Prelims

Half Title Page

Academic Mobility and International Academics

Series Title Page

Surviving and Thriving in Academia provides short, accessible books for navigating the many challenges, responsibilities and opportunities of academic careers. The series is particularly dedicated to supporting the professional journeys of early and mid-career academics and doctoral students but will present books of use to scholars at all stages in their careers. Books within the series draw on real-life examples from international scholars, offering practical advice and a supportive and encouraging tone throughout.

Series Editor: Marian Mahat, The University of Melbourne, Australia

In this series:

Women Thriving in Academia

Edited by Marian Mahat, The University of Melbourne

Achieving Academic Promotion

Edited by Marian Mahat, The University of Melbourne & Jennifer Tatebe, University of Auckland

Getting the Most Out of Your Doctorate: The Importance of Supervision, Networking and Becoming a Global Academic

Edited by Mollie Dollinger, La Trobe University, Australia

Coaching and Mentoring for Academic Development

By Kay Guccione & Steve Hutchinson

Academic Resilience: Personal Stories and Lessons Learnt from the COVID-19 Experience

By Marian Mahat, Joanne Blannin, Elizer Jay de los Reyes, & Caroline Cohrssen

Endorsements

This is such an important book for everyone working in higher education. The personal reflections of international academics around the globe throughout are both thought-provoking and inspiring, providing understanding of the personal journeys of international academics who form part of our diverse academic community.

–Hannah-Louise Holmes, Deputy Faculty Pro-Vice Chancellor Faculty of Business and Law and Dean of the Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

A must-read volume that captures the academic journey and contribution of international academics to global higher education! All scholars including faculty, students and administrators will benefit from reading this book.

–Krishna Bista, Professor of Higher Education, Morgan State University, Maryland (USA)

Title Page

Academic Mobility and International Academics

Challenges and Opportunities

Edited by

Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh

La Trobe University, Australia

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2022

Editorial matter and selection © 2022 Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh.

Individual chapters © 2022 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80117-513-5 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80117-510-4 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80117-512-8 (Epub)

About the Contributors

Dr James Burford, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Global Education and International Development at the Department of Education Studies at Warwick University in the UK. Originally from Aotearoa/New Zealand, James has had academic migration experiences in Thailand (2014–2018), Australia (2018–2021), and the UK (2021–). He also has an active interest in both short and longer-term academic mobilities, researching both academic conferences as well as the experiences of aa-jaan dtàang châat [academic migrants] in Thailand. James is the current co-chair of the Academic Mobilities and Immobilities International Network (AMIIN) and co-edits Conference Inference, a blog about academic conferences. James' broader research interests include the academic profession and doctoral education, international higher education, and gender and sexualities in education. He tweets at @jiaburford.

Dr Ariunaa Enkhtur is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Global Initiatives, Osaka University, Japan. She received her PhD in Transformative Education from the Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, under the Japanese government scholarship, and her Master's degree in Higher Education Administration from Syracuse University, USA, as a Fulbright scholar. Originally from a Mongolian academic family, she always aspired to work in academia but never imagined working abroad. However, her journey for education exposed her to academic work experiences in the US and now Japan. She has a family of four, and her husband is also an early academic in Japan.

Mary Eppolite is an Assistant Lecturer in Humanities and Language at Mahidol University International College in Thailand. She earned her Masters’ degree in TESOL from SIT Graduate Institute in the USA. Mary has experience working in English language education in Thailand, Costa Rica, France, and Peru. She is interested in the impact of English hegemony in the classroom and culturally reflexive pedagogies. Mary has co-published work which has appeared in venues such as Higher Education, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management and Globalisation, Societies and Education. Her current research is focused on team teaching in language education contexts.

Dr Sainbayar Gundsambuu is an Instructor of English at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Kyoto, Japan, and Senior Lecturer at the British and American Studies Department, National University of Mongolia, Mongolia He received his PhD in International Education from Osaka University, Japan, and has been teaching in the higher education sector for over 16 years, of which, the last two years were in Japan. His primary research interests focus on the internationalisation of higher education, English-medium instruction, as well as TESOL. Dr Sainbayar was a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship in 2011.

