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International Education: A Potentiality for Ethical Development

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International Graduates Returning to Vietnam

Part of the book series: Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects ((EDAP,volume 48))

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Abstract

This chapter sketches the evolution of international education in terms of definition, approach and rationale from the late nineteenth century to current days. It notes the uneven terrain of international education practices that favour Western universities as sites of knowledge production and consumption. It discusses the research landscape of international education in relation to returning graduates and migrants, noting a marked absence in attending to graduates or returnees’ socioeconomic contributions to their home countries. The chapter offers Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach as a framework to view international education as a potentiality for ethical development. Anchored in pluralism, the capabilities approach could provide insights about conditions for people-centred development because it allows for evaluation to consider local voices and perspectives of those who live and work in the local communities rather than institutions from afar. In highlighting the potentiality of international education for ethical development, the chapter embraces the vision of education for international understanding and global citizenship – the core ideas of the international education movement when it began in the late nineteenth century and the global education goal of the United Nation 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This book adopts UNESCO’s and the OECD’s definition of international education as studying at universities in the host countries that students do not have citizenship.

  2. 2.

    The ‘West’ is referred to in this book in terms of cultural orientation and includes countries in North America, Western Europe, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. As this book makes the connection between international education, globalisation and development, the terms ‘North’ and ‘West’, ‘South’ and ‘non-West’ are used with similar meanings and within the context of the discussion.

  3. 3.

    Australian international student enrolment data generally does not represent the number of overseas students in Australia or the number of student visas issued in different countries. Instead data counts actual course enrolments.

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    Lien Pham

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Pham, L. (2019). International Education: A Potentiality for Ethical Development. In: International Graduates Returning to Vietnam. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 48. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5941-5_2

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