This episode is a must-listen for anyone who is interested in the field of international higher education or has studied it in some shape or form, perhaps by taking a class or by being a scholar-practitioner whose work draws both on the study and practice of international higher education. Today’s guest, Professor Philip Altbach, is widely known as the “founding father of the field of international higher education.” Many of us have learned extensively from his work and regard him as a mentor whose scholarship and ideas have influenced generations of international education experts both in academia and in the field. Dr. Altbach is a Research Professor and Distinguished Fellow at the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College which he founded. He has been a Fulbright scholar multiple times, has received numerous distinguished awards, and has taught at universities in India and the U.S., and has authored over 50 books. In this episode, we have a wide-ranging conversation about his journey into international higher education and his views on where things stand today.

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Chinese students have always been a source of fascination for universities and countries around the world. What motivates these students and how best to attract them? Are their numbers increasing or dwindling? This last question is important because Chinese students are the largest group of globally mobile students, and the ebb and flow of their numbers can have a positive or negative impact on universities in countries like the U.S., Canada, and the U.K that often rely on Chinese students to make up a large part of their international student population. In today’s episode, we look beyond the numbers and instead try and understand today’s Chinese students who are “ambitious and anxious.” Today’s guest is Dr. Yingyi Ma, a Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in sociology and Director of the Asian/Asian American studies program at Syracuse University in New York. A scholar of education and migration focusing on the U.S. and China, Dr. Ma has published three books, numerous articles, and is a frequent contributor to global media. Her most recent book, Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese Students Struggle and Succeed in American Higher Education, also helps us understand the broader social and cultural context of China that has helped shape today’s Chinese students.

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To celebrate Welcoming Week 2022, a week when communities and organizations across the entire country come together to recognize America’s diverse heritage and to reaffirm that everyone is welcome here, today's conversation focuses on one of the largest immigrant groups in the U.S.: Asian Americans. This episode's guest is Dr. Neil Ruiz, associate director of race and ethnicity research at the Pew Research Center in Washington DC, who has spent his career studying the international movement of people across borders, high-skilled immigration globally, and in recent years his focus has been studying the Asian American population in the US, something that resonates with him as he is himself Asian American. Prior to joining the Center, Neil has held roles at George Washington University, the Brookings Institution, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Today’s episode focuses on a large and new research initiative that he has been leading called Being Asian in America and that released new findings just last month in August 2022. 

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In this first episode of Season 2 of the podcast, I had the opportunity to sit down with Kamal Ahmad, the Founder of the Asian University for Women, and learn about the mission of the university and how it has become a global model for educating some of the most disadvantaged young women in Asia and beyond—including Rohingya refugees and students from Afghanistan. The university was founded on the belief that education for women is a critical pathway to leadership development, economic progress, and social and political equality in societies.

A lawyer by training, Kamal has devoted his life to forging social change through education and, during his career, has worked with the World Bank, Rockefeller Foundation, UNICEF, and the General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank. He is a recipient of several awards including the United Nations Gold Peace Medal & Citation Scroll, given by the Paul G. Hoffman Awards Fund; a Time magazine Award; and the World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow Award. He serves on several boards, including on the Council of Luminaries of the Yidan Education Foundation in Hong Kong.

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Follow the Asian University for Women on Twitter

My book:  America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

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Season 1 of the podcast draws to a close just as India--my country of birth--is poised to celebrate its 75th anniversary of independence from British Rule on August 15. But while this day is marked by much pomp and celebration, it is also a moment to pause and remember the price of this freedom: the Partition of India and Paklstan and the millions of lives that were lost, the thousands that became homeless overnight, and how the future of the Indian sub-continent was altered forever. The refugee crisis that followed remains--to date--the largest human exodus of modern times. In this episode I bring you a chapter from my book in which I share my family's history of Partition and that, ironically enough, I learned more about the Partition after arriving in the US as an international student and that sometimes we just have to leave home to better understand our histories. Take a listen!

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My book:  America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

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LinkedIn: @rajikabhandari

Twitter: @rajikabhandari

One of the most profound ways in which we learn about different cultures and countries is through books. This episode focuses on bridging divides and fostering understanding between the U.S. and China through journalism and books. Today's guest, Dori Jones Yang, has spent her life and career immersed in understanding China and interpreting the country, its culture, and its politics for a U.S. audience through her work as a former foreign correspondent for Business Week and as an author. Her latest book, When the Red Gates Opened: A Memoir of China’s Reawakening, is a fascinating and deeply personal book about the China of the eighties and beyond and of ultimately building bridges. 

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Follow Dori on Facebook

Check out Dori's books!

My book:  America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

Newsletter sign-up: www.rajikabhandari.com

LinkedIn: @rajikabhandari

Twitter: @rajikabhandari

For immigrants who have left one country and adopted another, an enduring question is how to give back, in some way, to the country and society they come from. This is especially a dilemma for those who come from lower income countries. Financial remittances, or the concept of sending money back home, are of course one solution and reached $540 billion in 2020. But what are some other important ways in which immigrants and diaspora communities can contribute to their home economies and societies? And how can we, as part of large global diasporas, have an impact not just where we have chosen to live and work, but also elsewhere?

