| Summary: | Abstract This article investigates how Germany and the United Kingdom (UK) have governed international student mobility (ISM) over the last two decades. While both are among the most popular destinations for international students and have experienced similar political trajectories during this period, they have pursued divergent education and immigration policies in regulating ISM. Driven by a mix of educational universalism and fear of future labor shortages, Germany offers financial benefits and generous right to stay opportunities. The UK, by contrast, combines high tuition fees with restrictive immigration policies, favoring students who will leave the country upon graduation. Drawing on a variety of parliamentary reports, policy documents, and interviews with politicians and civil servants, I argue that this divergence is rooted primarily in the different politicizability of ISM: international students are discursively treated as students (belonging to the non-politicized field of education) in Germany but as internationals (belonging to the hyperpoliticized field of immigration) in the UK.
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