Dr Jinan Issa is a very enthusiastic and highly motivated university professor with a dedicated passion to conduct research about higher education, TESOL, quality of teaching and learning, and academic acculturation. She completed her MEd and PhD degrees in Education/TESOL with distinctions from Universiti Sains Malaysia and was awarded the University's Gold Medal for being the most outstanding candidate in education. She also received the university's fellowship scheme and was one of its brilliant student ambassadors. With over 18 years of experience in different countries of the MENA region, Malaysia and Canada, she came across different challenges and was fortunate to obtain exceptional opportunities. She started her career in 1998 as a translater and an interpreter in the Ministry of Industry and Minerals in Baghdad, Iraq. Later, she worked as an ESL instructor and a trainer in Azzawiya Oil Refining Company from 2005 to 2008 when she decided to pursue her postgraduate studies. She gained research skills and was indulged in research culture, which was evidenced in her quality publications in the second semester of her master's study. Her experience as a researcher was enhanced in her PhD journey when she received the exceptional opportunity to work on an international project in four countries: Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong and South Korea. Later, her job as an Assistant Professor at the Omani University of Applied Sciences and Technology for over 5 years followed by receiving an offer from the APEX university USM to work in the National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN) was another unique experience. She immigrated to Canada and started another academic adventure to receive the OCELT recognition from TESL Ontario. She learnt tens of lessons gained from substantial experiences teaching international postgraduates and multicultural undergraduates.

Dr Jisun Jung is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. Her current research focuses on academic profession, doctoral education, master's education and employment, and higher education research in Asia. Her recent co-edited books include The Changing Academic Profession in Hong Kong (with Gerard A. Postiglione, Springer, 2017) and Researching Higher Education in Asia: History, Development and Future (with Hugo Horta and Akiyoshi Yonezawa, Springer, 2018). She is a co-editor of Higher Education Research & Development.

Dr Amrita Kaur is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at WenZhou-Kean University in China. Her research interests include teaching, learning and assessment in higher education, students as partners, learning motivation and engagement and cross-cultural studies for learning. She teaches psychology courses to undergraduate students. She serves as the editorial member for Scopus indexed journal – Malaysian Journal of Learning and Instruction and International Journal of Students as Partners.

Dr Vijay Kumar is an Associate Professor of Higher Education at the Higher Education Development Centre University of Otago, New Zealand. Prior to joining Otago, he served as an Associate Professor of Linguistics in a public university in Malaysia. Vijay's research interests are in doctoral supervision practices, doctoral examination, academic well-being and feedback practices. He is an academic staff developer with expertise in doctoral supervision. His expertise is recognised globally through invitations for capacity building of doctoral supervisors in 23 countries. He is a UK Council of Graduate Education's recognised doctoral supervisor – the first outside the UK.

Dr Shannon Mason is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Nagasaki University, Japan. She completed her doctoral research at Griffith University in Australia, but relocated to Japan during the final two years of her candidature to take up an academic position. She has a broad research agenda within education that spans from P-12 to PhD. Her recent and continuing studies are related to higher education focusing on scholarly publishing, research dissemination, peer review and the experiences of mothers in academia. In Japan, she has been interested in supporting researchers to develop their international visibility through online networks.

Dr Muhammad Muftahu is a Nigerian, who works as a Senior Lecturer, Deputy Director and Coordinator of the Global Higher Education Network (GHEN) at the National Higher Education Research Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). He is also the Coordinator of the Professional Programme in Higher Education Leadership and Management, Co-Coordinator of Higher Education Access and Success research cluster, and Commission Member of the Academic Talent Management Project (ATM) 2020, Universiti Sains Malaysia. His research interest and expertise include Higher Education Sustainable Leadership and Management, Comparative and International Higher Education, Higher Education and Industry, Higher Education as Field of Study and Qualitative Methodology.

