Strategies of social (re)production within international higher education: the case of Swiss hospitality management schools

Abstract

Globalisation has led to the transformation of the field of higher education, including an increase in international students' mobility and new offers of internationalised educational curricula "at home." This evolution provides new opportunities for both intentional and non-intentional strategies of educational internationalisation, which are a potentially important part of the social mobility and reproduction of the middle and upper classes. This article investigates the students of Swiss hospitality management schools (SHMSs)-institutions of higher education that are often privately run and characterised by a high degree of internationalisation. We explore the configurations of these students' "cosmopolitan capital" (a combination of cultural, linguistic and social assets acquired through transnational mobility or exposure to an international environment), and we ask how these configurations vary with regards to their social backgrounds, specifically concerning their proximity to the cultural versus the economic pole of the class structure. We carried out a multiple correspondence analysis of three dimensions of cosmopolitan capital of 381 students, used cluster analysis to identify five configurations of cosmopolitanism and then tested for the social characteristics of these students' parents by using a multinomial regression model. Our results showed various strategies of the accumulation, conversion and legitimation of cosmopolitan capital, and they emphasised the role that this form of capital plays in the mobility and reproduction strategies of these students' families.

Is there a global super‐bourgeoisie?

“…These places and events contribute to the accumulation of social capital and the spreading of a lifestyle, as well as socialization into forms of urbanity and distinction made of specific norms and repertoires of interaction. When these norms are not already fully mastered, they can be implicitly recalled by a class of service personnel trained to monitor, manage and, when necessary, redirect bourgeois and aristocratic habituses of various national backgrounds (Cousin & Chauvin, 2019; Delval & Bühlmann, 2020; Sherman, 2007).…”

Reconceptualising international academic mobility in the global knowledge system: towards a new research agenda

“…According to the research findings, the factors that impact students’ decisions to study abroad are diverse (Li & Bray, 2007 ). Specifically, social-economic status restricts individual options (Delval & Bühlmann, 2019 ; Tsang, 2013 ), making the decision to study abroad inherently elitist. From a market perspective, some studies (Messer & Wolter, 2006 ; Petzold, 2021 ) examined the economic benefits of studying abroad and how it affects employment.…”

“…Tacit knowledge is considered indispensable for innovation, so how international students acquire tacit knowledge in host countries is an issue worth exploring (Leonard & Sensiper, 1998 ). Furthermore, the middle and upper classes have clear advantages in obtaining cosmopolitan capital, that is, the knowledge, skills, and dispositions gained through international experience (Delval & Bühlmann, 2020 ; Petzold et al, 2015 ). Future research could focus on the social effects of unequal access to cosmopolitan capital.…”

Banal Cosmopolitanism? Values and Cultural Repertoires of Youth in Adriatic Croatia

“…Such capital is also recognized as a resource in the educational context. Research by Delval and Bühlmann (2019: 479) describes how Swiss hospitality schools strengthen the already privileged socio-economic position of their students by promoting such capital – defined ‘as a combination of cultural, linguistic, social and institutionalized resources acquired through transnational mobility or exposure to an international environment’. Drawing on the qualitative study of young cosmopolitans at an elite university, Piwoni (2019) discusses the complex relationship between elite cosmopolitanism and localism, showing that they are not mutually exclusive.…”