Globalising higher education in and through urban spaces: Higher education projects, international student mobilities and trans-local connections in Seoul

This paper explores the connections between universities and cities in a moment of heightened emphasis on international student mobilities and globalising processes in Asian higher education. In particular, I seek to draw attention to the contingent assembly of the urban and its role in globalising higher education by highlighting the ways in which urban spaces draw together different sorts of trans-local connections and flows. To explore this approach, I discuss the globalisation of higher education in South Korea, and the significance of Seoul in these processes through a focus on two leading universities - Korea University and Seoul National University. To highlight the importance of trans-local connections in the urban dimensions of higher education, I discuss the generation of desires to be mobile in imaginations of Seoul as a destination for higher education, student experiences of situated learning in place and the articulation of student mobilities into career pathways with Korean transnational firms. From this perspective urban spaces need to be understood as much more than just the geographical backdrop to the globalisation of higher education. Rather, cities like Seoul are the spaces through which connections are being forged around knowledge production, international migration and trans-local economic practices.