Finding Common Ground: International Students in UPO and their Academic Experiences

The article aims to reflect on the international migratory movements in Italian Universities. This important phenomenon resulting from globalisation has increased the number of interchanges of foreign students in our educational system. The study explores university perspectives from the point of view of the strengths and challenges of international activities in Italy, as well as the immigrant students’ role in social and human capital of a foreign society. This paper calls for a rethinking of education across borders by examining the University of Piemonte Orientale’s (UPO) student academic experiences, with particular focus on achieving internationalisation, within an increasingly challenging political and socio-economic context. Within this framework and thanks to the collection, storage and processing of data, the article offers an overview of the relationships between UPO and foreign students. In particular, the methodological approach sets out to link the quantitative data, analyse the student migration dynamics and pay attention to the territorial approach in order to understand both the social inclusion and migrant identity dimensions.