Change or stability? How Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic affected higher education internationalisation policies in Europe

The Brexit vote and the COVID-19 pandemic greatly disrupted longstanding higher education (HE) internationalisation policies and practices, particularly the taken-for-grantedness of physical student mobility in a borderless European Union. While contemporary witnesses predicted radical Brexit- and pandemic-induced transformations of HE internationalisation, theoretical conceptualisations of institutional change and stability generally highlight the importance of path dependencies. The latter are particularly pertinent when it comes to HE as one of societies’ key institutions, which is deeply intertwined with country-specific historical trajectories and marked by a general resistance to change. In her presentation, Anna Lohse will present findings from her recently published book “Higher Education in an Age of Disruption”. Based on expert interviews and extensive document analysis, she analyses how Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted HE internationalisation in England, France, and Germany. She furthers draws conclusions regarding the impact of disruptions on different types of HE systems.