Internationalisation and Securitisation in UK Higher Education An Exceptional Case

This paper provides an analysis of the current condition of the UK Higher Education sector, which it treats as an ‘exemplary case’. It examines two distinct and interrelated elements of the ‘polycrisis’ - internationalisation and securitisation. It argues that UK higher education is shaped by both an internationalised and now faltering business strategy and by the contested consequences of Britain’s geopolitical and military choices. Internationalisation is now perceived by policy-makers to give rise to new security risks, a perception which is linked to a concern for securitisation, and a consequent threat to academic freedom. By placing securitisation policies and internationalisation in the same frame, the article considers the significance of the Prevent Duty both for academic freedom and for the recruitment of international students. It concludes that UK higher education has not found a way of overcoming its policy tensions and that unless changes take place at Government level its new reluctance to prioritise international recruitment will worsen problems of funding and lead higher education into a renewed spiral of austerity to adapt aggressive austerity policies.