The ACSRM aims to investigate the student migration flows within and outside the African continent, the profile of African student migrants, their migratory trajectories and experiences, and their integration in the destination countries. The ACSRM examines the laws, regulations, policies, measures, and strategies established by national governments of origin and destination countries, universities, international organizations, NGOs, etc., for better governance of Africa’s international student migration. The Centre will scrutinize the consequences of Africa’s international student migration on origin and destination countries and the African student migrants’ plans regarding their careers, return to the country of origin or future mobility as well as their potential and tangible contribution to the development of their homeland and the destination country.