Enter Localized, an organization and tech platform that helps connect highly accomplished immigrants in the diaspora with young and emerging talent and graduates in their home countries. This episode's guest is Ronit Avni, is the founder and CEO of Localized. A highly accomplished tech and media entrepreneur and Peabody award-winning producer, Ronit has been named a Young Global Leader through the World Economic Forum, a “New DC Power Woman in Tech,” has won dozens of media prizes, and her team’s work has been featured in nearly every major news outlet and viewed by tens of millions of people on TV, online and in influential settings from TED to the UN, and she has also appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show! Previously, Ronit founded the media organization Just Vision. Ronit sits on the jury of the MacArthur Foundation’s 100 & Change Competition and the Global Teacher Prize. 

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Follow Ronit and Localized on Twitter

Ronit's chapter on knowledge remittances in the Routledge International Handbook for Diaspora Diplomacy

My book:  America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

Newsletter sign-up: www.rajikabhandari.com

LinkedIn: @rajikabhandari

Twitter: @rajikabhandari 

When we think of reporters on the front lines, we often think of countries ravaged by war. But we can all agree that the pandemic has also felt like a battle-ground with its own share of chaos, upheaval, and suffering. So much has been in flux for the higher education sector over the past few years that the one constant that many of us have relied upon is excellent reporting and journalism. This episode's guest, Karin Fischer, has in many ways served as the eyes and ears for our industry, bringing us timely and candid conversations and breaking news. A chronicler extraordinaire, Karin is a longtime higher-education journalist with a focus on international education, including American colleges’ activities overseas, the globalization of the college experience, study abroad, international-student recruitment, and the experience of international students in the U.S. Karin’s work has appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times, EdSource, the Washington Monthly, and University World News and elsewhere. She also publishes a weekly newsletter on global education, Latitudes. 

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- What draws Karin to the world of international higher education, and can we even talk about higher education without addressing its global dimensions?

- Karin's early experiences of studying in the US and how this has shaped her understanding of international student issues today

- How the pandemic has affected the work of journalists like Karin

- A behind-the-scenes look at Karin's reporting and writing process--from ideation to production--and of what it is like for a journalist to report on this rapidly evolving and constantly changing world of higher education

- Karin's reflections on some of the most compelling and challenging stories she has reported on over the years 

- Who has influenced Karin and her words of advice for the next generation of reporters and journalists

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Follow Karin: Twitter

Subscribe to Karin's newsletter

The Poynter Institute

The Chronicle of Higher Education

My book:  America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

Newsletter sign-up: www.rajikabhandari.com

LinkedIn: @rajikabhandari

Twitter: @rajikabhandari

On this last day of Immigrant Heritage Month (June 2022), this episode's guest is someone for whom all of the issues that we talk about on this show—being an international student, being an immigrant, being displaced and having to leave your homeland, and finding your place, voice and identity as a woman of color—are all lived experiences. Esther Benjamin is the CEO and Executive Director of World Education Services or WES, a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to helping international students, immigrants, and refugees achieve their educational and career goals in the United States and Canada. A first-generation immigrant to the U.S., Esther is a fearless leader whose work has spanned multiple sectors and world regions, including serving under two previous US administrations and overseeing the Peace Corps program in almost 80 countries. Immediately prior to joining WES, Esther worked with Laureate Education, Inc., as CEO for Africa Operations, and as CEO of Monash South Africa, Laureate’s first university in Sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly 4,000 students from throughout Africa. 

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Connect with Esther: LinkedIn, Twitter

My book:  America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility

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LinkedIn: @rajikabhandari

Twitter: @rajikabhandari

Immigrant-origin students constitute one of the fastest growing populations of students on American campuses, and now make up over a quarter of all students. Add to this large number the almost 1 million international students from other countries, and it suddenly becomes clear why we need to have conversations about higher education AND immigration. There is no better time to talk about these issues than this month of June which is celebrated as Immigrant Heritage Month in the U.S., and June 20 is celebrated as World Refugee Day. June 15 2022 was also the 10-year anniversary of the DACA (Deferred Action for Children Arrivals) program that provides temporary protection to young people who were brought to the US as children. 

To address these issues, this episode features Dr. Miriam Feldblum, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a group whose membership comprises over 500 presidents and chancellors of U.S. colleges and universities who have come together to advocate for comprehensive immigration reform on their campuses. Miriam previously served in faculty and senior leadership roles at Pomona College and Caltech, and has been a Nonresident Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. 

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Resources from the episode:

A sign-on statement of support of refugee students and scholars

DACA's precarious future: A conversation with legal experts and advocates

Statement for the record for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety Hearing on Immigration and  Higher Education

Streets of Gold: America's untold story of immigration