Muhammad has immensely contributed to the development of higher education as a discipline of study and practices through teaching, postgraduate supervision, research, and wide publication, which awarded him with several academic recognitions at home and abroad, including garnering international grants. Similarly, he is a member and a fellow of various higher education professional bodies and networks across the globe, such as the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE), United Kingdom, Nigeria Society for Higher Education Research and Development (NSHERD), Higher Education Research Association (HERA), Malaysian Society for Higher Education Policy and Research Development (PenDaPat), Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), and the Academy of Management Nigeria (AMN). Giving back to the community by promoting higher education research in Nigeria and national development, he founded the Nigerian Society for Higher Education Research and Development (NSHERD), – the first platform of its kind bringing various scholars of interest for researching higher education in Nigeria. Similarly, recognising his contribution earned him to be appointed as Chairman Visitation Panel, Kaduna State University (KASU) for the period of 2016–2020 which he completed with thoroughness and diligence.

Yuhang Rong serves as the Associate Vice President for Global Affairs and Associate Professor in Residence of Educational Leadership at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He represents UConn as its Senior Leader at the global research university consortium, Universitas 21. He oversees the State of Connecticut partnership with the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Concurrently, he is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) in Washington, DC; and he is a member of the Advisory Board for the Queen Rania Teacher Academy in Jordan. Yuhang earned his BA in English from East China Normal University (华东师范大学), MA in Education Administration from West Virginia University, and PhD in Professional Higher Education Administration from the University of Connecticut.

Dr Yusuke Sakurai is a Lecturer at Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan. He received a PhD from the University of Helsinki, Finland. His main subjects are teaching and learning in international settings and support for foreign early-career researchers. He has worked in several countries, including Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, Egypt, Finland and Japan. He has written research outputs on students' perceptions and learning in immersion programmes, foreign language classrooms, study abroad experiences, short-term intensive international courses and doctoral programmes as international students.

Dr Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh is an award-winning Senior Lecturer at the Department of Management, Sport and Tourism, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Australia. In 2020, Dr Singh received an international teaching recognition from Advance HE, UK, as a Fellow (FHEA). In 2018, Dr Singh received two La Trobe University Teaching Awards and Best Presenter Award at the Global Higher Education Forum, Malaysia. Dr Singh's research expertise is in higher education discipline with a particular interest exploring international students' current issues such as their academic success, lived experiences, employability, career aspirations as well as learning experiences in a blended learning environment. In addition, Dr Singh also explores lived experiences of international academics and recent work is on international academics with leadership positions. Dr Singh has published several articles in high-impact journals and has presented at numerous national and international higher education conferences in Malaysia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Thailand, Hawaii, Japan and Australia. In 2020, Dr Singh was appointed as the Associate Editor for Higher Education Research & Development journal. In 2018, Dr Singh was appointed as a Research Fellow at the Malaysian National Higher Education Research Institute.

Dr Ashleigh-Jane Thompson is a Senior Lecturer and Program Director in the La Trobe Business School, where she is involved with the sport management programme. Throughout her academic career, she has developed and taught a variety of Undergraduate and Masters coursework subjects and has supervised several Masters and PhD students. She is an award-winning researcher whose primary research activities are in the fields of sport communication, sport marketing, fan engagement and sport innovation. Her research has a theoretical and practical impact both nationally and internationally. She is an active researcher within La Trobe's Centre for Sport and Social Impact and collaborates with other researchers within Australia and internationally. Ashleigh-Jane is also currently the Vice-President of the Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand (SMAANZ). In addition to her scholarly pursuits, she maintains active connections with the sport industry by partnering with sport organisations for research projects, as well as working in media operations at national and international sporting events and serving as a Director on various sport organisation boards. She also regularly engages with the media as an outlet to translate her research and encourage public dialogue and debate.

Preface

The COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing challenges continue to change academia as we know it. As time passes by, we have discovered that, in the end, what changes take place, when and why depend on the conscious decisions we make as staff members in each of our roles – from our particular vantage point in teaching and learning, research and service – and, most importantly, on our ability to distinguish what is urgent (survival) from our longer time horizons (growing and thriving, as we hope).

