Lisbon, the Portuguese Erasmus city? Mis-match between representation in urban policies and international student experiences

ABSTRACT

This article looks at the mis-match between official discursive representations aimed at promoting Lisbon, the Portuguese capital city, as an international student hub and international students’ experiences. At a theoretical level, our work builds on the idea that re-branding a city’s image in terms of creativity, innovation and new technologies with a view to attract international students can foster less positive urban changes linked to gentrification, pushing overseas students away rather than attracting greater numbers. Discussion includes consideration of the success of policies at the municipal level that have aimed to use international students as a means to re-brand the city as a center for creativity and innovation, a part of the wider strategy of putting Lisbon on the map as a global learning destination. Analysis includes assessment of publicity materials advertising the city’s appeal to international students, juxtaposed with findings from interviews conducted with incoming students at the city’s universities during 2020. This material illustrates some of the most prominent contradictions, and arguably, a number of shortcomings, in the city’s imagological strategy, particularly in regard to concerns with Lisbon’s housing market.

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. The promotion and development of arts in particular districts is often followed by severe processes of gentrification, a dynamic that has been very clear in Lisbon’s Intendente area for the last 10 years, as we recently investigated (Malet Calvo, 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thais França

Thais França is an integrated researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology Institute of the Lisbon University Institute (Cies, Iscte-IUL) and a visiting assistant professor of the Masters in Labour Sciences and Industrial Relations. Her research expertise and interests focus on migration, mobilities, gender, social inequalities and post-colonial studies. Currently, she coordinates the project “SAGE19: Scientific and Academic Gender (In)equality during Covid19,” funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on female scholars’ careers. She is the cochair of the Gender and Feminist studies section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).

David Cairns

David Cairns is Principal Researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon, and works mainly in the fields of youth, mobility, education, employment and participation. He has participated in two large scale European Commission funded studies and is currently working on a project entitled “Circulation of Science,” looking at the governance of scientific careers. He has over 100 publications to date, including seven books and numerous articles in international peer reviewed journals.

Daniel Malet Calvo

Daniel Malet Calvo holds a PhD in Social Anthropology (2011) from University of Barcelona where he also graduated with a BA in Social and Cultural Anthropology (2005), and a BA in History (2011). He has been trained through participation in many investigation projects and research grants, carrying out ethnographic works on Barcelona (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal) and Santiago Island (Cape Verde). Currently, as an associated researcher in the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-IUL) of the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL) he is developing research about international higher education students and their involvement with urban change. He is an active member of the Research Group on Exclusion and Social Control—GRECS and of the Observatory for the Anthropology of Urban Conflict (OACU) in the Anthropology Department of the University of Barcelona and of the Catalan Institute of Anthropology (ICA).

Leonardo de Azevedo

Leonardo de Azevedo is a PhD Candidate in Social Sciences at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, and works mainly in the fields of academic and student mobility. His doctoral research is on international mobility policies for Brazilian researchers. He was a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon, in 2019 and 2020.