Questioning belonging and its liminal positions in a superdiverse university setting

Understanding foreign students’ diverse backgrounds is essential for both institutions and educators. Yet identifying who qualifies as ‘foreign’ has grown more complex in a globalised context. Through the sociological lens of the stranger, this paper examines the dynamics of foreign-making through an analysis of the diverse 2023–2024 foreign student population at Luxembourg's highly international university. Using legal frameworks, it analyses residence, nationality, and legal status. Findings show that while most respondents fit within legal definitions, a substantial proportion presents different or more complex situations. The case of Luxembourgish students from families with migration histories illustrates this complexity particularly well, as their migration heritage appears to hold enough weight to position them ambiguously between national and foreigner categories. This in-betweenness highlights the limitations of rigid classification systems, even those commonly applied. It also invites further discussion on how strangers are made, moving beyond nationality-based framing. These reflections highlight how intertwined the legal construction of foreignness and the social process of stranger-making might be, while also suggesting that the experience of strangeness as stranger-feeling is not exclusive to those who cross borders. Implications for future research are discussed.