Public Lecture | Internationalization at the Periphery: The Unlikely Case of Student Migrants in the Philippines
Public Lecture | Internationalization at the Periphery: The Unlikely Case of Student Migrants in the Philippines
15
Oct
The School of Education is hosting the Public Lecture “Internationalization at the Periphery: The Unlikely Case of Student Migrants in the Philippines” on 15 October, from 18:30 – 20:00, in the Don Bosco Auditorium.
INTRODUCTION:
Research on the internationalisation of higher education has primarily focused on universities in the ‘West,’ creating a skewed perspective of what it means to teach and learn in a global world. This paper uses the Philippine case to discuss how education settings in seemingly “peripheral” nations can also reveal important contradictions in the process of internationalization. This presentation shows how private universities sought to internationalize their academic programs mainly to recruit international students as a lucrative source of tuition income. Yet, these efforts led to a backlash among Filipino educators and students, prompting administrators to institute policies that isolated migrant students on campus. As a result, efforts at internatioanlization led to racial tensions and inequalities that cannot fully be explained by the local universities’ lack of capacity or resources. This presentation emphasizes how such unexpected outcomes can only be understood by recognising how actors and institutions within the Global South can have their own agency in shaping international education.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Prof. Yasmin Y. Ortiga
Prof. Yasmin Y. Ortiga is an associate professor at Singapore Management Univeristy. She is a sociologist of education and international migration. Her work focuses on how ideas about desirable “skill” shape where and how people move across borders. In 2019, she received the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for her work on student mobility to the Philippines. She published the book, “Emigration, Employability, and Higher Education in the Philippines” (Routledge). Her work has also been published in the Global Networks, Minerva, and Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.
DETAILS:
Date: Wednesday 15 October 2025
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM (GMT +8)
Location: Don Bosco Auditorium, USJ Ilha Verde Campus
Language: English
Moderated by: Prof. Rochelle Ge
Organised by: School of Education
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