Conceptualising mobility as becoming, connecting and contributing: Australian New Colombo Plan scholars learning abroad in the Indo-Pacific region

Abstract

The Australian government sees student mobility to the Indo-Pacific region beyond the institutional remit as an important tool to boost young Australians’ Indo-Pacific capability and the nation's multilateral relations with the region. Accordingly, the past decade has witnessed a fast-growing number of Australian students undertaking study and/or internships in the Indo-Pacific. Although an emerging body of research has started to examine the outcomes of Australian students’ study in the region, more nuanced understandings of their international experience and its societal impacts are needed. This article advances our thinking by conceptualising student mobility as becoming, as connecting and as contributing. It draws on 37 interviews with Australian students who are scholars engaged in learning abroad in the Indo-Pacific through the New Colombo Plan, a signature outbound mobility initiative of the Australian government. The findings of this study underscore the individual and societal changes driven by student mobility from a ‘Western’ country like Australia to Indo-Pacific countries. Through theorising student mobility to the Indo-Pacific as a process of becoming, connecting and contributing, the study demonstrates how these previously ignored Indo-Pacific destinations can offer transformative potential for learning abroad students and the communities they are engaged in. The research findings show how learning abroad in the Indo-Pacific can be a powerful vehicle to tackle ignorance, misconceptions and stereotypes. Using the concepts of mobility as becoming, connecting and contributing in combination, the article provides unique insights into not only self-formation or changes within the students themselves but also changes and transformations in relation to the host and home communities and broader society, allowing their learning abroad experiences to be viewed more holistically.