The challenge

Increasing numbers of students are pursuing degree-level education abroad. While this international study has many benefits for students and universities, it also has considerable environmental costs. Many universities have taken steps to reduce their carbon footprint in other ways, but emissions associated with international student mobility are rarely taken into account when considering the sustainability of higher education, despite rising faster than overall global emissions, so new evidence is needed to inform better strategies to address this issue.

Research impact - Informing debate on the sustainability of student mobility

Universities are often vocal about their efforts to lead a transition to more sustainable societies, with many taking steps to ‘green’ their campuses and use sustainable energy. However, recent research by Professor Robin Shields has highlighted that such steps form just one part of higher education institutions’ role in supporting sustainability, with much more attention needed on the unsustainable models of international student mobility that currently underpin many universities.

Studying for a degree abroad and other education-related travel (including staff travel) have many benefits, both for students and the institutions they join, with Professor Shields highlighting “intercultural awareness, international cooperation and knowledge transfer” among others. But it is clear that some types of student mobility are more beneficial than others, indicating a need for universities to give more consideration to the advantages and disadvantages of opportunities they offer, and, in particular, to the environmental costs they bring with them.

This research forms a key contribution to the campaign for climate justice within international education led by CANIE (Climate Action Network for International Educators), and has led to increased discussion on the sustainability of student mobility within a range of international media outlets, including Times Higher Education (THE), International Educator magazine, and Inside Higher Education.  

The Peoples’ Sustainability Treaty on Higher Education from the Rio+20 conference argues that higher education needs to transform itself before it can make a genuine contribution to sustainable development. This research, identified as “groundbreaking” by International Educator magazine and by Ailsa Lamont of Pomegranate Global in a 2020 CANIE webinar, provides empirical evidence of the need for this type of transformation. Using new analysis to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the current unsustainable models of student mobility, it calls for universities and other higher education institutions to start a conversation around the topic. As a result of such calls, Professor Hugh Brady, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol, recently discussed the “difficult balancing act” universities face between retaining opportunities for international student mobility while also considering the substantial environmental costs of the status quo and the potential for other, less damaging, alternatives.

While recognising the many benefits of the internationalisation of higher education, Professor Shield’s research emphasises the need for a much greater consideration of the environmental costs of student mobility. It also provides much-needed evidence for those aiming to do this more, as explained by CJ Tremblay (founding member of CANIE) in a 2021 podcast, “[this research] has transformed my ability to communicate this intersection [between international education and climate change] to so many of my colleagues”. It has also inspired greater discussion of sustainability in other areas of university life, such as energy efficiency on campus, climate policy at national or international levels, or consideration of measures such as ‘offsetting’ greenhouse gas emissions linked to student mobility, as well as alternatives to student mobility, many of which (such as greater use of online or distance education) have gained greater recognition in the past year as the COVID-19 pandemic has presented its own challenges to student travel.