The Internationalization of Science and Education as a Global Process: a World-System Approach

Introduction. Over the past 20 years, the scale and nature of educational migration has changed, its mechanisms have changed, and managerial coordination has improved. The emergence and development of online educational platforms has changed the general picture of educational migration, forcing researchers to return to the analysis of the ontological, theoretical, and methodological foundations of the study of educational migration as international and regional phenomena. Today, there is a need to select theoretical and methodological grounds for explaining the problems that have arisen in Russian science and the educational system in the process of internationalization. The authors solve the problem of analysis and synthesis of such necessary grounds for the subsequent study of educational migration, its forms and consequences, including for Russian society. Methodology and sources. The theoretical constructions of the world-system approach (I. Wallerstein) are used as a methodological basis. The authors also use the ideas of M. Demeter on the distribution and competition of modern education in the world and the results of research by T. Schott, who studied the links between scientific and educational centers. The authors set the task of integrating the concepts of the world-system approach and the scientific baggage of a number of modern theories (G. Knight, P. Collier) to pose questions and then discuss the current situation in Russia. Results and discussion. The production of knowledge and national education systems are not autonomous from the general dynamics of the world system, they are integral parts of its functioning. The result of social relations “core-semi-periphery-periphery” is the unevenness in the accumulation of transnational academic capital. M. Demeter outlined four types of modern societies, differing in the possibilities of accumulating transnational academic capital. Scientific and educational migration between the countries of the first three types, as a rule, is temporary and useful in terms of communication of highly qualified specialists. The migration of gifted people from the periphery and semi-periphery to the core often becomes emigration, which leads peripheral societies to losses in human capital and not justifying expenses for education. Strategies to overcome the inequality in the accumulation of academic capital and the negative effects of emigration on education and science are to create a “secondary core” on the basis of a common language, as well as to “seize” the main levers in organizing world science, while developing national production and increasing the labor market. Based on the results, the authors propose for discussion three questions about the prospects for the development of the current situation in Russia. First, to which of the four types of societies of the world system (according to M. Demeter) should Russian society be classified? Secondly, does Russia have the opportunity to create a "secondary core" or "capture" leading positions in the organization of world science and education? Thirdly, is there a conscious strategy in Russia today for the formation of something similar to the “secondary core”? Conclusion. The authors argue that the interpretation of the internationalization of education and educational migration based on the world-system approach opens up a number of prospects for further research.

Authors: Anna A. Izgarskaya, Sergey I. Chernykh

Direction: Philosophy

Keywords: science, education, educational migration, internationalization of education, world-system approach, human capital


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