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Song-ee Ahn Unequal Opportunities: Considering Student Mobility as an Effect of Institutional Practice
character of an educational programme. It is reasonable to assume that an academic discipline with a highly international character, such as economics, international politics or foreign-language studies, would necessitate or encourage students to study abroad, merely because of the nature of the subject area, making international studies a normal part of the curriculum (cf. Teichler 2004). If a subject area is universal, such as mathematics, it may also be easier for students to continue their education abroad. Following this logic, it is argued that the students that choose not to participate in international education stem from educational areas of strongly local/national character (UK Socrates Erasmus Council 2005). However, such an explanation can only fit part of the available data; while it is clear that students in internationallyconnected areas, such as business or foreign languages, do move more than others, the programmes that are consistently underrepresented in international mobility statistics are frequently those that would be considered to have a universal character (such as the natural sciences, technology, and medical science). The relative lack of mobility among teacher-education students can be explained by the national character of the field, however, the law programme, another programme with a national character, sends students abroad at a higher rate than many others. While it cannot be denied that the international orientation of an educational programme influences students’ choices, my research shows another source that contributes to the Matthew Effect, i.e. differences in institutional practices and attitudes (Ahn 2007; 2011b). Detailed below are certain aspects to those differences.
a) Organization of studies A practical issue for students is the organization of the programme. The way in which the semester is organized affects students’ possibility of participating in international education. If an educational programme contains many mandatory courses, students going abroad risk prolonging their educational period, even when a cross registration system has been set up for the exchange studies (this aspect will be discussed further below). If their education programme provides space for optional courses in their ordinary education, students’ possibilities for participating in exchange studies are greatly increased.
b) Access to different exchange programmes Different educational programmes have different access to exchange programmes. While there exist a number of general exchange programmes, such as Erasmus, that are open to all students, some educational programmes set up specific exchange agreements for their own students. The number of bilateral programmes that a student has access to may differ greatly depending on the university and educational programme that the student participates in.