This new precarious environment has also brought to the fore academia's most troubling assumptions, some of which were already being defied by a growing consciousness about global and systemic inequalities, and a recognised need to re-orient our livelihoods as a consequence of environmental degradation and climate change. As much as we pride ourselves of being in ‘the ivory tower’ watching the world at distance and commenting/engaging with it as needed, we are inextricably embedded in that same world. We are affected by it, one way or the other, and our passivity legitimises what is noble and troubling about it. We are called, then, to participate in our own ways in the calls for action, conversations, decisions and new paths ahead that could result from positioning ourselves as agents of change.

I reflect on these overall trends as I read this book and consider the individual experiences that lie at the heart of the editor and authors' work. I am an international academic myself – someone born in another country, who grew up and was educated in another socio-cultural milieu, who navigated unfamiliar and uncertain pathways to study and work overseas, and who serendipitously arrived at the same maze of corridors of La Trobe's beautiful Bundoora Campus in Melbourne. There, I met Dr Jasvir Singh, my colleague and the editor of this volume, alongside other colleagues who had also ‘come from away’ and hailed from a wide range of backgrounds. Despite the wide diversity of life and professional experiences we embodied and carried, we all acknowledge many things in common with one another as ‘international academics’.

Here we are, living and working in a system conditioned, pushed or pulled by ‘a variety of structural factors’, which means constantly living on the edge in practice – first as students, then as academics; constantly assessing our strengths and limitations, yearning for a sense of stability. Hoping for (and living) career dreams in our respective disciplines and programmes, whilst putting between brackets (and addressing) all sorts of financial and logistical problems and major pending questions – including whether we belong, or not, whether we speak the language, or not, whether we ‘mask’ successfully in a cultural environment different than ours, or not, whether we are able to survive (or let alone thrive), or not. And so forth. Day by day, often for years, encouraged to think about ourselves as being privy to the wealth of opportunities of global academia, a world where any of those troubling dilemmas often go unrecognised – and hence unaddressed – by institutions and the academic community in a broader sense.

Yet, at the same time that those problems are real and require attention, it behoves us to consider, highlight and celebrate the courage and effort of many international colleagues who – despite being caught in a maze of uncertainty and precarity – are also able to make the most of the opportunities at hand. Thus, the task of evaluation, recognition and critical analysis of the international academic should not only limit itself to denouncing problems but also to recognising accomplishments – as Jasvir Singh correctly points out in the introduction to this volume. That is, approaching the experiences of international academics with nuance and empathy, open to listening without reservations, connecting with what identifies all of us in this ever-changing environment. There is much to learn from the daily experiences of international academics who, like all of us, carry on their lives in an increasingly competitive and precarious academic environment. This was already the case before the pandemic, and it is even more the case nowadays.

As international academics face new barriers and difficulties in this new era – including even more uncertain job prospects, logistic difficulties, forced distancing from colleagues abroad and, more importantly, loved ones, among other challenges – it will be more important than ever to recognise their difficulties, but also their roles and unique contributions to the academic world and our respective institutions. This book is a major step in this direction. It is a must-read book for current and/or future international academics – whether thinking of short- or long-term mobility in academia. My most sincere congratulations to the editor and contributors around the world to this volume. This is one of the strengths of the book, as it draws on varied experiences and voices of international academics, globally. I look forward to the many stimulating conversations it will elicit and, hopefully, the decisions and policies that it will help inspire in the future.

Raúl Sánchez Urribarrí is a Senior Lecturer in Crime, Justice and Legal Studies at the Department of Social Inquiry, La Trobe University. He has served as Coordinator of Short-Term International Mobility at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of South Carolina, an LLM from Cambridge University and a Law Degree from Universidad Catolica Andres Bello (Venezuela). His research focuses on democracy and the rule of law, and it has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Journal of Politics, Law & Social Inquiry, the Annual Review of Law and Social Sciences and International Political Science Review. He is a Non-Resident Research Fellow at Tulane University's Center for Inter-American Policy and Research, and a Co-Editor at Thesis Eleven journal. Currently, he serves as Chair of the Section on Venezuelan Studies (SVS) of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).