From Bologna to welfare nationalism: international higher education in Denmark, 2000–2020

ABSTRACT

The paper presents the case of international higher education in Denmark from 1999 to recent political moves to limit international student recruitment. Building on concepts adopted from theories on nationalism, the authors trace the origins of an anti-internationalisation discourse to the 2000s. An analysis of documents produced by universities, politicians and national media reveals continuity in two key areas. First, the language debate of 2007-9 draws attention to the growing use of English in HE. Second, a welfare nationalist discourse can be traced back to a 2013 EJC verdict, which confirmed EU citizens' rights to Danish student grants.

Med afsæt i et begrebsapparat bestående af kulturel og velfærdsnationalisme afdækker artiklen debatten om internationalisering af danske videregående uddannelser, 1999 til 2020. Igennem en analyse af dokumenter produceret af universiteter, politikere og danske medier påvises kontinuitet på to områder: For det første skaber sprogdebatten 2007-2009 opmærksomhed på den øgede brug af engelsk på danske universiteter For det andet, understreges relationen mellem en velfærdsnationalistisk diskurs og EJC dommen i 2013, der bekræftede EU borgeres ret til dansk uddannelsesstøtte (SU). I 2018 fører en sådan diskussion til et politisk indgreb med formålet at begrænse antallet af EU borgere der modtager SU.

KEYWORDS:

• Globalisation
• nationalism
• politics
• higher education
• international education
• policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hanne Tange

Hanne Tange (PhD, Glasgow 2001) is associate professor in English and Global Studies at the Department of Cultural and Learning, University of Aalborg, Denmark. She has a background in English and European Ethnology and is currently working in the field of international and intercultural education. Other research interests include language politics, sociology of knowledge, Scottish and British cultural studies. Her monograph Teaching Practices in a Global Learning Environment is published with Routledge in 2020. She has written articles on themes such as language management, English-medium education, internationalisation processes in Higher Education, academic socialisation, intercultural relations and representations of Scotland/Scottish identity.

Kirsten Jæger

Kirsten Jæger is an associate professor in Intercultural Studies at the Department for Culture and Learning, Aalborg University, Denmark. Her research and her work in the area of educational development has focused on internationalisation of Higher Education. She specifically publishes on higher education in an era of globalisation and transnational higher education policy-making. In her current research, she combines interests in problem-based learning (PBL) and internationalisation. She has studied Chinese and Danish students’ study abroad experience with a specific focus on the experience of studying at a PBL university and the dynamics of multicultural group work. Recently, her research has been oriented towards understanding the political and cultural implications of rising levels of nationalism for higher education internationalisation.