This winter semester, the DAAD once again conducted a Snapshot Survey on the number of international students in Germany, in which 170 universities from all over Germany took part. Based on this feedback, the DAAD is forecasting a new all-time high in student numbers. In our interview, DAAD expert Dr Jan Kercher explains why the DAAD has been conducting the annual Snapshot Surveys since 2020, how the forecast of student numbers is compiled and which findings from this year’s survey are particularly noteworthy in his view.
Roopa Desai Trilokekar is an associate professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. In this role, she heads the international research project "International students are "ideal" immigrants: A critical discourse analysis of study-migration pathways in Canada, Australia and Germany", in which a total of ten researchers from Canada, Australia and Germany are involved. In the interview, she explains what prompted the research project, what she sees as the key findings of the analyses to date and what conclusions can be drawn from this for higher education policy and practice.
Dr. Jenna Mittelmeier is a researcher and lecturer in International Education at the Institute of Education at the University of Manchester. Together with other researchers, she recently launched the website "Research with International Students", which will be followed by an anthology and conference of the same name at the end of 2023. In the interview, she explains what prompted these projects, which topics are in focus and what she sees as the biggest challenges and research gaps in research with and about international students.
Dr Sazana Jayadeva is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge in the UK. In a recently published analysis, she examines the question of what influence Indian influencers in social media such as Facebook and YouTube have on the decisions of prospective Indian students in favour of Germany as a possible host country. In the interview, she explains what prompted this research question, what the key findings of her study are and what conclusions she believes can be drawn from this for university practice.
The new "DAAD Research Brief" issue provides an overview of the current structures and strategic perspectives of International Career Services at German universities. In our interview, author Jessica Schueller from Miami University in Ohio, USA, explains which specific requirements International Career Services must fulfil, which concepts can be differentiated here and what the central challenges are when setting up such services for international students.
How does DAAD funding for international doctoral students affect their research and publication behaviour? This question was investigated in a study recently published in the "DAAD Research in Brief" series. The study was conducted by a research team from Stellenbosch University in South Africa and Leiden University in the Netherlands. In this interview, the three members of the research team explain exactly how they went about it, which findings they consider to be particularly noteworthy and what conclusions can be drawn from this for research and practice.
