Neoliberal governance towards the non-German-speaking world in Austria’s internationalization of higher education

Abstract As in many parts of Europe, Austria has seen increasing internationalization of its public universities since modernization reforms towards autonomy and accompanying steering-at-a-distance practices of state ministries. Here, we explore the sociolinguistic relevance of such neoliberal governance on this trend. In a novel turn, we invert the common lens on English as an incoming language to examine instead the monitoring of internationalization data from the pluricentric context of the German-speaking DACH region, comprising Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. We expound on this as an imagined speech community, vis-à-vis which Austria can be seen through steering at multiscalar level to rearticulate its very identity as a nation state. As part of an innovative use of process tracing methodology, we consulted policy documentation and monitoring data on DACH internationalization in order to probe key stakeholders at a public case study university and at ministerial level on its relevance. An analysis of stance revealed that steering conversations mutually reinforced a move away from the inbound mobility of students and staff from DACH – a dynamic that was disfavoured as inhibitory of progress, a less real form of internationalization, and unambitious, thereby at odds with neoliberal governance towards performance and competitiveness.