Universities are going to ‘listen to students’, but which ones?

As universities in the Western world contemplate reopening and working out a way forward, it appears that “We’re going to listen to the students” season has begun once again.

While it’s undoubtedly necessary that universities develop a close, healthy relationship with all their students, it’s also important to remember that many universities in the West have student bodies that are complex and diverse and come from many parts of the world.

That world, however, has never been an equal one. I cannot help but wonder if this process of supposed consultation will consider the voices of non-Western students as well.

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A cursory glance at the global ranking of passports shows that not all passports are created equal, and millions of people have their dreams of mobility cut short by the political realities of today.

What this often means for students from poorer countries, or countries in crisis, is that the red tape of bureaucracy and immigration laws curtail their longing for higher education abroad. The journey to a Western university is an arduous one from the word go. And even after the pandemic subsides or is brought under control these conditions will not change.

Despite the claims of universities that education is for all, the simple fact is that not everyone can afford a university education. The income differentials in the West are stark enough as it is, but when we look at the global picture, it’s clear that an education at a Western university may cost the entire life savings of a family in Asia or Africa.

The problem is exacerbated for aspiring students who don’t even have a country to call their own. Political crises and violence have driven entire communities out of their homelands, and thousands have been forced to become refugees and exiles instead.

While some members of these communities have found respite in the countries that now host them, the educational prospects for the younger members of these communities are dim. NGOs and welfare groups have been working hard to provide some semblance of a basic education at primary and secondary level, but even the most well-intentioned organisation cannot provide a university education and a degree at the end of it.

We know that providing educational opportunities is one way we can help disenfranchised communities escape the cycle of despair and restore some form of agency to those who have been denied their political rights. How on earth is this to be done if refugees – some of whom no longer have passports – are unable to travel anywhere?

Providing online teaching to those who need it most may well be one of the things that can change the lives of such individuals in the most meaningful way.

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Universities pride themselves on being centres of teaching and learning, and constantly remind us to think outside the box. Yet the drive towards returning to the old norm seems to indicate quite a lot of in-box thinking at work.

Universities in the US, the UK and Australia have lamented the loss of revenue due to travel restrictions, but this simply shows the extent to which these universities have become overly dependent on non-Western students. Rarely have we seen a debate about the political economy of this movement of student bodies, or the difficulties they face – financial, physical, bureaucratic – as they travel abroad to gain that coveted degree.

If there is a silver lining to the pandemic, it lies in how this disruptive event has given us time to rethink how we view the delivery of education. Over the past year, I’ve been working with colleagues from other Asian universities, providing online courses to students from across the continent.

For the first time, I’ve been able to deliver joint lectures live online with colleagues thousands of miles away, teaching students who were following our classes from their home countries. This is the closest I have ever come to realising the dream of a truly global, borderless university in a virtual world.

But this initiative began with us listening to the students, and in this case the students in question happened to come from all over the world. So, as universities in the West pledge to listen to the students under their tutelage, it’s important to remember that students are not a homogeneous lot. There is, after all, a bigger world out there.

Farish A. Noor is an associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University Singapore. He is a political scientist and historian of South-east Asia who focuses on the impact of colonialism in Asia. The views expressed here are his own.