Novos itinerários, horizontes e fronteiras: as transições desenvolvimentais de estudantes em mobilidade acadêmica internacional

Abstract

Internationalization has received, in recent decades, special attention in the literature on higher education. This is a work oriented, articulated and guided by issues related to internationalization, with international student mobility being taken as a political aspect of this study. Thus, the object and objectives of this investigation point to the universe of academic mobility, in the scenario of the internationalization of higher education, analyzing the developmental transitions, the affiliation strategies undertaken, the experiences and influences in the lives of undergraduate students who have completed some degree program of international mobility. The focus of the study turns to the internationalization practices developed in a public university in Bahia, to understand how international student mobility contributes to university education and human development. In order to achieve the defined objectives, a qualitative and exploratory research was carried out with students who had graduated from international mobility and, more specifically, the formative acquisitions described by these subjects as a result of their study programs in international cooperation. Data were produced and analyzed through a comprehensive interview. Experiencing mobility allows students to interpret another world; the developmental trajectories of students who participated in international mobility programs do not simply understand the changes, but above all, their perception and their impact on their lives. And, in this way, to survive in new territories, students develop otherness and behaviors that allow them to understand beyond rules, customs and language. Thanks to the theoretical support of Symbolic Interactionism, it was possible to look at and understand the developmental acquisitions of exchange students produced on a habitus in permanent renewal, which is enriched by new experiences, transitions and passages. The survey results showed that the experience of international mobility gives evidence of an important institutional affiliation; the exchange is, in itself, an affiliating activity when it strengthens the bonds of belonging with the institution of origin, produces feelings of gratitude and has a multiplier effect, encouraging other students to also experience this practice. And so, through a process of permanent interpretation, experiencing mobility allows students to build their training project, develop their capacity for autonomy and communication.